NASA has been a joke since we retired our heavy lifters in the 1970s in favor of the “reusable” space shuttle. They’ve been a shell for decades. Instead of putting money into R&D for better lifters they put up an almost worthless space station that isn’t even ours.
Each shuttle launch cost just under half a billion 2011 dollars. For about 3x the price you could get 5x the payload into orbit with a Saturn V.
The Falcon Heavy will be second only in payload to the Saturn V at 117,000 pounds to orbit compared to the Saturn V’s 310,000, yet at $120 million it will be about 1/10th the expected cost.
Whatever Musk’s political beliefs, SpaceX is an amazing company and I wish I had the expertise to work there.
Watch what happens when they get the Raptor engine qualified to fly (1,000,000 lbs. thrust). Put nine of those babies on a rocket, then 18 more to two rocket boosters like the Falcon Heavy and you’ll have 27,000,000 lbs. thrust to work with! It will be able to lift more than the Saturn V.