SpaceCon

Space Consortium (SpaceCon) was an American aerospace manufacturer and space transportation services company headquartered in Palmdale, California. It was founded in 1949 by William Winslow with the goal of being the first private individual to send humans to the Moon and beyond. SpaceCon manufactured a majority of the materials and spacecraft for early U.S. Air Force space efforts and later, U.S. Space Command spacecraft. As well as, NASA/JPL satellites, civilian habitats, launch vehicles, and rocket engines. In 1959, SpaceCon became the first private company to send humans to orbit beating both the USSR and the USA by nearly two full years. Through a series of mergers and sales, SpaceCon became part of Yoyodyne Propulsion, which later became a subsidiary component of Vega Aerospace.