By Jim Wolf
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Space Exploration Technologies Corp, a startup aiming to slash the cost of launching people and cargo into space, may go public within the next two years, its founder and chief executive said on Monday.
The company beat Lockheed Martin Corp, the Pentagon's No. 1 supplier, out of at least one launch for the U.S. government, Elon Musk, who also serves as chief rocket engineer, told the Reuters Aerospace and Defense Summit in Washington.
Musk said he aims to put payloads into space for one-quarter to one-third of what his domestic competitors charge. He said he could beat by one-half the cost of international competitors including China, which he called the biggest potential competitor.
A spokeswoman for the rocket joint venture between Boeing Co and Lockheed Martin, United Launch Alliance, did not return a request for comment.
"I think going public might be some time in late 2009 ... something on that order," he said in a telephone interview from his headquarters in Hawthorne, California.
But Musk said he was in no rush, did not need funds and was keen to get at least two successful launches of the Falcon 9 rocket under his belt before an initial public offering.
The company hopes that the two-stage, liquid-oxygen- and kerosene-powered Falcon 9 will be able to deliver cargo to the International Space Station in 2009.
SpaceX, as the company calls itself, has about 400 employees. It was founded in 2002 by Musk, now 36. He is also the co-founder of PayPal, a Web-based electronic payments system sold to eBay for $1.5 billion in stock in 2002. Continued...
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