SpaceX will make me rich - in spirit

When I was younger, I used to watch the Six Million Dollar Man with Lee Majors.
Many may know, many may not, but the government spent $6 million rebuilding parts of his body after he crashed a military jet on takeoff. One arm, both legs, and an eye were replaced with bionic equipment that made him every little boy’s hero. I think I even had a toy figurine that I could play with.
On Friday, Elon Musk, just for a few moments, became the globe’s first trillion dollar man.
Just for the math geeks out there, that’s 166,666.66 Six Million Dollar Man(s).
Musk’s company SpaceX had what’s called an Initial Public Offering, where shares of the company are offered to the public. The move generated just over $75 billion dollars, so Musk could’ve built 12,500 Six Million Dollar Man(s), in 1970s dollars.
I’m enthralled with what Musk’s company SpaceX is accomplishing. Financial pundits say the company still hasn’t generated a profit quarter to quarter. His wealth doesn’t fascinate me, it just makes me think he can, and should, do more.
He should be doing more than just taking a ‘chainsaw’ to federal programming. He should be doing more than just creating artificial intelligence - but don’t get me started on that perpetual and literal consumption of humanity.
What he should be doing is exploring. The world needs more explorers. All our greatness comes from people who explored. I watched over and over as SpaceX caught a solid rocket booster on a tower. God, I hope that was real.
An object of that mass equipped with ‘chopsticks” and “grid fins” is guided back to a tower with Octagrabs, not to be confused with “The Jerk's” Optigrab that left everyone cockeyed.
It’s 2026 and absolutely nothing surprises me anymore with technology, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not totally captivated by things, and what SpaceX is doing is nothing short of captivating. NASA uses them as porter for cargo and humans to the International Space Station and a government contract can’t be a bad thing. But to have that, and people paying millions for a 15-minute ride on either a SpaceX rocket or Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, makes it hard to imagine not being profitable.
I called my financial rep about the IPO on Friday to ask about the offering and was told to be patient. I was, a little, and as I write this, I don’t know if I have shares in SpaceX or not. What I don’t think I conveyed well enough as I sunk into the couch getting politely scolded to not run into the fire, was that I didn’t care if the investment turned into worthless paper. I just wanted to have an infinitesimal share in the exploration.
There’s never been a time in history where something didn’t work before it worked. Exploration is the manifestation of going headlong into the wind, or in this case, the deep blue to whatever is out there. The adage, “change or die” comes to mind. America has always been at the forefront of exploration, ask Shatner. Musk’s move with SpaceX secures that designation for generations to come. Yeah, he’s gonna blow some stuff up, but you have to crack eggs to make omelets. It’s the price we pay for greatness. It’s the price we pay for someday being able to go to Mars, build a mineral gas station, refuel boosters, and fly back home.
Anybody notice on the last rockets how the propulsion energy is a blue light. All the imagined space moves of the 70s and 80 were propelled by a blue light and not to go all science-guy on you, but I think that’s because it’s oxygen-rich combustion. Next time you're searing salmon in your Ninja skillet over a gas stove, look at the base of the flame. It’s blue.
I could be totally wrong on that and I’m fine, but that’s what’s fascinating about it. We get to watch what he’s doing on television in real time and that in itself is worth the spend to me. In three more lifetimes I could never invest enough to get rich off SpaceX. It’s not about that for me. It’s being able to watch the next launch with just a little different perspective. Just a small break of a smile. I’m not there, but maybe just a little bit – I am.
Musk, in my interrogation of his body of work, is a nut job. But wasn’t Newton, Einstein, Tesla (and in his name I’ll just leave it a three – LOL). We need nut jobs with a little humility and great big aspirations.
I just couldn’t help but wanna be part of it – unlike the apprehension I have for my 40th High School reunion this weekend – but that’s Beside the Point (and don’t do the math).
Chuck Vandenberg is editor and co-owner of Pen City Current and can be reached at Charles.V@PenCityCurrent.com.