Elon Musk
Bet SpaceX's last money on a fourth launch — and put the first private liquid-fueled rocket into orbit.
The episode
By August 2008, SpaceX had flown its Falcon 1 rocket three times and watched it fail three times — the third loss carrying NASA satellites and the ashes of astronaut Gordon Cooper. Tesla was bleeding cash in the same financial crisis, and Musk later admitted the company had money left for only one more attempt. The team turned the next rocket around in under two months. On September 28, 2008, Falcon 1's fourth flight reached orbit — the first privately developed liquid-fueled rocket ever to do so, watched live by employees six years into the project. That December, NASA awarded SpaceX a $1.6 billion cargo contract. "The fourth launch worked," Musk said later, "or that would have been it for SpaceX."
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