What must it be like to be Elon Musk? Here’s a guy who can successfully launch the world’s most powerful rocket into space, a feat hitherto reserved for nations with decent budgets. Since 2010 his commercial company, SpaceX, has been ferrying satellites to their permanent homes, and delivering cargo to the International Space Station (ISS). And he’s made it cost-effective, as far as such high-stakes ventures go. Is it any wonder that manufacturing is poised to step outside Earth’s atmosphere and reap astronomical profits in zero G?

Musk’s puckish delivery of his Tesla roadster into permanent orbit pales in comparison. As much as I enjoyed the art-installation aspect—including the “Don’t Panic” dashboard nod to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy—I’m more taken with how manufacturing in space can be doable at all. It can’t possibly be lean, can it?

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