Elon Musk's SpaceX caps record year with satellite launch

San Francisco

SPACEX'S launch on Friday evening of a rocket carrying a batch of satellites into low-earth orbit caps a record year for the closely held company led by Elon Musk.

The mission from California's central coast was Space Exploration Technologies Corp's 18th this year. That's more than any competitor and far exceeds the eight it launched in 2016 before a September explosion grounded the company for the rest of the year while an investigation took place.

"SpaceX has had a phenomenal year, and they've motivated and inspired a lot of people as to what is possible," said Eric Stallmer, president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, an industry group for the private space sector.

The coming year is expected to be even bigger. With three launch pads now at their disposal after repairing the one damaged in the September 2016 blast, Mr Musk and chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell have said that they expect to fly roughly 30 missions in …