Of course, it will cost "only" tens of thousands of dollars to make a second try after getting real-life experience from the first one...

No NASA Spends Billions. Cost does not equal value when you're going to space, SpaceX proves that.

I'm a fan of SpaceX but you're wrong.

SpaceX is standing on the shoulders of what NASA and other space agencies have been doing for decades. Government agencies spent billions of dollars developing space exploration and SpaceX is able to use that knowledge to cut costs and take the next step.

It doesn't need to cost billions of dollars to travel into space anymore.

How many nasa and jpl vets work at spacex these days? Last I heard it was lots.

Someone very acutely pointed put that NASA is less about space exploration and it's more about employment. If you reverse these priorities back, you get SpaceX.

No, NASA spends billions to send laboratories weighing a metric tonne to Mars to send you pretty pictures. Even with insane risk aversion NASA carries out dozens of missions a year and support a lot of critical infrastructure.