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How (and Why) SpaceX Will Colonize Mars — Page 4 of 5 — Wait But Why | Page 4

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Today, many people have heard of SpaceX. Few know what SpaceX does. And even fewer know what SpaceX really does. Here’s what SpaceX does: It takes things to space for people, for money. And as we established, here’s what SpaceX really does: It’s an innovation machine, trying to solve one big problem—the astronomical cost of space travel—because that’s the key to making humanity a space-faring civilization that can become multi-planetary and back itself up on other hard drives. It supports itself by taking things to space for people, for money. We’ll get to the really does part later. First, let’s look at what it means to take things to space for people, for money. Falcon 9 In 2008, with a successful orbital launch achieved and a slew of new customers eager to sign up for SpaceX’s weirdly cheap space delivery service, it was time for SpaceX to take off the training wheels and build themselves a Harley. Meet Falcon 9:1 Let’s just go ahead and get it out of the way right now—Falcon 9 is t

Phase 2: Revolutionize the cost of space travel Main Characters: Falcon 9, Dragon, Falcon Heavy Goal: Get the price for a trip to Mars down to $500,000/seat Today, many people have heard of SpaceX. Few know what SpaceX does. And even fewer know what SpaceX really does. Here’s what SpaceX does: It takes things to space for people, for money. And as we established, here’s what SpaceX really does: It’s an innovation machine, trying to solve one big problem—the astronomical cost of space travel—because that’s the key to making humanity a space-faring civilization that can b

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