To Mars by the end of the decade?

[Minimalist]

What it doesn't do is reinforce the Buck Rodgers stereotype that 'murrikins' do so love!

[Paleophyte]

Your seething hatred for him speaks volumes as well.

Boundless contempt would be much more accurate. I don't know Musk well enough to hate him nor do I care.

[Cavebear]

And we are already doing it..... far more cheaply.

Yeah 50 years ago we did not anticipate being able to do so much with robotics / automation. It's a real boon because it cuts mission costs and risks massively.

And yet, it seems commercial rockets blow up more routinely.  Scientific American had an article about that some months ago.  As I read it, the premise seemed twofold.  First, that we have lost the older expertise and funding of the Apollo program.  That the degree of precision in manufacturing parts and testing in assembly is less than it was.  Second (and related), commercial enterprises just chip away at costs.  By which I mean, less testing, less cohesion in manufacturing sources, and more willingness to lower the bar on "assuredness of success".

I think Apollo went for (say) 99% certain, and commercial enterprises go for 90%.  I don't have facts to back that up.  It is more a feeling about "attitude and cost-effective".