> SpaceX only existing because of NASA's COTS Falcon 1 and Merlin, Kestrel and Draco engines were funded with private capital; SpaceX was a space-faring compan

> SpaceX only existing because of NASA's COTS Falcon 1 and Merlin, Kestrel and Draco engines were funded with private capital; SpaceX was a space-faring company before NASA money got involved. COTS money went into developing the Falcon 9, and amounted to $278 million. They did get a bunch of cash from NASA for launching crew to the ISS aboard Dragon v2: $2.6 billion. NASA also gave money to Boeing for their CST-100: $4.2 billion. > Tesla only existing because of generous federal subsidies on electric cars and other handouts The bulk of Tesla's cash comes from sales, stocks and bond sales - incentives from the government take the form of tax credits, or state agencies offering their own incentives because they are themselves competing to hitch a ride on Elon's business ventures. And who can blame them! Boeing gets considerable subsidies and tax credits as well, as do other car manufacturers and defense contractors, let's not suggest Tesla is alone here. Also, Tesla was saved from near death by Daimler AG in early 2009, not by a "handout". In 2010, they received a low-interest loan from the government of $465 million, which they repaid in 2013 (the first automaker to repay their portion of the $8 billion loaned out). Boeing makes less than a third of its revenue from defense and space spending, and yet has still received far more money through federal cost-plus contracts than SpaceX has received from all its revenue sources combined. I don't think it's fair to characterize them as apples and apples here. Boeing keeps Elon honest by putting crew on ISS, or launching something to Mars, not by lobbying congress to slow Elon down with government red tape for matters that didn't pertain to the government to begin with. That's Boeing/Lockheed (ULS) using its position as one of the largest government defense and space contractors to keep their seat at the grown-ups table. That said, the CST-100 Starliner is quite a good looking craft that evokes memories of the Apollo program, but I personally like the sleek and swooping curves of Dragon V2 - plus the whole "lands on its legs" thing they've got going on for it. :) Photos of both can be seen here: http://www.americaspace.com/?p=73778 http://www.americaspace.com/?p=73778