Elon Musk has created a lot of stuff from scratch.
And has created liftoff modules that return to the earth and land upright. Unmanned.
I bet Musk could land one of them on the moon now if it wanted to. Get a bunch of corporations to sponsor it and it could be done with a profit.
Not entirely. Knowing that it can be done is often half the battle. He's standing on Von Braun's shoulders. We all are.
I bet Musk could land one of them on the moon now if it wanted to.
No. But he could in 3-5 years, if he wanted to and could (as you suggest) round up the bucks. No bucks, no Buck Rogers. And he'd have to worry less about welfare-state idiots than NASA would.