n 2005, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk scoffed at the idea that rockets had to be expensive to be. “And the same applies to rockets.” Last year, SpaceX made strides toward that vision, completing a record 31 flights of its rocket, including its launch of the first all-civilian crew into orbit at a cost of $55 million per seat; NASA had been paying $80 million per seat in 2017. “They’ve had this incredible impact on the sector in lowering the cost of launch and expanding the number of opportunities, which really is key to this second golden age of space,” says Andrew Rush, president and COO of aerospace manufacturer Redwire that in December sent four advanced materials and plant science payloads to the International Space Station via the . SpaceX rockets aren’t as trusty as a Civic, but for space, they may be as close as we’ll get.
