A video from 2002 featuring Elon Musk has recently surfaced, where he discusses his vision for SpaceX. Musk established SpaceX in 2002 and over the years, it has grown to become a prominent player in the aerospace sector.
SpaceX is currently valued at approximately $180 million, while Musk’s personal fortune is nearly $355 billion, making him the wealthiest individual globally.
In 2003, Musk delivered a speech at Stanford University detailing the strategic direction for SpaceX. While the industry has evolved over two decades, the core objectives Musk set for the company have remained consistent.
In a video circulating on Twitter (now X), which Musk owns, a youthful Musk explains: “Our approach is really to make this a solid, sound business.”
“I predicated the strategic plan on a known market, something that we know for a fact exists, which is the need to put small to medium-sized satellites into orbit.”
He continues: “That’s what we’re going after initially. And then, with that as a revenue base, we will move into the human transportation market.”
“The long-term aims of the company are definitely human transportation. I think the smart strategy is to first go for cargo delivery, essentially satellite delivery. And our eventual upgrade path is to build the successor to Saturn V, build a super-heavy lift vehicle that could be used for setting up a moon base or doing a Mars mission. That would be the holy grail objective.”
Musk has adhered to these objectives, recently accomplishing the milestone of sending people into space.
On September 10 of this year, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket embarked on a five-day mission. Billionaire Jared Isaacman became the first individual to participate in a private spacewalk, an event captured in impressive footage.
Isaacman and his crew aboard Falcon 9 tested a new line of lighter spacesuits while marking ‘the first time four humans [have been] simultaneously exposed to the vacuum of space’ by exiting a capsule without a safety airlock.
Significantly, all four participants were civilians rather than professional astronauts from NASA or the military. Joining Isaacman were retired Air Force Lt Col Scott ‘Kidd’ Poteet and SpaceX engineers Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis.