Geoff Brumfiel A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a payload of 20 Starlink satellites is seen in the evening sky above Lawndale, Calif., after being launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base on June 18, 2024. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption What the Trump-Musk breakup may mean for SpaceX and Tesla "When Elon shot back bringing SpaceX into it, I think that was strategically a mistake," she says. "It just highlights for government leaders the risk in having a prime large aerospace and defense contractor run by one individual." During Garver's tenure at NASA, SpaceX was viewed as an underdog in the satellite launch business, trying to stand out against United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture formed to provide launch services to the government and comprising aerospace heavyweights Lockheed Martin and Boeing. But SpaceX's powerful Falcon rockets changed that dynamic, according to Laura Forczyk, owner of the space consulting firm Astralytical. The big shift occurred when SpaceX put considerable money and effort into perfecting an innovative system to soft-land the rocket's booster stage for refurbishment and reuse. This innovation increased launch frequency and reduced costs, which made SpaceX more attractive to the Pentagon. Forczyk said the Defense Department "began to rely more on SpaceX because of that increased launch capacity as well as the lower bid when it came to launch contracts." Sponsor Message Today, SpaceX dominates both the U.S. and global launch markets. According to BryceTech, a private analytics firm, SpaceX launched 83% of all spacecraft worldwide last year. The Defense Department has also come to rely heavily on SpaceX's Starlink global satellite internet service, with about 50 military commands now using it, according to Defense News. In 2021, SpaceX also signed a classified $1.8 billion contract with the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office to launch a network of satellites designed to create a government-owned encrypted version of Starlink for military use on future battlefields.