By 2012, SpaceX had completed its next-generation rocket, the Falcon 9, as well as built a spacecraft, called Dragon, that could dock with the International Space Station. SpaceX became the first privately-owned spaceflight company to send a payload to the ISS in May 2012.
Today, SpaceX is the only company with a spacecraft capable of sending and returning large science-based payloads to and from the ISS, which is critical for keeping the science conducted on board relevant. The other spacecraft, Russia's Soyuz, is designed to shuttle people, not science projects.