Elon Musk: SpaceX Exists to Reverse the Decline in Rocket Technology

Elon Musk: We're trying to achieve a huge advancement in rocket technology.

“With SpaceX, what we're trying to do is achieve a huge advancement in rocket technology. If you look at rocket technology, it actually got worse over time.

In 1969, we were able to go to the moon, and then with the Space Shuttle, we were only able to go to Low Earth Orbit.

Then, the Space Shuttle went away, and then we weren't able to go to orbit from the United States.

That's a negative trend line. It's not like you can extrapolate that trend line into the future, and it gets good. It's a trend line to zero.

If it's not going to come from the government, then it's got to come from a private company.”

From: Mars, Inside SpaceX, National Geographic, 2018