“2012: SpaceX: Elon Musk’s Race to Space § Criticism [Video]”, Scott Pelley, Elon Musk2012-03-18 (Elon Musk (BP); backlinks)⁠:

[…In a 60 Minutes interview in 2012, Musk was told that people who have been in the rocketry business for decades say about him “that you don’t know what you don’t know.” Musk laughs it off with a quip, and when the interviewer asks him what his answer is to critics who say “you can’t do this”, Musk says, “we’ve done it.”

Even though NASA had partnered with SpaceX, some NASA astronauts weren’t happy with the move. NASA legends Neil Armstrong and Eugene Cernan testified to Congress that the then-Obama administration’s move to endorse commercialization of space could compromise safety. Cernan called it the administration’s “pledge to mediocrity”.

When Elon Musk was asked his thoughts about this by the interviewer, he got visibly emotional and said that he was “very sad” to see it. “Those guys are heroes of mine, so it’s really tough”, he said.

Musk said it was difficult to watch them criticize him when he was inspired to his pursuit by them. When the interviewer asked him if he had expected them to cheer him on, Musk said he had hoped that they would. He also spoke about how Armstrong & Cernan might change their mind about him if they came and visited and saw the hardware that was being developed.]

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