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Originally Posted by Por_sha911
Without getting side-tracked by a debate on defense spending...
I find it humorous that SpaceX is considered a private company. Elon Musk has been living off the Govt teat spending your tax dollars to build something that may or may not ever be viable. The same with Tesla. The U.S. people are SUCKERS and he knows how to milk money right out of your pockets. I don't hate Musk, I hate how he is ripping me off. He is the equivalent to the pet shop owner:
(and yes I am a Python fan)
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Not to get into a debate about people who reject science and technology. But the average cost of the a Shuttle mission was $450 million. That was for developed technology. What Space X has done is start on their own and develop a system that works with I believe 13 landings in a row of technology that NASA couldn't ever accomplish. If we had to pay NASA to do the same thing it would cost 100X times more.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_program
Space X can launch payloads and astronauts soon to the space station.
Here are two data points on the cost savings.
The average cost of a spacex launch is around $92 million.
SpaceX's new price chart illustrates performance cost of reusability - SpaceNews.com
Compare that to Richard Bransons space company that charges about $422 million.
According to analysis by Ars Technica, the figures suggest that competing launch provider United Launch Alliance continues to charge several times more than SpaceX on average, despite ULA’s efforts to lower costs. The document shows an estimated 2020 cost of $422 million per launch if the Air Force selected United Launch Alliance to conduct them. That combines costs for launches using ULA’s large Delta rocket as well as its smaller, less expensive Atlas V rocket.
SpaceX Launch Costs Substantially Undercut Competition, Analysis Says | Fortune.com
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Thus we are getting a hell of a ROI out of spacex and haters need to realize the economics of the space industry are here to stay and going to advance whether you like it or not.