Live data from Hacker News

Elon Musk on Why His Rockets Are Faster, Cheaper and Lighter

pehub.com

1–10 of 24 posts

Re: Elon Musk on Why His Rockets Are Faster, Cheaper and Lighter

#2
I haven't followed Mr Musk's career at all and I kind of assume he's an insane ego-maniac. Having said that, this guy's my new hero.

He sounds like he's more Burt Rutan than Richard Branson and the fact that he's seen through an end-to-end design for launch vehicles is pretty mind blowing.

If you look through the photos on his site it kind of has the feel of a boutique bike factory - say Cannondale in the early days - but then you see pictures of them 'spin forming titanium' or something equally exotic. Pretty cool stuff.

Re: Elon Musk on Why His Rockets Are Faster, Cheaper and Lighter

#3
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLYD_-A_X5E

All chuckles aside, it's the imagination that SpaceX is bringing to the launch industry that is able to let them break free from the current status quo. He specifically mentions running the operation more like a Silicon Valley startup then the traditional fare. I hope we all get to ride a SpaceX into the final frontier in the next 50 years. Good luck and Godspeed.

Re: Elon Musk on Why His Rockets Are Faster, Cheaper and Lighter

#4
Although he doesn't mention the Kelly Johnson Skunk Works at Lockheed, where the SR-71 and other famous aircraft were created, the SpaceX approach is at least as similar to that as it is to a classical Silicon Valley startup.

For those who doesn't think entrepreneurs are risk takers, Elon is a good case study--he appears to have invested every penny of his personal wealth in starting a space company and an automobile company, simultaneously.

Re: Elon Musk on Why His Rockets Are Faster, Cheaper and Lighter

#5
It's fascinating to watch his life play out in real-time in the limelight. His success and failures with SpaceX launches and Tesla production struggles along with other more unfortunate personal issues.

I know we all feel similar ups and downs with our own products and services.

I watched this Charlie Rose interview with him a few months ago and it turned me on to his ideas of wanting to focus his efforts in three distinct areas - internet technology, space exploration and green technology.

I recommend watching it if you're interested in his career.

Here's the link: http://www.charlierose.com/guest/view/6716

Re: Elon Musk on Why His Rockets Are Faster, Cheaper and Lighter

#8
post #4

Although he doesn't mention the Kelly Johnson Skunk Works at Lockheed, where the SR-71 and other famous aircraft were created, the SpaceX approach is at least as similar to that as it is to a classical Silicon Valley startup. For those who doesn't think entrepreneurs are risk takers, Elon is a good case study--he appears to have invested every penny of his personal wealth in starting a space company and an automobile…

For those that don't know about it, this book on skunk works is a wonderful read:

http://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Works-Personal-Memoir-Lockheed/d...

Post reply on HN