I should probably do more research, but there must be an awful lot of fuel in those rockets to defy gravity twice, with more to spare. I'm sure its all a bit fishy.
As for Musk, I just think NASA has passed the torch because private companies do not have to bow to public scrutiny (not that NASA was open anyway, but I think they were sick of feeling the heat). So the money is being channeled to him to show us bread and circuses and in return I'm sure he'll 'work with NASA' to send stuff up for them.
Its a great shell game to watch, but ultimately all they've done is released the same game with better graphics.