Proof Of Performance

It is easy to talk about difficult feats.  Doing them is proof of performance and at the core of public relations.  This is an example of walking the talk.  Never before has a company or space agency flown a second-hand booster into space and then recovered it for use again.  It promises to slash the cost of launches to millions of dollars from tens of millions.  Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, has a right to crow about the performance of his rocket.  It is not hype if one can do it, and he has.  Musk predicts that it will change the industry, but it is a little too early to know if that is true.  Other companies will have to adopt the same philosophy for their boosters and master the mechanics of flying a spent rocket to a location then setting it down gently.  Still, Musk is close to cornering the commercial market with his better and cheaper way of handling launches, and he deserves the revenues he will reap.