---
title: "Elon Musk Is Arguing With Spaceflight CEOs on Twitter. Again."
description: "This time, the billionaire crosses swords with United Launch Alliance's Tory Bruno over the cost of their respective commercial rockets."
date: "2018-02-13"
modified: "2018-02-13"
authors:
  - name: "Brad Jones"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/bradj"
url: "https://futurism.com/elon-musk-arguing-space-ceo"
categories:
  - "Elon Musk"
  - "Future Society"
  - "Off-World"
  - "Space"
  - "The Industrialists"
tags:
  - "elon musk"
  - "Falcon Heavy"
  - "SpaceX"
  - "United Launch Alliance"
---

# Elon Musk Is Arguing With Spaceflight CEOs on Twitter. Again.

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/elonrocket.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: \<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/spacex/40126462231/in/dateposted/" target="\_blank"\>SpaceX\</a\>\</em\>*

Elon Musk is feeling confident following last week's [successful launch of the Falcon Heavy rocket](<https://futurism.com/falcon-heavy-launch-whats-next-spacex>). The SpaceX CEO took to Twitter to state that he would "eat his hat with a side of mustard" if the United Launch Alliance's (ULA) upcoming Vulcan rocket is able to fly a national security spacecraft before 2023.

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/963092110994886656

This comment came after ULA CEO Tory Bruno corrected a tweet by Musk that compared the costs associated with Falcon Heavy and Delta IV Heavy. Musk said that the former cost $150 million while the latter cost in excess of $400 million, while Bruno suggested that the cost of launching with his company's rocket was actually around $350 million.

https://twitter.com/torybruno/status/963109303291854848

Unsurprisingly, Musk didn't back down. Instead, he revised his own $400 million estimate for the Delta IV, suggesting that fixed costs that are in effect going forward will swell the cost of a mission using the rocket beyond $600 million.

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/963090657119055872

Bickering with the head of a company he's in competition with is nothing new for Musk – just before the Falcon Heavy launch, he engaged in a [passive-aggressive exchange](<https://futurism.com/bezos-musk-twitter-fight-space-x-blue-origin>) with Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbSwFU6tY1c

However, the cost associated with Falcon Heavy is a pressure point, because the comparatively low price tag of a launch using the rocket is one of its greatest strengths. Musk's stunt of [sending a Tesla Roadster into space](<https://futurism.com/elon-musk-cars-interplanetary-litterbug>) may have grabbed headlines, but the fact that its two side cores returned to Earth unscathed is the real advance here. The fact that these components can potentially be re-used makes launches very cost-effective, as noted in a [report by *Wired*](<http://www.wired.co.uk/article/falcon-heavy-core-center-spacex-landing-rocket>).

Musk wants Falcon Heavy to become a go-to option for missions ranging from the [launch of a satellite](<https://futurism.com/elon-musk-launching-a-satellite-with-spacex-is-300-million-cheaper>) to sending equipment to the [International Space Station](<https://futurism.com/iss-private-companies>). With that in mind, we can see why he's liable to get defensive – he wants to make it clear that his rocket costs less and will be available before his competitors'.