&gt; Space X has innovated on a number of fronts with less than 1500 employees and only a fraction of the capital that NASA has been allocated. For one, the Space Shuttle program was costing the U.S. $450 million+ per launch. A Falcon 9 launch costs an average of $57 million. There is proof that he can allocate capital better than the government.<p>No it&#x27;s not. The requirements on the two systems were not remotely the same, and it&#x27;s not surprising that a system built 30+ years later with the lessons of the previous system in mind would be more efficient.