Elon and Musk reignite feud in SpaceX founder's biography

Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos reignite feud by trading insults in new biography: SpaceX founder branded Amazon founder a ‘dilettante’ of space exploration

• Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos’ feud has been reignited in the SpaceX’s founder’s bio 
• Musk branded the Amazon founder a ‘dilettante’ when it comes to space exploration
• Bezos fired back that Musk’s own staff believed that he ‘rarely knew as much as he claimed’ 
• Musk and Bezos have been fighting for control of space tourism and for contracts with NASA for two decades

Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have reignited their feud by trading insults in the biography of the SpaceX founder.

Musk branded the Amazon founder a ‘dilettante’ when it comes to space exploration for not spending enough time on his company, Blue Origin.

But Bezos fired back that Musk’s own staff believed that he ‘rarely knew as much as he claimed’, according to the book by Walter Isaacson.

Former employees of Tesla and SpaceX said that they thought that Musk’s ideas were ‘usually unhelpful or problematic’, the book claims.

Musk and Bezos have been fighting for control of space tourism and for contracts with NASA for two decades.

Their competition became known as the ‘Billionaire’s Space Race’ which Isaacson says is because space is a ‘passion’ for both men, nerds who grew up immersed in science fiction books and TV shows.

Musk branded the Amazon founder a ‘dilettante’ when it comes to space exploration while Bezos fired back that Musk’s own staff believed that he ‘rarely knew as much as he claimed’

Musk and Bezos have been fighting for control of space tourism and for contracts with NASA for two decades

Bezos became the first to launch a rocket to the edge of space on an 11 minute, 62 mile high journey

The rivalry goes back to 2004 when Bezos accepted an invite from Musk to tour the SpaceX facility, Isaacson writes.

Afterwards he received a ‘somewhat curt email’ after from Musk ‘expressing annoyance’ why Bezos hadn’t invited Musk to Blue Origin in Seattle, so Bezos promptly did.

But on the tour Bezos was taken aback when Musk started telling him how to run the company.

Musk said: ‘Dude we tried that and that turned out to be really dumb so I’m telling you, don’t do the dumb thing we did’.

Bezos thought Musk was ‘a bit too sure of himself’ given he hadn’t actually launched a rocket yet, Isaacson writes.

The new biography by Walter Isaacson has reignited a feud between Musk and Bezos 

Tensions flared again in 2011 when NASA approved SpaceX to use the famed Pad 39A at its Cape Canaveral launch site in Florida which was used by the Apollo missions.

Bezos sued and Musk was ‘furious’.

According to the book Musk thought it was ‘ridiculous’ for Blue Origin to complain ‘when they haven’t even gotten as much as a toothpick to orbit’.

Isaacson writes: ‘Musk ridiculed Bezos’ rockets, pointing out they were capable only of popping up to the edge of space and then falling back: they leaked the far greater thrust necessary to break the Earth’s gravity and go into orbit’.

Musk said that ‘we are more likely to discover unicorns dancing in the flame duct’ than see one of Bezos’ craft docking at the International Space Station within five years.

The battle of the sci-fi barons had ‘blasted off’, the book claims.

One SpaceX employee even bought dozens of inflatable toy unicorns and photographed them in the pad’s flame duct to troll Bezos.

Bezos further enraged Musk when he applied for a patent called ‘sea landing of space launch vehicles’.

Musk complained that landing ships at sea had been discussed for 50 years. SpaceX sued and Bezos appeared to cancel the patent.

In November of 2015, Bezos became the first to launch a rocket to the edge of space on an 11 minute, 62 mile high journey.

In his first ever Tweet, Bezos said that ‘full reuse (of a rocket) is a game changer’. He called his reusable rocket ‘the rarest of beasts’.

Musk mocked it in a Tweet saying: ‘Not quite ‘rarest’, SpaceX Grasshopper did 6 suborbital flights 3 years ago & is still around’.

Four weeks later Musk achieved the same feat with a Falcon 9 rocket, earning what appeared to be praise from Bezos who Tweeted: ‘Congrats @spacex on landline falcon’s suborbital booster stage. Welcome to the club!’

But according to Isaacson, all was not what it seemed.

He writes: ‘Swaddled in his gauze of graciousness was a stiletto jab: the claim that the booster SpaceX landed was ‘suborbital’ putting it in the same club as the booster Blue Origin had landed’.

Technically Bezos was right but once more, Musk was ‘furious’ as he believed the ability to send a payload into orbit put the SpaceX rocket in a different league.

The heat between the two men really turned up in April 2021 when SpaceX was awarded contracts with NASA to take astronauts on the final leg of the journey to the moon.

The rivalry goes back to 2004 when Bezos accepted an invite from Musk to tour the SpaceX facility, Isaacson writes 

Musk once said that ‘we are more likely to discover unicorns dancing in the flame duct’ than see one of Bezos’ craft docking at the International Space Station within five years

A celebratory Musk mocked Bezos when he Tweeted: ‘Can’t get it up (to orbit) lol’.

According to Isaacson, behind the scenes Bezos was the one fuming this time.

He writes: ‘Bezos was dismissive of Musk’s practice of making technical suggestions and issuing abrupt orders. Former employees at SpaceX and Tesla told him, he says, that Musk rarely knew as much as he claimed and that his interventions were usually unhelpful or problematic’.

Meanwhile Musk felt that Bezos was a ‘dilettante whose lack of focus on engineering was one reason Blue Origin had made less progress than SpaceX’.

When Richard Branson launched the first manned space tourism flight earlier this year, Musk turned up in person.

Branson recalls walking into the kitchen of his rented property at 1am for the launch only to find Musk there, barefoot with his baby son, X.

They talked for hours before Branson’s Virgin Galactic craft conducted a successful mission, with Branson on board.

Nine days later when Blue Origin did the same, Musk skipped it. Isaacson writes: ‘Musk of course did not attend that one’.

Musk further fueled the antagonism with Bezos with a 2021 interview in which he praised Bezos for having ‘reasonably good engineering aptitude’ but he said he didn’t spend enough time on the details.

Musk mocked Bezos’ wealthy lifestyle and compared it to him living in rented quarters in Texas.

Musk and Bezos’ competition became known as the ‘Billionaire’s Space Race’

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi shakes hands with Musk during a meeting in New York City, June 20, 2023

Musk said: ‘In some ways I’m trying to goad him into spending more time at Blue Origin so they make more progress. He should spend more time at Blue Origin and less time in the hot tub’.

Another billionaire who earned Musk’s scorn was Bill Gates for approaching him about philanthropic giving.

Gates has said he plans to give away virtually all of his $113 billion fortune and has donated tens of billions to good causes already.

With a fortune of $251 billion, Musk is currently the richest man in the world.

But during a meeting between the two men, Musk said that most philanthropy was ‘b*******’ and that Gates could do more for climate change by investing in Tesla.

Musk then asked why he had placed a bet against Tesla’s stock price, also known as a short.

When a baffled Gates said it was to make money, Musk thought he was being a hypocrite about climate change given Tesla was trying to revolutionize the electric vehicle market.

So when Gates sent some philanthropy paperwork to Musk to look over, he replied: ‘Sorry…I cannot take your philanthropy on climate seriously’.

Musk then infamously tweeted a photo of Gates in a golf shirt with a bulging belly that made him look pregnant.

He wrote: ‘In case you need to lose a boner fast’.

Shortly after, Musk texted Isaacson: ‘At this point, I am convinced he (Gates) is categorically insane (and an a–hole to the core) I did actually want to like him (sigh)’.

Grimes, the singer who is Musk’s ex-girlfriend and the mother of three of his children, called the row a ‘little bit of a d*** measuring contest.’

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