SpaceX’s satellite rideshare rocket carries the industry’s next era

With all the memes and Martian visions, it can be hard to grasp the real impact that SpaceX has had on the high-tech economy.

Consider Mike Cassidy, an MIT-trained aerospace engineer who spent a few years at Hughes Aircraft company in the 1980s after he graduated, working on communications satellites. “People would take 10 years from when they started working until something was launched,” he recalls.

Not fast enough. Cassidy instead made a career as an internet entrepreneur, selling several tech companies and leading Google’s Project Loon, which aimed to provide internet service from high-flying balloons. But things changed in the space industry: SpaceX made reusable rockets—and made cutting-edge space business safe for investors.

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