[tinco]

I feel conflicted, at one hand you're complimenting Elon Musk's achievements by comparing SpaceX to NASA and Bell Labs, on the other, you are calling it a vanity project. Which I am sure Musk would not agree with.

Donating money and having your name on a University building, that might be vanity, but more importantly charity. Let's not put mundane judgements on such niceties.

But investing in and aiding in the realization of an operation that comes close to bankrupting and ruining you, that's not vanity, that's a man achieving his dreams and life goals. I'm sure he's flattered and proud of being compared to Iron Man, but I don't think "be likened to Iron Man" is as high on his bucket list as "change the world for the better" is.