Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) has earned a place in the history books with the docking of its Dragon capsule at the international space station, but it remains to be seen whether that will be a transformative triumph or success will be fleeting, Loren Thompson writes on Forbes.com.
Musk still faces numerous obstacles and risks in building a lasting commercial space enterprise, Thompson says, including competitive challenges, technological demands and the inherent danger of the business. “You don’t have to be a critic of SpaceX to see the potential downside for investors intrinsic in rocket launches,” he writes.
However, Thompson says, “The real problem resides with Elon Musk’s main customer, the notoriously capricious and arbitrary federal government.”
