The billionaire space race is on, and Elon Musk is winning, according to a former NASA astronaut.

The Tesla and SpaceX chief is locked in a race of sorts with Amazon and Blue Origin CEO Jeff Bezos to be the first to dominate space services — which ranges from sending satellites into orbit to space tourism — and retired astronaut Scott Kelly told Yahoo Finance’s The Final Round that his money was on Musk.

“If I was to pick one over the other, I think Elon is clearly further along now,” said Kelly.

The astronaut, who recently spent 340 days living in space on the International Space Station on a NASA mission to understand how the human body responded to long-duration spaceflights, also added that he has been to both companies’ facilities and has no allegiance to either billionaire.

View photos SpaceX chief Elon Musk speaks during a press conference after the launch of SpaceX Crew Dragon Demo mission at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 2, 2019. (Photo credit: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images) More

Musk and Bezos — the biggest names in the nascent commercial space industry (along with Virgin Galactic Founder Richard Branson) — are currently ramping up their efforts in their space ventures. They have already began to provide a range of services from sending satellites to space to supplying the Space Station goods.

Colonial ambitions

In the meantime, the industry is expected to grow to $1.1 trillion by 2040, according to Morgan Stanley, with most of the gains expected from the private sector.

Musk was ahead at this point because of SpaceX’s relationship with the U.S. government, explained Kelly.

“Elon is flying a spacecraft to orbit that docks, rendezvous, and then is berthed to the International Space Station and flies cargo up there, and pretty soon … he’ll be flying people to lower Earth orbit,” said Kelly. “Now the government has been supporting SpaceX in this, we’ve made a commitment ... by cargo and people.”

Odds at betting site MyBookie also favor Musk, giving SpaceX a 76.9% chance of being the first organization to send humans to Mars.

MyBookie’s head oddsmaker David Strauss told Yahoo Finance that “Elon Musk is hell-bent on landing on Mars quickly and wants to colonize Mars by 2024. SpaceX doesn't have to worry about government funding or any political issues. Just a man (Musk) on a mission, and his mission is not complete.”

Strauss also added that while “[SpaceX] still believes [it] will land on Mars by 2024 or sooner. I would bet sooner.”

View photos SpaceX founder Elon Musk speaks during the 67th International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico, Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2016. (Photo credit: AP/Refugio Ruiz) More

Going to space has been a passion for Musk.

At a press conference in March, Musk told the audience: “I really believe in the future of space … I think it is important that we become a space-faring civilization and be out there among the stars ... We want the things that are in science fiction novels and movies not be science fiction forever. We want them to be real one day.”

After Musk founded the company in 2002, SpaceX has had some crucial wins, landing government contracts with the U.S. Air Force and several other federal agencies to launch rockets and spy satellites into space.

It also raised $600 million in December to invest in a satellite internet service, which hopes to bring faster internet speeds to rural and suburban locations globally.

But Musk, who’s ultimate plan is to colonize Mars, is now under scrutiny as the Department of Defense reconsiders his security clearances after he smoked marijuana on a podcast.