>>11529163Consider that three other billionaires have founded their own space companies (Jeff Bezos & Blue Origin, Charles Branson & Virgin Galactic, the late Paul Allen & Stratolaunch), yet at best those companies have only dinked around with suborbital stuff, or built a big plane. Also consider that the Falcon 9 & Heavy are more capable rockets than anything the Russians, Chinese, or ESA can build right now. Ol'Musky is doing something better than anyone else in the space business.
I chalk it up to Musk introducing a rapid iteration & testing regime to an industry convinced that you should do endless simulations & small tests before doing anything. Getting good physical data is worth blowing up prototypes, and ends up being faster & cheaper. SpaceX's vertical integration also helps keep cost down, and Musk is also good at meeting with his engineers and asking important questions, like "why the fuck does this cost so much"? For example, the Airforce wanted SpaceX to use $2 million special cranes to lift up the Falcon rockets; Musk was like why not use normal $300k cranes?
