Elon Musk Interview

Meet The Man Who's Revolutionizing The Future Of Driving - And The Universe

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JC: Your fourth cargo mission to ISS is approaching soon. When will you actually send astronauts? Leroy Chiao , who is on SpaceX’s Safety Advisory Board, says it will likely be four years. But jokingly he told me that you would probably say two.

EM: It’s quite likely that it will be by the end of 2016 -- in a little more than two years.

JC: Is there a big difference formatting the Dragon capsule for humans versus cargo?

EM: There is a difference if you want to have a dramatic improvement in safety and emergency systems. As it is, our cargo Dragon maintains sea-level pressure and normal room temperature in the pressurized module. If somebody had stowed away on any of our flights, they would have made it to ISS and back fine, no problem. We’re required to transport biological cargo -- fish and mice, that kind of thing -- so it has to be able to support life. And the pressurized cargo area is quite big: 12 cubic meters -- plenty of room for a person.

JC: Both Tesla and SpaceX are big-idea, contrarian types of companies. What takes you down that path, and why are you so successful? Many people have good ideas that go nowhere.

EM: Well, I came close to not succeeding myself [in 2008]. I’m very focused on trying to create the best product. In my case I’m a seer, but I’m a seer because I have to be. What I really spend my time doing is the engineering. The companies are a way to amplify great engineering by working with smart people. Important technology problems get solved that way. If you look at space companies, they’ve failed either because they’ve had a technical solution where success was not one of the possible outcomes, they were unable to attract a critical mass of talent or they just ran out of money before they got to the finish line. The finish line is usually a lot further away than you think it is.

JC: You have aggressively pursued reusability with your rocket systems, a seemingly common-sense approach to space travel given the enormous cost of hardware. Why has this concept been so elusive?