MUSK'S SPACEX: SMOKE AND MIRRORS TO DAZZLE THE RUBES

From Business Insider, CNN Business, Various Sources

Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX, addressed planet Earth on Saturday night about his latest plans to "extend consciousness beyond Earth" using a towering steel spaceship.

Standing between two rockets that represented both the future of SpaceX and its nail-biting past, Musk delivered his talk to more than 100 people from the company's fast-developing launch site in Boca Chica, southeast Texas.

Hours before Elon Musk was scheduled to host the Boca Chica event about his futuristic rocket concept, the chief of NASA chided SpaceX for delays in its multi-billion contract to fly astronauts to space.

"I am looking forward to the SpaceX announcement tomorrow," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said Friday on Twitter.

 "In the meantime, Commercial Crew is years behind schedule. NASA expects to see the same level of enthusiasm focused on the investments of the American taxpayer."

"It's time to deliver," he said.

Musk's space company has multiple billion-dollar contracts with NASA.

Bridenstine also retweeted a comment from Ars Technica writer Eric Berger that said the statement did not read "as a shot to SpaceX, but rather a reflection of Jim's desire to see all NASA contractors meet their deadlines for government contracts."

Behind Musk was a shorter rocket called Falcon 1, which — after three catastrophic failures in 2006, 2007, and 2008 — finally delivered a small payload into space for the first time. The mission also prevented Musk and SpaceX from going broke.

"Eleven years ago today SpaceX made orbit for the first time," Musk said of that first successful Falcon 1 launch, on September 28, 2008. "If that fourth launch had not succeeded, there would have been curtains. But fate smiled upon us that day."

SpaceX's Starship Mark 1 prototype rocket ship (left) on September 28, 2019, next to Falcon 1 (right): the company's first rocket, which sent its inaugural payload to orbit 11 years ago. 

SpaceXTwitter

As Musk spoke, all eyes were fixed on the 164-foot, stainless-steel rocket ship behind Musk that SpaceX had finished assembling only hours before his speech.

"I think this is the most inspiring thing I've ever seen," Musk said of the vehicle, called Starship Mark 1: a critical prototype for a planned system called Starship. A complete Starship may stand 40 stories tall at a launch pad, ferry dozens of people into orbit at a time, and eventually send crews to the moon and Mars.

SpaceX did not respond to CNN Business' request for comment on Bridenstine's statement. NASA declined comment.

NASA set up the Commercial Crew program shortly after the Shuttle Program ended in 2011, with plans to tap the private sector to develop the next spacecraft capable of taking astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

SpaceX and Boeing were awarded $2.6 billion and $4.2 billion contracts, and the expectation was that the companies would have the spacecraft up and running by 2017.

But both companies suffered extensive delays. SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule flew an uncrewed demonstration mission in March, during which it briefly docked with the ISS. But a few weeks later, the spacecraft was destroyed during a ground test when a leaky valve triggered an explosion.

Crew Dragon is expected to be further delayed as it works on the issue. NASA and SpaceX have not said when they expect Crew Dragon to be back on the launch pad.

Musk's focus has been on Starship, a towering rocket that he hopes will one day land the first humans on Mars. 

SpaceX quickly ramped up development of the spacecraft in 2019. The company built an early prototype at a test site in South Texas, and it completed a few low-altitude tests this summer.

Two new Starship prototypes are now under construction, and Musk gave the presentation, updating the public on his Mars travel plans.

NASA gave SpaceX its first major contract in 2008 when the startup was strapped for cash and still developing its hardware, and Musk has credited NASA as an essential partner.

Musk said in 2018 that SpaceX was "all hands on deck for Crew Dragon," and it would be making trips to the ISS by December 2018.

After that, he said, "most of our engineering resources will be dedicated to BFR, and I think that will make things go quite quickly," he said. BFR was the earlier name for Starship.

(Locally, Musk received $35 million in incentives from local and state entities with the promise that SpaceX would launch 12 satellites yearly from Boca Chica starting in 2013 and hire hundreds of workers at jobs starting at $75,000. Not one satellite has been launched after six years and no such jobs have materialized .)

SpaceX "intends" to fly a Starship to orbit by the end of this year, according to Musk.

The Boca Chica site is now a SpaceX test site, not a launch site. Besides the upcoming orbital flight planned for sometime this year, Musk said the next test would take place some six months from now there. 

There was no mention of school children getting tours, no mention of the projected hotel revenue from tourists coming to watch the launches from the county's $21 million investment in coastal parks that includes an amphitheater to see the launches, no SpaceX memorabilia, no new rich investors buying homes and properties around Boca Chica beach, or the projected boom in development along Highway 4 leading to the site.

 Musk told local dignitaries that there is a "50-50" chance that launches to Mars will take off from Boca Chica. But according to industry watchers, that is highly unlikely since Florida is already set up for such launches and the Boca Chica site is looking more like a write-off for Musk. 

The other contender is SpaceX's Florida launch site. Regardless, Musk told gullible local officials and reporters that it is "extremely likely" humans will fly to the Red Planet from Boca Chica, following successful non-crewed flights, in the "near future," he said.

What we have had is smoke coming from a big metal rocket that makes a lot of noise and restricted  access to the only free road to Boca Chica that — if Musk has his way, won’t be free for long. Should we be ready to rename Boca Chica Beach the Elon Musk Private Beach?