[HenryBemis]

> worrying to have a capacity like this so concentrated in one company

If it wasn't US spending their precious $$$$ on this (Elon says that in the end of they day these are ICBM's going to space), none of this would have happened.

I think that this deal "US gets super-duper ICBMs" and "Elon takes us to space" is a great deal.

I don't think any company's wallet can afford this, and Russia/China are decades away to do this on their own. Sharing technology is (so far) out of the questions because of the certain weapon-isation of the tech.

So for the next few decades it is Elon or nothing.

[chneu]

I think you're really discounting China. They have the resources, motivation, and the track record to fast track this. They've already landed rovers and have their own space station. They can fail faster than the US can succeed because of sheer size.