Wired News: Fast, Cheap Ride to Earth Orbit: "Fast, Cheap Ride to Earth Orbit By Erik Baard
Story location: http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,61474,00.html
02:00 AM Dec. 05, 2003 PT
NEW YORK -- At 32, Elon Musk has already launched two successful online startups. But it's on a rocket that his reputation may ultimately ride.
On Thursday, Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, unveiled its seven-story Falcon orbital launch vehicle in Washington, D.C., as part of the celebrations honoring the Wright brothers' flight 100 years ago this month.
While dignitaries may wax poetic about the breakthrough at Kitty Hawk, another historic memory gnaws at Musk, the restless founder of Zip2 and co-founder of PayPal. He looks beyond the dark skies to outer space, acutely aware that this month also marks 31 years -- nearly his entire lifetime -- since the last man walked on the moon. The hefty price tag on rocket launches has profoundly limited space efforts, sidelining earlier visions of space colonies and manned exploration.
'Every other aspect of technology has improved dramatically since then,' he said. 'We have to get costs down; otherwise we'll remain in this stalled position ever since the end of the Apollo moon landings. That's crazy. Our long-term goal is to do some good for human access to space. It's not necessarily the biggest business in the world, but it's a good business.' "

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