[mousquet]

^ Yep, I heard this SpaceX thing was obviously widely subsidized by the feds, and benefited from the help of Nasa.

No wonder. It is simply impossible for a private corporation to develop a launcher in just a few years without the assistance of related public agencies and all the experience they've earned since the 1950s.

The idea is to take this most prestigious business to the private sector to boost it.
Some other private operators, the bosses of Amazon and of Virgin are interested too, already developing some projects of theirs in that matter.

The initiative is certainly positive, and adventurous entrepreneurs are always deserving of support anyway.
But for now, I suppose they would fail without any public subsidies.
This industry's just still way too costly to be backed by private interests alone.
They still need the support of the public authorities and some taxpayer money.

Now Tesla's just a fun little toy compared to Musk's ambitious space plans.