SpaceX
This is how big SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy and BFR rocket is in real life
An artist duo has published an impressive, unofficial look at the true size of SpaceX’s reusable rockets, using a brilliant combination of 3D modeling and animation to really compare Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, and BFR with recognizable landmarks and cityscapes, lending an incredible sense of scale to the extraordinary feats of engineering that SpaceX routinely launches, lands, and relaunches every month.
In the video, posted on the Corridor YouTube channel on June 19, VFX artist Wren Weichman — known on social media as “sirwrender” — acts as the host of a brief clip where he tours viewers around an office and several cityscapes populated with scale-model 3D renders of all of SpaceX’s various rockets, both those currently operational and those under development. His point is undeniably true: human brains simply are not accustomed to or easily able to build accurate mental pictures of vast real-world objects. The reality almost invariably comes as a visceral shock to onlookers, even those that know better than to trust their perceptual instincts. Be it grand natural wonders or human constructs, humans are quite simply bad at estimating scale until they do so in person.
- SpaceX technicians work at the base of Falcon 9 B1039 ahead of launch, CRS-14. (Tom Cross)
- The scale of Falcon Heavy. (Photo: Tom Cross)
- The hypersonic X-15 and Falcon 9 S1, with a common 737-800 airliner on the right. All vehicles are roughly to scale. (Wikipedia, SpaceX)
With the case of rockets and their launches, this is doubly true and further exaggerated by the fact that launch webcasts, videos, and photos often feature unfamiliar backgrounds of industrial equipment or a perfectly featureless skies, all while almost invariably excluding (for good reasons…) familiarly scaled features like people, cars, animals, or everyday buildings. In many cases, preparations for rocket launches are often the absolute best times available for photos that truly give a sense of scale, as it’s actually reasonably safe to be and work in close proximity to an unfueled rocket.
With the help of models of Falcon 9, Heavy, and BFR created by 3D design Reese Wilson (@AstroReeseW), Wren (@sirwrender) takes those scale shortcomings to task and does his best to create examples with the very cues that average fans and viewers rarely get to see alongside real-life rockets.
- Wren’s example of a rough, uneducated estimate of Falcon 9 legs based on easily available images and livestreams. (sirwrender/astroreesew)
- The full-sized Falcon 9 landing leg is just a smidge larger in reality. (sirwrender/astroreesew)
- A handful of rather absurd cases also serve to illustrate just how huge SpaceX’s rockets are. (sirwrender/astroreesew)
- Just your run-of-the-mill pile of Falcon Heavies in suburban New York City. (sirwrender/astroreesew)
The video really needs to be watched to be fully appreciated – my favorite segment is near the start, where Wren notes that viewers likely expect some of the seemingly insignificant components, projecting a layperson size-estimate of a Falcon 9 landing leg inside his workplace before expanding it all the way to full-scale, at which point the leg literally does not fit inside the office. Visualizations of BFR further show that the crewed Mars rocket will effortlessly dwarf the already massive Falcon 9 and Heavy.
Regardless of whether you were or were not intimately familiar with the actual scale of SpaceX’s many rockets, Wren and Reese make for a seriously entertaining (and educational) combination. Here’s to hoping the duo ventures into more spaceflight and SpaceX videos in the future! Enjoy the video below.
Elon Musk
SpaceX IPO could push Elon Musk’s net worth past $1 trillion: Polymarket
The estimates were shared by the official Polymarket Money account on social media platform X.
Recent projections have outlined how a potential $1.75 trillion SpaceX IPO could generate historic returns for early investors. The projections suggest the offering would not only become the largest IPO in history but could also result in unprecedented windfalls for some of the company’s key investors.
The estimates were shared by the official Polymarket Money account on social media platform X.
As noted in a Polymarket Money analysis, Elon Musk invested $100 million into SpaceX in 2002 and currently owns approximately 42% of the company. At a $1.75 trillion valuation following SpaceX’s potential $1.75 trillion IPO, that stake would be worth roughly $735 billion.
Such a figure would dramatically expand Musk’s net worth. When combined with his holdings in Tesla Inc. and other ventures, a public debut at that level could position him as the world’s first trillionaire, depending on market conditions at the time of listing.
The Bloomberg Billionaires Index currently lists Elon Musk with a net worth of $666 billion, though a notable portion of this is tied to his TSLA stock. Tesla currently holds a market cap of $1.51 trillion, and Elon Musk’s currently holds about 13% to 15% of the company’s outstanding common stock.
Founders Fund, co-founded by Peter Thiel, invested $20 million in SpaceX in 2008. Polymarket Money estimates the firm owns between 1.5% and 3% of the private space company. At a $1.75 trillion valuation, that range would translate to approximately $26.25 billion to $52.5 billion in value.
That return would represent one of the most significant venture capital outcomes in modern Silicon Valley history, with a growth of 131,150% to 262,400%.
Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company, invested $900 million into SpaceX in 2015 and is estimated to hold between 6% and 7% of the private space firm. At the projected IPO valuation, that stake could be worth between $105 billion and $122.5 billion. That’s a growth of 11,566% to 14,455%.
Other major backers highlighted in the post include Fidelity Investments, Baillie Gifford, Valor Equity Partners, Bank of America, and Andreessen Horowitz, each potentially sitting on multibillion-dollar gains.
Elon Musk
SpaceX considering confidential IPO filing this March: report
The filing could pave the way for a June listing at a valuation that may exceed $1.75 trillion.
SpaceX is reportedly preparing to confidentially file for an initial public offering (IPO) as soon as March. The filing could pave the way for a June listing at a valuation that may exceed $1.75 trillion, potentially making it the largest IPO in history.
The update was initially reported by Bloomberg News, which cited information shared by people reportedly familiar with the matter.
As per the publication, a confidential filing allows a company to receive regulatory feedback before publicly releasing its financials. Bloomberg’s source, however, noted that the timing of SpaceX’s IPO is still under discussion and plans could change.
SpaceX did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
A March submission would mark the clearest step yet toward bringing Elon Musk’s private space company into public markets. People familiar with the preparations said the offering could raise as much as $50 billion. That would surpass the $29 billion debut of Saudi Aramco in 2019, currently the largest IPO on record.
Major banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley, and Bank of America Corp. are reportedly positioned for senior roles in the transaction. SpaceX is also said to be considering a dual-class structure that would allow insiders, including Musk, to retain enhanced voting control.
Satellite communications provider EchoStar Corp., which holds a stake in SpaceX, reportedly saw its shares rise following news of the potential filing.
At a valuation exceeding $1.75 trillion, SpaceX would immediately have a larger market cap than all but five of the companies traded in the S&P 500 index. That figure would place it ahead of Meta Platforms Inc. and Tesla Inc. by market capitalization, trailing only a small group of mega-cap firms such as Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp.
The scale of the proposed valuation reflects SpaceX’s dominance in orbital launch services and its Starlink satellite network, which serves millions of users globally. The company has also outlined long-term expansion plans tied to higher Starship launch cadence, orbital infrastructure, and lunar development initiatives.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk outlines plan for first Starship tower catch attempt
Musk confirmed that Starship V3 Ship 1 (SN1) is headed for ground tests and expressed strong confidence in the updated vehicle design.
Elon Musk has clarified when SpaceX will first attempt to catch Starship’s upper stage with its launch tower. The CEO’s update provides the clearest teaser yet for the spacecraft’s recovery roadmap.
Musk shared the details in recent posts on X. In his initial post, Musk confirmed that Starship V3 Ship 1 (SN1) is headed for ground tests and expressed strong confidence in the updated vehicle design.
“Starship V3 SN1 headed for ground tests. I am highly confident that the V3 design will achieve full reusability,” Musk wrote.
In a follow-up post, Musk addressed when SpaceX would attempt to catch the upper stage using the launch tower’s robotic arms.
“Should note that SpaceX will only try to catch the ship with the tower after two perfect soft landings in the ocean. The risk of the ship breaking up over land needs to be very low,” Musk clarified.
His remarks suggest that SpaceX is deliberately reducing risk before attempting a tower catch of Starship’s upper stage. Such a milestone would mark a major step towards the full reuse of the Starship system.
SpaceX is currently targeting the first Starship V3 flight of 2026 this coming March. The spacecraft’s V3 iteration is widely viewed as a key milestone in SpaceX’s long-term strategy to make Starship fully reusable.
Starship V3 features a number of key upgrades over its previous iterations. The vehicle is equipped with SpaceX’s Raptor V3 engines, which are designed to deliver significantly higher thrust than earlier versions while reducing cost and weight.
The V3 design is also expected to be optimized for manufacturability, a critical step if SpaceX intends to scale the spacecraft’s production toward frequent launches for Starlink, lunar missions, and eventually Mars.






