- NASA had to stop a deal with SpaceX after Blue Origin complained that it "eliminated competitive opportunities", but the truth is that several companies are closely following their steps.

NASA has contracted this week the services of SpaceX for 5 more trips to the ISS. / Flickr

Private companies that compete with SpaceX: Who are Elon Musk's rivals?

SpaceX is arguably NASA's favorite private space company. CNN announced last Wednesday that NASA had extended its contract with the company by 1.4 billion dollars to carry out another 5 launches of astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).

The aerospace firm based in Hawthorne (California, USA) was founded by magnate Elon Musk in 2002. Its main purpose since then is to reduce the costs of the technology used to travel to space with the intention of facilitating the colonization of Mars.

Among its most notable space vehicles, the Starlink satellites stand out, which aim to provide Internet connection to the entire world; the Dragon reusable cargo ship, which is used regularly for trips to the ISS; the Starship launch system and its Falcon rockets.

Its leadership as the most recognized American private space brand by society is closely followed by other companies that intend to surpass it. In this article, we are going to talk about the competitors that could 'step on the heels of SpaceX.

Blue Origin

This private aerospace transportation company was created in 2000 by Jeff Bezos, the billionaire who is also behind Amazon. Its goal is to design vehicles for suborbital and orbital flights.

Blue Origin stands out, above all, for its reusable New Glenn and New Shepard rockets, which are reusable thanks to their propulsion-controlled descents.

Blue Origin had deals with NASA that ended up being scrapped in favor of SpaceX. / Dave Mosher

Complaints from this aerospace brand over NASA's contract with SpaceX to design the lunar lander forced it to stop. As explained by the Blue Origin team, the choice of SpaceX was a "high risk" selection that "eliminated the opportunities of the competition."

Virgin Galactic

It is a private company founded in 2004 by businessman Richard Branson that seeks to offer manned suborbital spaceflight, suborbital launches for scientific missions, and orbital launches of small satellites.

In July 2021, Virgin Galactic made its first manned space voyage, with its own founder on board. This mission placed the company above SpaceX and Blue Origin, according to the opinion of the BBC.

British billionaire Richard Branson traveled to space aboard a ship of his own company.

AstraSpace

Its origins date back to 2016, so we are talking about a recently created company. It has several rockets of its own, such as Rocket 3, 3.1, and 3.2 that is capable of launching a payload into orbit. In 2020, AstraSpace was selected as one of the NASA Launch Services Program companies, where Elon Musk's firm was also located.

Relativity Space

The startup was created in 2015 and is specialized in the production of rockets designed to put satellites into orbit quickly and affordably. In their case, they bet on 3D printing to manufacture the parts of their vehicles.

The development of its Terran R rocket is especially marked by its intention to make it reusable, something that is quite reminiscent of SpaceX's Falcon 9.

Relativity Space also became part of NASA's Launch Services Program in 2020, like SpaceX and AstraSpace.

Rocket Lab

Comparing its reusable Electron and Neutron rockets with that of SpaceX. Although its headquarters are currently in California, it was founded in 2006 in New Zealand.

Rocket Lab tested in May this year its new method of capturing its own reusable rockets without them falling into the water. In rehearsal, they captured an Electron rocket in mid-flight.

Sierra Space

It is the oldest private space company on the list of SpaceX competitors since it was founded in the 1960s. Sierra Space was in charge of developing Dream Chaser, a ship designed to transport crew and cargo to objects located in orbit low terrestrial, as is the case of the International Space Station.

Read this also: Stunning Images From Space Of The Devastating Floods In Pakistan