Originally Posted by riff_raff
"...your claim that SpaceX will lower the $/lb of commercial launches by "an order of magnitude" is not realistic. According to the SpaceX website, the $/lb price of an LEO Falcon 9 is over $2K, not including other costs such as insurance, etc...."
According to SpaceX's own web site, the launch price for a Falcon Heavy is $90 million, and it can put 116,845 lbs in LEO. That is $770 per pound:
Falcon Heavy | SpaceX
This is important because any alternative launcher, whether existing or planned, expendable, reusable, air breathing, etc, must compete with that number. That is already cheaper by an order of magnitude than the space shuttle was. Compared to the Delta IV Heavy ($5,908 per lb to LEO), it is 7.76 times cheaper.