U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. John "JT" Thompson, commander of the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, talks to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk at the Air Force Space Pitch Day event in San Francisco.

The space industry’s primary hardware problem is its need for a “fully rapidly reusable orbital rocket,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said Nov. 5 at U.S. Air Force Space Pitch Day where he was a surprise guest. “This is the holy grail.”

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Debra Werner is a correspondent for SpaceNews based in San Francisco. Debra earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree in Journalism from Northwestern University. She is a recipient...