Alex McColgan

In 2001, Musk attempted to buy rockets that might start the process of getting supplies to Mars, but realised that it would be cheaper to create his own.

Thanks to the success of SpaceX, which is now currently valued at well over $75 billion, Musk has gained the funds necessary to further his dream.

SpaceX is developing a new line of rocket known as Starship, which they hope will be able to go to the moon and later be able to transport 100 tonnes to Mars, before refuelling there and flying back.

It will be an incredible achievement, and although it takes roughly six months to travel to Mars, it will make the Red Planet far more accessible to humankind.

Space tourism, lunar landings, orbiting facilities and refuelling stations, shipping to Mars…

These are all the stated objectives of the commercial interest looking at space.

And although they're still a long way from achieving some of those goals, the fact that they are making the progress they are, makes those future goals seem all the more plausible.

This is why billionaires travelling into the edges of space in their own rockets is exciting.

It not only marks the beginning of an age where trips for the average person travelling to another planet could one day be real, but it could lead the way for humanity truly being an interplanetary species.

Now, I know these companies have their controversies, which I avoided in this video.

However, what company seems the most promising to you?

Maybe there's a company I didn't mention that has real potential too.

Do you think it's good for there to be healthy competition in this industry?

Let me know what you think in the comments below.

It would be pretty impressive if you somehow missed the news over this last weekend about the successful SpaceX NASA launch to the International Space Station.

Some of you may be wondering though, what is so significant about this?

We've been sending humans to space for a long time, and this trip isn't even to anywhere far away.

The ISS is only a few hundred kilometers above the surface of Earth, after all.

Well, there's a couple of things that make this exciting for space exploration, and space travel in general.

The obvious one, the one everyone has been talking about with every given opportunity, is that this marks the first time astronauts have lifted off from American soil since 2011, since the discontinuation of the space shuttle program.