Elon Musk: It’s Critical That We Keep Improving Cost Per Pound to Orbit

Elon Musk during Falcon Heavy's presentation in 2011: “It's critical that we are constantly improving the cost per pound to orbit.”

“I think if you look at the pricing for Falcon 9, ever since we rolled out the final specifications, we've kept our pricing consistent at around the $50-million level.

We've been very solid in keeping our prices steady, and we do not expect to make price increases in the future except for inflation-related adjustments.

In fact, over time, we really want to reduce the cost per pound to orbit because that is the fundamental gating factor that prevents humanity from becoming a true space-faring civilization. It is just far too expensive to do space travel in the past.

In order for the country and for humanity to have an exciting future in space, it is critical that we are constantly improving the cost per pound to orbit.

With Falcon Heavy, we're demonstrating that we are. Falcon Heavy is a significant improvement over Falcon 9 in the cost per pound to orbit, and it's right around the not-so-mythical-anymore thousand dollar per pound capability.”

Falcon Heavy Presentation in Washington, D.C. April 5, 2011