Do company executives really make these sort of claims with a straight face? More importantly, does anybody in the "public" really believe them?
> Do company executives really make these sort of claims with a straight face? More importantly, does anybody in the "public" really believe them?
Why do you think this is far-fetched?
I agree, totally not far fetched
SpaceX has safely flown 78 crewmembers from 20 countries across 20 human spaceflight missions using its Crew Dragon spacecraft since May 2020.
Those smart minds have mostly left spacex now, since musk changed political sides and became much less 'cool' for the brightest to work at.
That's why the company is struggling now - few smart minds means little progress.
Care to name a few?
Makes sense - they had been there ~20 years and must have a huge pile of stock.
But due to musks political aura (mostly right leaning), the smart minds from universities(which are mostly left leaning) are no longer joining spacex en-mass.
In turn, that means the companies are merely ticking along, not racing ahead.
What data do you have to convince someone who is skeptical and suspicious of your claim?
They make and launch them. More, in fact than the rest of the world combined.
At this point, anyone claiming "SpaceX can't do <generic space related thing>" is either 1) claiming that no one can or 2) blinded by some sort of ideological bias.