Wednesday, May 4, 2011
SpaceX: Over $3 Billion In Revenues On Manifest
Hawthorne-based SpaceX, the commercial rocket firm run by technology mogul Elon Musk, disclosed today in an email to supporters that the firm has racked up over $3 billion in revenues in its launch manifest, and has been profitable since 2007. The email, from Musk, said that SpaceX has so far invested less than $800M for the development of its Falcon 1, Falcon 9, and Dragon spacecraft, since being founded in 2002 until 2010. Musk sent out the details under an email titled "Why the US Can Beat China: The Facts About SpaceX Costs". SpaceX is selling prices of a standard flight of the Falcon 9 at $54M. The firm said an inflation adjusted price for a NASA Dragon cargo mission will cost $115M. The email appears to be in response to reports that Chinese competitor China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. finds that SpaceX's prices are too low for China to match.