Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy successfully launches

techcrunch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

581–590 of 926 posts

Re: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy successfully launches

#581

Post by astronautjones »

Theodores wrote: post #352
bpicolo wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Roadster was in use by Musk for years. They didn't build it for the occasion

That roadster was not cheap. This is no scrappage scheme going on here. The first roadster cost many tens of millions of pounds, maybe hundreds. Subsequent units were cheaper as they just used the tooling from the first ones, including this one. Compared to a satellite this roadster cost a fair bit in R+D, just not for picking up hitchhikers in space though...

But it's already served its purpose, would only be sitting in Musk's garage otherwise

Re: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy successfully launches

#582

Post by robbrown451 »

take4 wrote: post #500
Svettie wrote: post #379

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, there are indeed many scientists/engineers who look/act "nerdy" or don't have the suaveness of people we typically see on TV. I think what GP is saying is that typically companies will put forward people who are good-looking and charismatic for PR, so it's nice to see someone different and unpolished be center-stage in the public eye.

Why exactly is “good looking and charismatic” a bad thing? To be a good host you need to (should) be charismatic, that’s literally the job.

It's not bad to be good looking and charismatic, but it's nice to see they didn't make it a requirement.

Re: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy successfully launches

#583

Post by mike741 »

gliptic wrote: post #537
mike741 wrote: post #523

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the car is not actually in the vacuum AFAI can tell from their GIF: https://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/spacero... id imagine a 360-camera is projected onto the inside of the sphere/case the car is actually inside of.

What are you talking about. That gif is showing the fairing separation. There's no sphere.

amazing, is the car strapped to the outside of the rest of the ship? how does it remain so stable after the separation? by "sphere" i just meant the case it is shown inside of at the start, since the markings on the wall resemble motion tracking panels used for 3d projection. perhaps I just underestimate the precision and smoothness of the fairing separation, or am misunderstanding how the car is rigged so as to remain so stable.

Re: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy successfully launches

#584

Post by yowlingcat »

Like a lot of other folks on here and probably in history, as a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut when I grew up. It's hard to put into words the feelings I experienced while watching the video, and especially the landing. For all the things going on in the world (and even in my own career writing line of business software) that make me nothing but exasperated, these moments rekindle my hope and all that sense of wonderment I used to feel every moment and every day. I'm excited to see what comes next.

Re: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy successfully launches

#585

Post by Svettie »

take4 wrote: post #500
Svettie wrote: post #379

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, there are indeed many scientists/engineers who look/act "nerdy" or don't have the suaveness of people we typically see on TV. I think what GP is saying is that typically companies will put forward people who are good-looking and charismatic for PR, so it's nice to see someone different and unpolished be center-stage in the public eye.

Why exactly is “good looking and charismatic” a bad thing? To be a good host you need to (should) be charismatic, that’s literally the job.

I don't think it's a bad thing. I think a lot of the differing opinions here stem from seeing the people on screen as primarily either engineering or PR people. So I think mabbo meant "nice to see an authentic engineering type thrown in with the PR people", whereas Yetanfou thought he said "Of the engineers on screen, that guy is the only one that looks like one". They're kind of standing up for the same principle though: inclusion of people in a role that goes counter to stereotypical outward characteristics.

Re: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy successfully launches

#586

Post by CydeWeys »

Yetanfou wrote: post #569
mabbo wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why I love the live streams hosted by John Innsprucker. He doesn't look like a TV star, he looks like an engineer, a rocket scientist. He looks real. The other hosts are great, but if you told me they were hired actors or PR people I'd believe it.

Seeing how a harmless comment on a man 'look[ing] like an engineer, a rocket scientist´ leads to yet another long thread about 'bias' and similar concept is worrisome. The more speech is stifled, the more people have to weigh every word, every expression before they dare to utter it for fear of being accused of violating something, somewhere, making someone feel 'harmed', the less open and welcoming society will be.…

It's not harmless though, even if no harm was intended. My girlfriend is an engineer like me yet her experience in tech has been radically different than mine. She is constantly subjected to similar kinds of comments that imply that people like her don't fit in or belong, and it takes a real toll. It's a part of the reason why there's so few women in tech.

I would never want to censor anyone. I'm just asking people to think about what kind of effect their words can have. I have the right to say that just as much as someone has the right to comment on who does or does not look like a rocket scientist.

Re: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy successfully launches

#587

Post by ekianjo »

Yetanfou wrote: post #569
mabbo wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why I love the live streams hosted by John Innsprucker. He doesn't look like a TV star, he looks like an engineer, a rocket scientist. He looks real. The other hosts are great, but if you told me they were hired actors or PR people I'd believe it.

Seeing how a harmless comment on a man 'look[ing] like an engineer, a rocket scientist´ leads to yet another long thread about 'bias' and similar concept is worrisome. The more speech is stifled, the more people have to weigh every word, every expression before they dare to utter it for fear of being accused of violating something, somewhere, making someone feel 'harmed', the less open and welcoming society will be.…

> hyper-sensitivity currently found in the public sphere

That's become the standard of public conversations in the past 10-15 years. Unfortunately, I don't think it is likely to change anytime soon, since there's more and more involvement from politicians as well to make "saying the wrong thing" in public something worth being sued for. I see this happen in many different countries that claim to be "democracies" even though they have free speech as part of their principles.

Re: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy successfully launches

#588

Post by swat535 »

CydeWeys wrote: post #283
mabbo wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why I love the live streams hosted by John Innsprucker. He doesn't look like a TV star, he looks like an engineer, a rocket scientist. He looks real. The other hosts are great, but if you told me they were hired actors or PR people I'd believe it.

You're showing your biases here. The other people on the livestream are also rocket scientists. They aren't PR people. They just happen to be younger, or women, or of color. So you might want to re-evaluate what you think a rocket scientist "looks like", because your notion is outdated. Sorry to call you out like this, but these kinds of prejudices about who is the "correct" kind of person for tech jobs are harmful a…

sigh.

yet another thread completely derailed by a meaningless and frankly irrelevant comment to the topic at hand, such as the one you made here.

perhaps if we were not hypersensitive to every little detail, engineering would be a more welcoming discipline.

I came here to read comments about this amazing achievement . so how about we focus on discussing the actual topic for a change ?

I hope I'm not the only one feeling frustrated by this trend..

Re: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy successfully launches

#589

Post by dmix »

mxvzr wrote: post #562
akozak wrote: post #550

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think he said in the press conference that they weren't planning to reuse the core or boosters. (But then mentioned later they wanted some of the parts? IDK)

If I understood properly none of the boosters were block 5 so they weren't looking at re-flying them. They are however interested in recovering the grid fins on the side boosters, which were redesigned to accommodate for the nose cones now sitting on top of them.

Block 5?

Re: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy successfully launches

#590

Post by tonystubblebine »

CydeWeys wrote: post #283
mabbo wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why I love the live streams hosted by John Innsprucker. He doesn't look like a TV star, he looks like an engineer, a rocket scientist. He looks real. The other hosts are great, but if you told me they were hired actors or PR people I'd believe it.

You're showing your biases here. The other people on the livestream are also rocket scientists. They aren't PR people. They just happen to be younger, or women, or of color. So you might want to re-evaluate what you think a rocket scientist "looks like", because your notion is outdated. Sorry to call you out like this, but these kinds of prejudices about who is the "correct" kind of person for tech jobs are harmful a…

Good comment. All the people trying to derail the conversation by claiming you are derailing the conversation could have just upvoted you instead or commented "good point" and then upvoted that.
Post reply on HN