If SpaceX is just building on existing knowledge that everyone else who cooperated with NASA has access to, then why is SpaceX so much better at rocketry than everyone else? NASA is spending 1.5-2 billion dollars per year for ~10 years to develop their expensive one-use super-heavy lift rocket, whereas SpaceX spent &lt;1 billion in total to get to the Falcon 9.  SpaceX is making the first real moves towards lower-cost launch systems, and this is a completely different (and more sustainable) achievement than going to the moon by throwing money into the spigot.