I Don’t Need These Russians 135
a rocket with a capsule on the top. To lower the price per
launch, all parts of the rocket had to be reusable within a
matter of hours – not months as with the Space Shuttle.
SpaceX needed to avoid the mentality of other companies
that design expensive rockets just to make more money
from the government. “Our first order of business is to
defeat the incumbent, old school rocket companies,” Elon
said. “Lockheed. Boeing. Russia. China. If this is a chess
game, they don’t have much of a chance.”^50