These are the 7 biggest milestones in the aerospace industry so far this millennium: Review 24 years of rockets with us

After creating NASA in 1958, the American administration in charge of space research took only 10 years to conquer the Moon, an achievement so great that we have not achieved it again. But from the year 2000 to 2024, we have achieved other milestones.

Subscribe to the Softonic newsletter and get the latest in tech, gaming, entertainment and deals right in your inbox.

Subscribe (it's FREE) ►

The emergence of private companies and the liberalization of space programs have accelerated the business of space exploration, which seemed to be at a standstill.

Today we are going to select what we consider the 7 most important milestones in the aerospace industry that have occurred in the last 24 years. If you feel that an important moment is missing, don’t take it personally: To select 7 moments, many more had to be left out of the list.

Artemis I

Everyone has forgotten that the program to conquer the Moon again began with Artemis I, a mission in which an uncrewed Orion spacecraft flew around the Moon at the end of 2022.

NASA has invested more money in the Artemis Program than in any other space mission in the last 24 years. With the Artemis I mission, NASA will mark a milestone in the program that will finally return humans to deep space after more than half a century—even if we are delayed.

The Dragon capsule crew

The retirement of the space shuttle in 2011 marked a painful moment for NASA. The space agency had to spend several years convincing Americans that the space program was not shutting down. NASA leaders also had to go to the Russian space corporation to ask them to take their astronauts to the International Space Station.

Then in 2020, SpaceX and its Dragon spacecraft arrived. The return of the United States to manned space flights was a significant technical achievement for SpaceX, which became the first private company to put humans into orbit, and allowed NASA to send more astronauts to the space station and make the most of the research capabilities of that facility.

Detection of gravitational waves

Although he theorized about their existence a century ago, physicist Albert Einstein was not sure that humans would be able to detect the faint echoes of gravitational waves traveling through the vastness of space.

However, experimental physicists struggled to achieve it for decades. Then, in February 2016, two LIGO observatories announced that they had detected gravitational waves from two merging black holes. This marked a triumphant moment for experimental physics and confirmed a key principle of Einstein’s general relativity.

The rise of space tourism

It wasn’t until the summer of 2021 that space tourism “took off.” First with the spacecraft VSS Unity from Virgin Galactic and then with Blue Origin’s New Shepard vehicle that took private citizens to suborbital space.

Shortly after, in September 2021, businessman Jared Isaacman commanded the first private orbital mission, Inspiration4, aboard the Crew Dragon. In December of that same year, the daughter of the first American, Laura Shepard-Churchley, followed in her father’s footsteps by flying on a similar trajectory aboard a spacecraft that bore her name. Private space travel is not yet commonplace, but the door has been opened.

China fully enters the space race

One of the main stories of this century is the rise of the Chinese space program and its efforts to challenge the preeminence of the United States. This has been most evident in the country’s efforts to study and land on the Moon with its Chang’e project. In 2007, China flew its first orbiter to the Moon, and in 2013, the Chang’e 3 spacecraft successfully landed on the Moon and deployed the small Yutu rover.

These initial successes laid the groundwork for even more ambitious missions. In 2019, the Chang’e 4 mission landed on the far side of the Moon, the first time anyone had achieved this. Subsequently, the country’s space program embarked on robotic sample return missions, including the Chang’e 6 mission at the Moon’s South Pole this year. China aims to send humans to the Moon by 2030, competing with NASA and the United States.

The SpaceX rockets that are captured

On October 13 of this year, SpaceX launched its massive Starship rocket for the fifth time, but the profile of this flight was different, as the company intended to recover the first stage of the rocket, the so-called Super Heavy.

Surprisingly, the rocket returned to the launch site, stopped next to the launch tower, and was caught in the air by a pair of hooks to be placed back on the launch stand.

This technical achievement demonstrates several important things, including the verification of the radical approach to catching a rocket and also allows SpaceX to accelerate the development and testing of Starship.

The launch of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy

This February 2018 mission is very important. The visual effects were irresistible. The rocket launch itself was impressive, with the combination of 27 Merlin rocket engines. Next, the twin rockets separated and returned to Earth, landing like a pair of synchronized swimmers. Finally, the stunning vision of a cherry red Tesla (and Starman) moving away from Earth towards Mars.

It was a spectacle that captured the public’s attention. But the new rocket was more than a spectacle. By designing, building, and launching the Falcon Heavy, SpaceX demonstrated that a private company could independently finance and fly the largest and most powerful rocket in the world.

This demonstrated that commercial heavy-lift rockets were possible. By competing with the Delta IV Heavy, the Falcon Heavy saved billions for the U.S. government. This means that it is likely the U.S. government will never again design and develop a rocket.