It's surprising how these rash decisions are made with seemingly little thought. You'd think someone so successful would be logical... I guess it's optional.
He's successful because he went to a bunch of venture capitalists & media and said "I'm thoughtful and logical" and that was sufficient to pass the depth of their scrutiny, competence & fact verification.
There are many studies about why people who are incompetent, but extremely confident about themselves (or sufficiently psychopathic to fake they are) get ahead in life. Most "normal" people can't comprehend that someone can just open their mouth and speak about what their accomplishments and skills are, and completely make things up, with zero embarrassment or shame. But Elon is definitely good at that. He's always neck deep in his BS, and always finding someone else to blame and ensure everyone the future is bright and the mistakes are in the past.
The difference between investor and customer is only one of scale. How much money and what timeframe for return. As that increases risk, accordingly.
When you pay for a house or an apartment that's not built yet, you're investing in construction, you're not a "customer". Of course you expect a house and/or an apartment in a few years. But you invested your money, and that house/apartment may not materialize.
So NASA was an investor. Today they're also a customer, but they're still an investor. Some of their money blew up two days ago.