spacex

"When Falcon Heavy lifts off, it will be the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two."

Following the successful Zuma mission, SpaceX's new massive Falcon Heavy rocket will be launched later this month.

From going to Mercury to taking tourists on space rides, there is a lot to look forward to in 2018.

The Falcon Heavy rocket is now vertical on pad 40, the same launchpad that launched the historic Apollo 11 moon rocket.

It is still unclear as to what the Zuma satellite's mission is and what branch of the US government the spacecraft belongs to.

As 2017 comes to a close, it is time to look back and see the top five moments that marked SpaceX's domination in the spacefaring arena.

SpaceX's final mission for the year, the Falcon 9 launch, was not just successful, but also caused quite a stir in California.

Standing 230ft tall after assembly, the Falcon Heavy rocket will take to the skies in a historic launch next month.

The tweet immediately triggered speculation that he could be looking to recruit Oculus CTO John Carmack.

"This was a fantastic way to end the year for SpaceX east coast launches," Jessica Jensen, director of SpaceX's Dragon Mission Management, said.

The historic mission will also see SpaceX attempt to launch a previously used orbit rocket and a pre-flown Dragon capsule for the first time.

The historic attempt comes just months after SpaceX first relaunched a used Falcon 9 rocket booster into space in March.

Musk plans to initiate the mission to Mars with his BFR rocket in 2022.

After saying he will be launching a car into space, Elon Musk then said he was not going to. But sources later confirmed the news that there is going to be a Tesla Roadster aboard the Falcon Heavy.

Over the past few months, many women have come forward to voice their experiences and complaints of sexual harassment and sexism in Silicon Valley.

"We are now conducting a thorough and fully transparent investigation of the root cause," the company said.

The AFSPC has also been working closely with the NRO to develop a fleet of spacecraft by 2030, which could detect, deter, and if needed even destroy threats in space.

This comes as the Elon Musk-owned company keeps up its blistering launch pace and seems on course to achieve the goal set by SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell earlier this year.

The December mission will mark the first flight from the refurbished launch pad SLC-40 since the explosion.

Details about the launch of Zuma was sourced from FAA records and from Nasa's space flight registry, but no one knows what the launch is for.

Elon Musk did an AMA where he made a few interesting revelations about how far the project has come, including interesting technical details about his rockets.

The successful feat marks the third time SpaceX has used a "flight proven" Falcon 9 rocket booster.

"Each successful launch brings us one step closer to both a technological and financial transformation," Iridium CEO Matt Desch said.

The first launch has been scheduled for Monday, 9 October, while the second will take place a couple of days later on Wednesday, 11 October.

Russian officials have recognised the challenge posed by SpaceX and others but - 60 years after Sputnik - can the nation ever hope to regain its place in the global market?

Orbiting space station would allow astronauts carry out explorations of the Red Planet.

Elon Musk believes humans have to be a multi-planet species.

The video comes ahead of Musk's presentation on the SpaceX Interplanetary Transport System at the IAC conference on Friday.

The company plans to launch a constellation of thousands of satellites to provide affordable global internet.

The spacecraft's safe return marked the end of SpaceX's 12th resupply mission to the International Space Station.