"Either way, they've shown they can get something to Mars or the vicinity of Mars, and that's great," he said of SpaceX. "They've demonstrated that they can get something that big off the surface of the Earth, into Earth orbit, recover most of the vehicle to make the whole thing really cheap … and then further extend the [payload's path] beyond Earth orbit toward Mars."

Source: Los Angeles Times February 07, 2018 20:11 UTC