Why Elon Musk Tried to Buy Missiles From Russia

Elon Musk, the world's richest man, said he tried to buy rockets from Russia as part of his goal to get a manned mission to Mars.

Speaking on the podcast Verdict with Ted Cruz, the Texas senator, the SpaceX owner discussed the company's early beginnings and how he could not originally afford some American-made parts for his spaceships.

Why It Matters

The interview was recorded in the White House, as Musk had formed a core part of the second Trump administration in his role leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), looking to cut federal government bloat.

What To Know

Musk said he had a vision of "green plants on a red background" as he began working to create rockets that could make it to Mars.

"The original plan was literally to take a bunch of the money from PayPal and, I guess by some people's definition, waste it with no profit on a non-profit thing," Musk said. "I wanted to spend a whole bunch of my money for free to get NASA's budget to be bigger so we could go to frigging Mars."

Getting enough funding was not easy in the U.S., however. The multi-billionaire said he did not have the money back in the early 2000s to afford U.S. rockets which were "way too expensive" at around $80 million.

Musk said he turned to Russia instead to buy ICBMs, or intercontinental ballistic missiles, which he could convert into rockets for a spacecraft.

"Who do you call?" Cruz asked Musk, who replied: "The Russian rocket forces", before explaining the country had agreed to decommission many of its ICBMs through an agreement with the U.S.

"So if you took their very biggest ICBMs, you could convert those into a rocket at an additional stage and send something to Mars," he said.

Russia kept raising the price on him, he said, and so the deal did not go through despite around six months of negotiations.

"I figured like, look, they gotta throw these things in the scrapyard anyway," Musk added. "You should get a really good deal."

Around 20 years later, SpaceX is now well embedded in the United States space program, helping bring back astronauts from the International Space Station on Tuesday, while also testing multiple rockets for future manned missions.

What People Are Saying

Cruz, speaking to Musk about the SpaceX sire in Texas: "It is incredible what you have built in Boca Chica. Five years ago it was an empty beach on the southern tip of Texas and it's now a city and a factory where you are building a rocket ship a month."

NASA acting Administrator Janet Petro, on the return of astronauts from the ISS: "Per President Trump's direction, NASA and SpaceX worked diligently to pull the schedule a month earlier. This international crew and our teams on the ground embraced the Trump Administration's challenge of an updated, and somewhat unique, mission plan, to bring our crew home. Through preparation, ingenuity, and dedication, we achieve great things together for the benefit of humanity, pushing the boundaries of what is possible from low Earth orbit to the Moon and Mars."

What's Next

Musk has said he is expanding SpaceX operations in Florida following success in Texas and will continue testing his Starship to eventually reach Mars.