"Overall, I would rate it as a success," Marco Caceres, director of space studies with Teal Group, a Fairfax, Virginia-based consulting firm, said in a phone interview.

"It is tricky to hit something that small to begin with, but to hit with the right velocity so that it lands perfectly when the barge is moving in the ocean -- that's a tough challenge," Caceres said. "They're not taking the easy way. That's not the conservative approach."

"This is huge," said Marco Caceres, senior analyst and director of space studies at Teal Group. "It would break up a monopoly and has the potential to save the taxpayer an awful lot of money."

"Boeing's cost structure is higher than SpaceX — that's just a fact," said Marco Caceres, senior space analyst at the Teal Group.

Because the aerospace giant has been around longer, it most likely has an older, more experienced workforce with higher wages and labor costs, he added.

But the biggest cost differences likely come from manufacturing processes. Boeing builds its Delta rocket and Atlas V launchers in a vertical position, while SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets are assembled horizontally, which is easier and saves on time.

Meantime, SpaceX is a vertically integrated company, building all of its parts in-house, with no subcontractors. Boeing employs numerous subcontractors to build components, which adds to costs. "When you become a more established company, you can't be a specialist in everything," Caceres said.

"SpaceX is the new kid on the block, but it's proven its capabilities very quickly," said Marco Caceres, director of space studies with Teal Group, a Fairfax, Virginia-based consultant. "SpaceX would love to be the first commercial company to land its own private astronauts on the moon and eventually go on to Mars."

"It's entirely possible that we wake up one day and the Russians say, 'We're not taking your astronauts up anymore,'" said Marco Caceres, director of space studies at Fairfax, Virginia-based consultant Teal Group. "NASA's anticipating this possibility. That's why they want to move as quickly as possible with this program."