The last decade has seen a lot of progress by the company.
10 years ago on May 31, the company's Cargo Dragon capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California, ending the first mission to and from the International Space Station.
The Commercial Orbital Transportation Services demo Flight 2 (COTS 2) mission was launched in 2012 and was acknowledged by Musk on the anniversary.
10 years since SpaceX’s first mission to @Space_Station https://t.co/30xEtbXlT5
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 31, 2022
The Cargo Dragon was the first privately funded vehicle to dock with the International Space Station, and it was powered into space by the Falcon 9 rocket.
On May 25, the space station's Canadarm2 robotic arm successfully captured the Dragon before it was sent to the International Space Station.
The astronauts aboard the station were able to collect the supplies from the Dragon. They were the first humans to experience the inside of a capsule in space. It would be another eight years before a more advanced version of the Dragon would carry astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
The Crew Dragon returned to Earth a few hours later.
After fully assessing the mission from launch to splashdown, NASA certified the Falcon 9 and Dragon spaceflight system, paving the way for regular cargo delivery missions to the station under the space agency's Commercial Resupply Services program.
Musk said at the time that the Dragon's arrival at the space station marked a great day for the country and the world, and that the mission had put humans on course to becoming a multi-planet. That may still be a ways off, but the successful mission a decade ago propelled the company on to greater things as it continues to eye more ambitious missions, including crewed ones to Mars.
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