Its founder, Elon Musk, an immigrant from South Africa (who in his spare time also runs Tesla, the electric-car company), funded it with his own money (which he earned at PayPal, another start-up) and that of other private investors. (Yes, SpaceX does have contracts with NASA, but for a fixed price per launch.)
我们再回到龙飞船项目，它的成功有以下几个因素。 首先，SpaceX是一家私营公司。 因为涉及私人款项，所以杜绝了浪费。 公司创始人埃伦·莫斯克是南非移民（他在闲暇时间还同时经营电动汽车公司Tesla），公司的运营经费来自他（另一家创业企业PayPal 的利润）和其他私人投资家的自有款项。 （是的，SpaceX 的确与美国宇航局订有合同，但每次发射都采用固定价格。）