Loved the SpaceX guy on handover to NASA: "... and thank you for flying on Falcon today!" Private space flight started with this flight.
> Private space flight started with this flight.
I hear Dennis Tito and Mike Melvill sighed.
SpaceX successfully launches two humans into orbit
201–210 of 839 posts
Re: SpaceX successfully launches two humans into orbit
#202Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it's more that the DoD props up Boeing in any way they can, from sweetheart contracts like this, to trade policies designed to destroy competition (the Bombardier thing), to outright industrial espionage of other firms (the leaks of Airbus's foreign negotiations). Edit: Changed Embraer to Bombardier thanks to emiliobumachar's friendly reminder.
Not like Airbus’s hands are clean. https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-offices/press-office/press-...
Are you suggesting that industrial espionage is okay if the targeted company is receiving subsidies from their government?
I'm sure the Chinese will love that angle.
Re: SpaceX successfully launches two humans into orbit
#203Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would expect Elon to push really hard to send something to Mars in 2022 aboard Starship, even if it's just an empty ship. They need to try navigating with precision and landing. It's a 2 year delay if they miss that window.
They could continue the tradition and drop a Cybertruck to Mars.
Could be good marketing, ‘Cybertruck - tough enough for Mars’ vs ‘Built Ford Tough’, or just make a Super Bowl commercial with the footage of it landing on Mars.
Re: SpaceX successfully launches two humans into orbit
#204Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not like Airbus’s hands are clean. https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-offices/press-office/press-...
The WTO is run by a very specific brand of economists that don't see the value in a country subsidizing an industry to maintain local expertise in that industry. I for one disagree pretty heavily with this ruling.
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Re: SpaceX successfully launches two humans into orbit
#205How wonderful!
Congratulations to the entire Space X team, this is a real accomplishment and I'm sure not one that came easily. It's exciting to see relatively small companies fulfilling roles that people thought might require massive military contractors.
Elon is an interesting figure. He is, I think, a paradigmatic example of the imperfect creator. His undeniable success in difficult endeavors can create an aura of authority for acting within domains where signals about the appropriateness of his judgement are less clear. We've had technical experts lead us down paths that were not, in hindsight, in our best interests (I think of Teller and Von Neumann's advocacy for aggressive action against the USSR). I hope we can move away from the "elon sucks" v.s. "elon is a genius" dichotomy and into a culture of acknowledging accomplishment while insisting claims in other areas be fully justified.
Re: SpaceX successfully launches two humans into orbit
#206Earlier quoted context omitted.
>> into orbit in a spacecraft that was designed from the ground up to be a commercial venture. If we are talking pure commercial travel, it is a vehicle without a destination. The ISS is definitely not a commercial project. There are lots of reasons for the ISS to exist, and they have changed over time, but it has never been a money-making venture. While the dragons certainly do come in under budget, they are a more…
You just need to look further. You get access to rare materials that can be immensely valuable. Read https://www.amazon.com/Case-Space-Revolution-Spaceflight-Pos... Also with that short term outlook you wouldn’t have many things. The Internet was not initially commercial. It was designed to provide communications in the event of a nuclear attack. Yet here we are now and we have reaped immense benefits from that inves…
That's what I meant by "hold off". It isn't commercial until it is. Government-sponsored developmental programs may one day pave the way for commercial operations, but that hasn't happened yet.
And the concept of space-mining likely will not involve people. We are already replacing men with machines in mines on earth because of associated costs. I imagine the first space miners won't be guys in spacesuits carrying shovels. They will be machines.
Re: SpaceX successfully launches two humans into orbit
#207I'm surprised how I almost ended up tearing up and was close to crying while watching this. Saying this as someone who is not a huge NASA or space enthusiast. I did study physics, and I'm more into science than the average person though.
I made my wife and kids sit and watch it with me. Oddly enough, I think the first time they landed the rocket booster felt more significant to me. SpaceX launches have made space flight ordinary in a way that is pretty remarkable.
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Re: SpaceX successfully launches two humans into orbit
#208Congrats SpaceX! A job well done. I assumed this launch would be uneventful since SpaceX has been flying numerous missions to the ISS, and this one merely has people on it but is basically business-as-usual for them.
I think they've been flying the cargo dragon missions with a full-atmosphere pressure inside the capsule, just to prove that even if a person had been in there for a cargo launch they very well may have survived (at least, if they had a chair I guess)
Didn't some of those missions had live cargo in mice form anyway, making an atmosphere necessary? Only the trunk is unpressurized, AFAIK.
Re: SpaceX successfully launches two humans into orbit
#209This is a huge success for NASA's Commercial Crew Program. Both the total development costs ($1.7B and $2.8B for Crew Dragon and Starliner, respectively) and the per-seat costs ($60-67M and $91-99M) have outperformed all other NASA crewed programs since the early days of the agency. For comparison, development costs for the Space Shuttle were $27.4B, while Orion is estimated at $23.7B.
(From https://orbitalindex.com)
Re: SpaceX successfully launches two humans into orbit
#210Earlier quoted context omitted.
If I heard correctly, SpaceX got less because they were already running regular resupply missions to ISS and not because they had "worse, less reliable design".
Also because it costs less when you can reuse the booster rocket.
Did they ask for less?