In the decades to come, Elon Musk will be remembered as a brilliant visionary and a bit of a charlatan. His narrative is one of an individualistic thinker, accomplishing what others thought was impossible regardless of the impediments, and much of this is true. His hand in the development of PayPal is certainly not to be underrated and Tesla’s success speaks for itself.

But the image he has created comes with its faults, as Musk is constantly accused of stretching the truth and making bold (often poorly grounded) claims –– especially in regards to the capabilities of his companies.

​On Sunday, Elon Musk’s aerospace manufacturing and space transport company, SpaceX, announced that they would send their first tourists into space by the end of next year. The announcement claimed that two tourists would be sent to the moon and back on a week-long cruise in SpaceX’s Dragon 2 capsule, carried by the company’s Falcon Heavy rocket.

It was a historic announcement, not only because it would be the first glimpse of Elon Musk’s vision for democratized space exploration, but also because it would be the first flight to reach beyond low-earth orbit in over 40 years.

The important question is whether or not SpaceX can actually pull off the mission. Several industry experts have reported that the flight is likely within SpaceX’s capabilities, but the technology has yet to be tested. Both the Falcon Heavy rocket and Dragon 2 capsule developments are still underway. Add in the myriad of moving pieces that are needed in order to get things off the ground –– including support from NASA’s Deep Space Network and a license by the FAA –– and it’s starting to look a little dicey.  

​Although, this is pretty common for Musk and his companies. Tesla has long been criticized for promising too much in regard to its production capabilities, as time and time again it has fallen short of its production quotas for various Tesla models. The Falcon rocket itself was scheduled to fly in 2013 after being announced in 2011. This planned mission will likely suffer similar delays.

​Elon Musk seems to revel in the attention garnered by his companies, and has turned his flair for showmanship into a powerful marketing tool. The boldness and assuredness of his claims allow potentially silly ideas like the Hyperloop and all of SpaceX to capture people’s imaginations.

​Despite his promises and reasonable amounts of success it would be wise to remember that Musk is not Space Jesus and he is not our means of salvation. SpaceX will not make interstellar travel cheap enough to get rid of NASA’s space exploration efforts and the Tesla will not solve the problems caused by non-renewable fuels.

Elon Musk is neither a Henry Ford nor is he a P.T. Barnum. He embodies both in a way that would make it foolish to listen to everything he says, but equally as foolish to ignore him.

David Garcia is a graduate student in energy science and engineering and can be reached at [email protected].

Columns of The Daily Beacon are the views of the individual and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Beacon or the Beacon’s editorial staff.