They take a different approach to things and are so much cheaper than the other legacy companies and partnerships like ULA.

NASA said this about SpaceX:
“The NASA chief alluded to multiple technical challenges and setbacks that have delayed the project and said SpaceX had adopted a different, more-nimble strategy than NASA’s traditional approach of seeking to avoid test failures. “They test, they fail, they fix, they fly,” he said, adding that NASA was satisfied with the safety of the rocket along with the spacecraft on top of it.”



Consequently, they’ve made one improbable achievement after another. Being able to reuse boosters has made everything so much more affordable. No one thought that possible when they started trying. Now they are consistently successful to the point it is expected that they recover every one. The result: NASA, the military, and private companies can launch more with the same budget.

A Falcon9 launch costs about $62 million. Competitors charge around $160 million. A Falcon Heavy launch will cost around $90 million.

Boeing was caught completely by surprise by this upstart company. Which is awesome. This competition is exactly what the space program needs to be reinvigorated and reach new heights.

Said one Boeing executive:
"People are annoyed by Elon — how does this guy who smokes pot beat us?"

Boeing has gotten to comfortable and too expensive being at the top of the pile. Now they are eating humble pie.

“One industry veteran told me, ‘You know their rockets are put together with rubber bands and sealing wax,’” Lori Garver, a former deputy NASA administrator who has long advocated for the program to outsource travel to the private sector, told WaPo. “‘It’s not real. It won’t fly.’”

Well, fly they did - and they’ve been eating Boeing’s and ULA’s lunch for a while now - at a price much lower than previously paid, giving us Americans much more blast for the buck.

It is so cool to watch this happen.