A reusable launch system is a launch system that allows for the reuse of some or all of the component stages. To date, several fully reusable suborbital systems and partially reusable orbital systems have been flown.

The first reusable spacecraft to reach orbit was the Space Shuttle (in 1981), which failed to accomplish the intended goal of reducing launch costs to below those of expendable launch systems.

During the 21st century, commercial interest in reusable launch systems has grown considerably, with several active launchers. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has said that if one can figure out how to reuse rockets like airplanes then the cost of access to space will be reduced by as much as a factor of a hundred. SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket has a reusable first stage and capsule (for Dragon flights) with an expendable second stage. SpaceX has been developing a reusable second stage since the late 2010s which, if successful, could make possible the first fully-reusable orbital launch vehicle during the 2020s. Virgin Galactic has flown reusable suborbital spaceplanes, and the suborbital Blue Origin New Shepard rocket has a recoverable boost stage and passenger capsule.

Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (doing business as SpaceX) is an American aerospace manufacturer, a provider of space transportation services, and a communications corporation headquartered in Hawthorne, California. SpaceX was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs to enable the colonization of Mars. SpaceX manufactures the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles, several rocket engines, Cargo Dragon, crew spacecraft, and Starlink communications satellites.

SpaceX's achievements include the first privately funded liquid-propellant rocket to reach orbit around Earth, the first private company to successfully launch, orbit, and recover a spacecraft, the first private company to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station, the first vertical take-off and vertical propulsive landing for an orbital rocket, the first reuse of an orbital rocket, and the first private company to send astronauts to orbit and to the International Space Station. SpaceX has flown the Falcon 9 series of rockets over one hundred times.

SpaceX is developing a satellite internet constellation named Starlink to provide commercial internet service. In January 2020, the Starlink constellation became the largest satellite constellation ever launched, and as of March 2022 it comprises 2,112 satellites in orbit. The company is also developing Starship, a privately funded, fully reusable, super heavy-lift launch system for interplanetary spaceflight. Starship is intended to become SpaceX's primary orbital vehicle once operational, supplanting the existing Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, and Dragon fleet. Starship will have the highest payload capacity of any orbital rocket ever built on its debut, scheduled for 2022.