This is just a misdirection. I could just as easily said, nobody did it by themselves, including Musk.
What is “it” in this case?
NASA (and the DoD) had vertically landing reusable rockets designed for orbital flights back in the early 1990s. They were being successfully tested but budget cuts killed the program. They weren’t doing “it” because it wasn’t the same priority in that era. NASA has been researching COPVs for decades, etc.
The SpaceAct agreement between NASA and SpaceX allows for sharing of this kind of information. If you think SpaceX has done all their great work alone, you are misinformed and likely making you data fit your conclusion instead of the other way around.
SpaceX has some competitive advantages, but I don’t think they are what you think they are.
Obviously, cheap launches into space.
> If you think SpaceX has done all their great work alone
What I'm saying is SpaceX got it done. No other organization in the world did. The fact that SpaceX had an obvious learning curve of failing and exploding rockets makes it obvious it wasn't just copy and install NASA technology.
NASA's reusable rockets were on the space shuttle, which turned out to be fantastically expensive and impractical.
> NASA has been researching COPVs for decades
Somehow not resulting in a practical, inexpensive reusable rocket.
It's undeniable that NASA has made many great achievements. But making space accessible in an economic manner isn't one of them.
I wasn't referring to the shuttle. Note I said "vertically landing reuseable rockets".
Are you claiming SpaceX doesn't use COPV's, or that don't benefit from prior COPV research? I don't think either position is accurate. Of course no single technological advancement defines space exploration.
Can you elaborate on what you think SpaceX's key advantages are? I can use that to gauge if you really know what you're talking about. I don't want to sound rude, but it's starting to come across as a poorly informed discussion, but one where you have strongly held beliefs. That's not the relationship we should probably hope for.
