Launching a Truck Into Space
SpaceX set out to build the cheap and reliable T-Ford rocket.
The Falcon Explorer was the result of their hard work,
but they would later change the name to Falcon 1. As the
number 1 indicates, the Falcon 1 would be the first in a
series of rockets named after the spacecraftMillennium
Falconfrom theStar Warsmovies.^299 The main character
in the first trilogy, Luke Skywalker, called the ship “a piece
of junk” when he first saw it. “The ship may not look like
much, but she’s got it where it counts,” the captain of the
Millennium Falcon, Han Solo, told Skywalker.
Neither Falcon 1 looked like much. SpaceX designed the
rocket to have the same performance as a reliable truck.
“Think of cars, is a Ferrari more reliable than a Toyota
Corolla or a Honda Civic?” Elon asked. “Current rockets are
designed to have ultra-high performance, often to the point
of far exceeding the thrust needed to get the job done. Right
now, a lot of rockets used to launch satellites are former
missiles. The way the launches work, it’s as if when you
boarded a commercial jetliner you knew that should any
of the engines fail, you’d crash and die. Would you get on
board?”288,289,311
But it wouldn’t be cheap to design the truck. SpaceX
needed much of the initial capital together with govern-
ment funding – approximately $100 million.^280 The total