Just last month, Elon Musk’s SpaceX successfully achieved the landmark technical feat of being the first privately-owned company to deliver human beings to the International Space Station, on one of it’s celebrated Falcon 9 rockets.

Experts reckon this marks the start of what could be a golden age of space exploration, as independent actors, free from the shackles of unpredictable public finances or whims of whoever happened to win the last election, can accelerate makinds’ long-promised progress out into the stars.

But how did SpaceX actually do it? Through brilliant engineering knowhow, of course, and a cost-conscious, business minded strategy. So today we’re examining the question – how does SpaceX build their rockets?

How Does SpaceX Build Their Rockets