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Pegasus, an air launched rocket, becomes the first launched vehicle fully developed by a private company to reach space and the first air launched rocket of any kind to reach orbit
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The Office of Commercial Space Transportation is transferred to FAA (Federal Aviation Administration), becoming the FAA Administrator for space transportation
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The Civilian Space eXploration Team (CSXT) becomes the first amateur organization to send a rocket into space
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Scaled Composites’ SpaceShipOne conducts the first privately flown and funded manned spaceflight
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President George W. Bush signs the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004, which provided a basic legal framework for commercial human spaceflight
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A Russian-Ukrainian rocket launches Genesis I, an experimental inflatable space habitat made by Bigelow Aerospace that is the first inflatable habitat module to reach orbit
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SpaceX conducts the first successful launch of its Falcon 1 rocket
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SpaceX successfully launches and recovers its Dragon capsule on its first mission
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The second mission of SpaceX’s Dragon capsule completes a successful rendezvous and berthing with the International Space Station
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A private initiative known as the ISEE-3 Reboot Project successfully contacts and takes control of NASA’s defunct ISEE-3 space probe
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LuxSpace, an aerospace contractor based in Luxembourg, Launches the Manfred Memorial Moon Mission, the first private payload sent to the moon
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President Barack Obama signs the U.S Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act, also known as the spurring private aerospace competitiveness and entrepreneurship act
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Blue Origin successfully launches its New Shepard launch system into space and lands it vertically, making it the first VTVL rocket to land on Earth from space.
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SpaceX lands the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket at Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral, marking the first recovery of a VTVL stage from an orbital rocket