The odds of me coming into the rocket business, not knowing anything about rockets, not having ever built anything, I mean, I would have to be insane if I thought the odds were in my favor.

We're working to lower the cost of spaceflight so that many people can afford to go and so that we humans can better continue exploring the solar system. Accomplishing this mission will take time, and we're working on it methodically.

Your probability of dying on Mars is much higher than earth. Really, the ad for going to Mars would be like Shackleton's ad for going to the Antarctic: "It's gonna be hard. There's a good chance of death, going in a little can through deep space. You might land successfully. Once you land successfully, you'll be working nonstop to build the base."

We are not shooting for the moon. We are shooting for Mars. A maniacal sense of urgency is our operating principle.

The revolutionary breakthrough will come with rockets that are fully and rapidly reusable. We will never conquer Mars unless we do that. It'll be too expensive. The American colonies would never have been pioneered if the ships that crossed the ocean hadn't been reusable.

If humanity doesn't land on Mars in my lifetime, I would be very disappointed.