But out of a dream of landing a greenhouse on Mars using a converted Russian ballistic missile to kick-start human colonisation, SpaceX has risen to the top of the world’s burgeoning commercial space sector. It now challenges established aerospace legacy companies like Boeing for accolades and Nasa funding.
Nearly 50 years after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to journey into outer-space, a duopoly on American human spaceflight is emerging between the two rivals, with both competing for the spotlight as Nasa seeks to return to the Moon and send astronauts to Mars for the first time.
The two companies have already competed in the high-stakes field of human spaceflight.