2014 – SpaceX Year in Review [Watch]
“Relive SpaceX’s 2014 highlights: launching rockets, landing stages, and unveiling our next generation crewed spacecraft.”
Marc’s Note: What are your thoughts in looking back at the year that was for SpaceX in 2014? Good year? Bad year? What you expected? Still the driver in the launch market? And how will 2015 shape up?

27 replies on “Video: SpaceX in 2014”

  2. getting their “ducks lined up in a row” The have an ambitious schedule with limited budget..crossing fingers.. The Dragon abort test is key…

  3. Getting a regular and frequent launch cadence going seems to be their biggest challenge. It’s also the toughest, especially when the launcher undergoes so many changes from flight to flight. They will get there but it is definitely taking longer than anyone at SpaceX thought.

    1. Hopefully SpaceX has somewhat stabilized the F9 design and can work on getting launches off on-time. It remains unclear, however, whether their issue with launching on time is equipment related or process related. Either way they need to improve that area to increase the confidence of naysayers, especially those in the halls of Congress who are apparently itching to use any excuse to hobble SpaceX.

      1. It is process related. Also related to the maturity and experience of the workforce in executing something so complicated on a consistent routine basis.

        But it can be done. The Soviets in the 70s and 80s were launching every few days. I read an in person description of a Russian launch from the early 90s (back when the their space workforce was still largely the old Soviet workforce) and their attitude was pretty much yawn, push a few buttons and launch without anyone batting an eyelash. They had done so many launches and had the process down so much that it was routine for them.

  4. I believe they had a pretty stellar year. The challenges are going to be engine production, 150 engines for 10 F9 and 2 FH’s. So they will really have to get a handle on production. They have did launches in two week turn arounds so they know they have the ability.

    1. SpaceX has said they can make 4 engines per week, so assuming a 50 week work year, that’s 200 engines.

      1. Saying and doing are completely different. Shotwell stated that they had to ‘ramp up production” meaning they did NOT have that capacity at the time of her interview but it had to be increased. As I said .. if they can increase the production all is good.

        1. very true. let’s guess that they have a production goal of 200 engines for 2015, and we’ll see if we get an announcement of the 200th engine by mid-year and the 300th engine by year’s end.

          1. I agree, SpaceX has all the parts just getting it all intergrated now. Elon stated he believes their market is about 10 Falcon 9’s and 10 Falcon Heavies per year, without reuse that is about 380 engines per year.

  5. The main driver in launch has been and will remain for a time, getting prices down SIGNIFICANTLY. In the regard, SpaceX “gets this”. The US will have had more commercial launches in 2014 than any other nation in large part due to SpaceX’s 6 commercial launches (4 private, and 2 for ISS that will be cataloged as private by the DOT as these were also FAA licensed). 10 Total (1 Atlas and 3 Antares/ISS).

    Europe has taken note and already showed a loss of commercial launches in 2014, arguably as SpaceX entered the fray. As well, Russia among other problems also suffered the SpaceX effect on commercial launches in 2014. A bad year for the Russians. Outyear commercial backlog is heavy on SpaceX globally. All this while they secured the deal with the old Shuttle launch Pad, and are moving apace by all accounts on their heavy launcher. All this while modifying Falcon 9’s first stage and constructing a barge to land it on next week. I’d say that’s a good year. A very good year. Quite the turnaround for the US.

    Now that said-productivity is the issue for 2015, getting the right tempo that balances profitability and seizing and holding market share, I’d think is a main concern internally. Uncertainty on turning around that first stage for less than making a new one while helping the bottom line must be soon after on their radar. Third, grabbing market share is one thing, but growing the market is another, and for that we need still LOWER prices than even SpaceX today. Can SpaceX go LOWER? This must also be heavy on peoples minds from Musk on down.

  6. Folks:

    SpaceX did fine in 2014; every launch succeeded. What better measure can we use here? Orbital Sciences… did not do fine by the same reasoning.

    SpaceX has a lot more to lose from a launch failure. They can’t ‘just’ swap motors as Orbital Sciences claims to be doing. As long as SpaceX sticks to their ‘fly when ready, and not before’ attitude, they’ll continue to do fine.

    SpaceX’s ‘day’ will come in three to five years, not in 2015. The tortoise will win the race!

    tinker

    1. Followed you until your last graf- sort of a non sequitur? are you saying that getting the market is one thing but holding it is more difficult, especially in the face of lower-priced vehicles emerging from other countries?

      1. Michael:

        I’m saying that it’ll be a few years before what SpaceX is attempting now to have an impact on the space launch market. Other companies will not be able to catch up to them by then for their own individual failings. In other words, the competition will do too little too late.

        Henry Ford did end up with competition, but only after years of making the first mass produced cars and only after huge investments in catch-up development.

        tinker

  7. The company did a very good job, althought it reached only 70-80% of what they advertised end of 2013. If you substract a 20% to 40% from what they want to do next year it is still a lot, but I think they will manage to do that.
    I still wait for a reasonable prize tag on their launches and real numbers for the FH launch capabilities, but from the F9 history I know that this takes 2 years after first launch.
    I am still amazed by the Merlins, and I think if we see a problem with a launch in the next years it will not an engine problem. They produce a lot of the Merlins and although mass production they work fine.

  8. I just read that since Spacex launch date slipped to Tuesday that their next flight will slip do to a ripple effect??? How many launches will the Cape have in January, 3 4? Why can’t they launch a rocket at least everyday? Why not two a day? Sure seem like they need to change their procedures/business model

    1. “Why can’t they launch a rocket at least everyday? Why not two a day? Sure seem like they need to change their procedures/business model”

      who is “they”?

        1. Where is the evidence that the launch providers are begging to launch every day? SpaceX isn’t with its current manifest, and ULA isn’t. That pretty covers everyone wanting to launch where ever it is you think they should be launching every day.

      2. Russia seems to launch rockets in all kinds of bad weather. How many rockets have be lost to weather related issues???

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