The complete Q&A is here: Washington Post.com

Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, a private firm that is trying to get into the business of flying cargo -- and some day astronauts -- to the international space station and beyond, was online Friday, Sept. 26 at 11:30 a.m. to discuss the future of space exploration.

He was joined by The Post's Marc Kaufman, who writes about NASA, space and science.

Musk is featured in Kaufman's story: Aiming for Stars, Entrepreneurs May Also Fill Gaps, which is part of a special report focused on NASA's 50th anniversary.

A transcript follows.
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Marc Kaufman: We will be chatting today with Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX (and several other companies.) His program is by all accounts the furthest along of any private efforts to launch cargo and eventually humans into space, and a lot appears to be riding on his rockets and capsules. I understand there will be another test launch of his Falcon 1 coming up soon, perhaps as early as Sunday.

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Marc Kaufman: We're having a little technical trouble, but should have Elon online soon. Thanks for holding on.

Of note, the Senate yesterday passed legislation that could extend the life of the space shuttle, while the House earlier passed a bill that would allow NASA to contract with the Russian space agency to ferry astronauts to the space station between 2011 and 2015, when there are no current plans for American transport. The wild card, of course, is whether Elon Musk and SpaceX can also play a role in filling that gap.

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Cocoa Beach, Fla.: Elon, do you think that in the future, private space companies will work in collaboration with NASA more?

Elon Musk: Yes, that is already happening to an increasing degree. Depends of course on how future administrations view private companies. Public support of this direction is critical.

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Washington, D.C.: If and when you manage to get all the Falcons and Dragon up and running, what's next? Further incremental improvements on these or something more revolutionary? Also, where do you stand on the value of the various X-prizes (and equivalents)?

Elon Musk: Still a long way to getting *all* the Falcons and Dragons flying. We need to get F1 to orbit for one thing (IMG:http://forum.spaceflightnews.net/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Then F9, F9 with Cargo Dragon, F9 with crew Drago and F9 Heavy. My interest is very much in the direction of Mars, so a Mars lander of some kind might be the next step.

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South Riding, Va.: I was born in 1972 at the tail end of the Apollo program and wanted to be an astronaut until the Challenger accident which I remember watching in junior high. It doesn't seem like the U.S. government has been making any real progress towards a return to space so I hope that programs like yours can be successful and keep the US at the top of the space race.

Why is space such a difficult challenge? With today's computers and other technologies, I would think it would be easy to make the work of the 1960s and 1970s look like childsplay. Are you able to leverage the work done in the past or are you designing the new equipment from scratch?

Marc Kaufman: I'm responding for Elon, who is still having a bit of technical trouble -- though I'm told he will be answering soon. The way space travel has been explained to me is that one million things have to go right for a launch to succeed, and so it's easy to have a problem. But once the rocket system as a hole launches successfully, then it can generally be copied well without much problem. Hopefully that's what will happen with Falcon 1, and then the real rocket -- Falcon 9. SpaceX says that the difficulties so far are manageable and they expect a successful launch soon. We should know if they're correct in the near future.

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Washington, D.C.: Should not NASA be funding research to make Space Solar Power possible in this time of energy crisis as they did in the 1970's?

Elon Musk: No, I don't believe in space solar power. It will never be competitive with ground solar power. The cost of converting the electron energy to photon energy and then back again on the ground overwhelms the 2X increase in solar incidence. And that's before you consider the cost of transporting the solar panels and converters to orbit!

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Washington, D.C.: What do you think of the future of Space Solar Power, especially built with Lunar Materials?

Elon Musk: Only good for people living on the Moon.

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Akron, Ohio: I know that SpaceX has plenty on its plate right now. However, any thoughts on using your techology after you go public on the construction of a Space Elevator? Private or Public?

Elon Musk: It will be a *long* time, if ever, before the economics of a space elevators make sense. Consider that no one has decided to build a bridge from New York to London and that would be way easier than building a space elevator.

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Stillwater, Minn.: Mr. Musk, first of all, I've been following SpaceX via your website since before Flight 1, and I hope to join you all someday (I'm an undergrad ChEg at Notre Dame). Talk about the inherent advantages of your rockets over those designed by Lockheed Martin and Boeing (reusability, smaller size = significantly smaller cost, redundancies on the Falcon 9, etc.)

Elon Musk: The full answer for why SpaceX is lower cost is too long for this forum and I don't like to give soundbite answers if they are incorrect. The cost of a single use rocket is:

* Engines

* Structures

* Avionics

* Launch operation

* Overhead

We are better on every one at SpaceX vs competitors -- by a factor of two vs most international and four vs domestic. That is before reuse is considered, which could ultimately be a 10X or more additional reduction.

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