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Blue Origin first human flight

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Re: Blue Origin first human flight

#421

Post by dang »

rvz wrote: post #41
marshallbananas wrote: post #8

This felt so underwhelming. I don't know if it's because I've seen SpaceX doing much more complicated missions or it's just not that big of a deal. They got about two minutes of zero G and came down immediately. You can experience that for much longer with a regular plane, for much less money. It really shouldn't count as space travel unless they go into orbit around Earth.

> It really shouldn't count as space travel unless they go into orbit around Earth. Translation: 'Other private companies building their own rockets and going into space is 'not good enough' unless it is by SpaceX' and doesn't count. To SpaceX fanatics and downvoters: I'm sure you are deep fanatics of SpaceX but surely you have the funds and deep pockets to join Musk and friends on a space mission together right now?…

Please don't take HN threads into tedious flamewar.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Blue Origin first human flight

#422

Post by samstave »

colordrops wrote: post #417
awrence wrote: post #409

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Random reply: Or you can stay here on earth, go scuba diving and experience the exact same weightlessness... :)

It's not the same - that's buoyancy, not weightlessness. Gravity still exerts force on your body and internal organs, and you feel orientation, i.e. up and down. It's a very different feeling.

That's why I was asking!

What would the difference in sensation be for one who is submerged on earth, versus one who is encapsulated in a floating sphere of water...

Re: Blue Origin first human flight

#423

Post by trhway »

a privately developed powerful reliable human rated rocket engine and a vertical booster landing - that were big deal just 10 years ago. Today - nah. That's called real progress, and i think we should be happy that it is happening.

Private people, even if billionaires for now, starting to pop into space as a routine occurrence looks to me like very early days of aviation, and we all know the explosive development after that.

Re: Blue Origin first human flight

#424

Post by rurp »

AtlasBarfed wrote: post #380
quijoteuniv wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope people have better dreams. That is my dream.

I actually think space tourism for the rich is very important. We are entering an age of global techno oligarchy I want my masters to see the earth from space. Get a feel for the stakes, see the delicate ribbon of air, the vastness of space. See it as the rare jewel we spent a short time on, and the obligation to treat it well

I don't know why this is being downvoted since it makes total sense to me. It's not a good thing that the mega rich have an absurd amount of power over society, but it's a fact for the foreseeable future. There is precedent for people becoming much more conscientious about the planet after returning from space, so it's certainly possible that billionaires playing with rockets will have some positive second order effects.

Re: Blue Origin first human flight

#425

Post by Me1000 »

sandworm101 wrote: post #14

The latest of the rich man roller coasters. Biggest windows in space... Cool. I cannot wait to see the first Champaign cork opened in zero gravity. At least spaceX's efforts have some none-entertainment uses. This rocket is nothing more than a pleasure craft.

Blue Origin has already flown New Shepard with various science experiments onboard. They've flown it with new guidance systems which they were testing for their moon landing bid which they submitted with Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Draper.

New Shepard can kind of be thought of as a prototype of the second stage to their new (bigger) rocket, New Glenn.

Blue Origin is a serious company and New Shepard is greatly overly engineered for joyrides. That's because the goal of Blue Origin and New Shepard is bigger than just space tourism.

Re: Blue Origin first human flight

#426

Post by notatoad »

bitL wrote: post #390
detritus wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing that amuses me is that if SpaceX can make Starship and the Heavy booster work, they could actually come up with a tourism/joyride that would blow these piffling jumps by Branson and Bezos into irrelevance. If you can send 50-100 people on an actual orbiting jaunt, perhaps a night in 'space rocket hotel', rich folk would gladly pay millions, which makes the business case a lot more compelling. Then they'd ju…

There will be an inevitable crash/failure resulting in a mass casualty event where many industries will lose their leaders (the only people that could afford a spaceflight for fun), and that's very bad for PR and could sink the whole company as a result.

>the only people that could afford a spaceflight for fun

i suspect the market will be less corporate leaders and more the family of corporate leaders (and saudi royals)

Re: Blue Origin first human flight

#427

Post by rurp »

jimbilly22 wrote: post #374
BitwiseFool wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or perhaps, the passengers will be galvanized by the experience and end up taking environmental issues more seriously: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overview_effect The carbon emissions of Starship already pale in comparison to the reforms we need to pass, but lack the political will to do so.

this argument is used to justify literally every climate hypocrisy, from pro skiers to billionaires on down "i do X high-carbon thing to bring awareness to the plebs"

So your argument is that anyone concerned about the planet should kill themselves, as that will do the most to directly minimize their climate impact?

It seems obvious to me that climate activists can use leverage, like anyone else. In other words it's perfectly reasonable to produce a small amount of carbon in pursuit of making the sweeping changes necessary. Climate change isn't going to be solved by parts of the population choosing to fly a little less often.

Re: Blue Origin first human flight

#428

Post by rootusrootus »

selykg wrote: post #50
basisword wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate to break it to you but Musk is just as unlikeable. Why does it matter who does it though? It’s a great achievement and could lead to great things. I’d much rather people like Bezos were spending money on this than mansions, supercars, and other crap that doesn’t benefit anyone.

> I hate to break it to you but Musk is just as unlikeable. Right? I don't get the guy's appeal. Yes, SpaceX and Tesla are doing neat things and I love that. But Musk is literally the last person I want to hear from, or about. Despite all the cool stuff Tesla is doing, he really makes me not want to buy anything from Tesla ever just because he's associated with it. Perhaps a bit dramatic, but I really can't stand the…

> I don't get the guy's appeal.

You could be talking about some politicians and I'd feel similarly. I think it says much more about society that these are the folks we hold up on a pedestal than it says about the people themselves.

Re: Blue Origin first human flight

#429

Post by unfunco »

colordrops wrote: post #408
aerovistae wrote: post #395

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh man, struggling to channel dang here. How to respond constructively. Probably the best thing to do is flag and ignore, but I can't pass this up. If people are interested in going somewhere, who are you to denigrate their ambitions? What is wrong with dreaming of orbiting the planet? How does that dream fall short? Is it a weak dream for a midwestern child, landlocked a thousand miles in every direction, to want to…

Everyone is required to fix the worlds problems before doing anything else. At least that is how the thinking goes, which is absurd in most cases. Though there is some nuance here considering Bezos' absolute detestable behavior climbing on the backs of abused workers to get to this point. It's an old story, as expressed by Dr. Seuss in his story Yertle the Turtle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yertle_the_Turtle_and_O…

Maybe Jeffrey Bezos will return a changed man and give his warehouse staff proper piss bottles instead of used drinking water bottles.

Re: Blue Origin first human flight

#430

Post by ethbr0 »

JshWright wrote: post #25
ethbr0 wrote: post #2

Link to the direct feed: https://youtu.be/watch?v=tMHhXzpwupU (Posted by many others, but this is what made the front page) Update 1: Successful booster touchdown (admittedly, they probably had a lot larger fuel budget than orbital launches) Update 2: Successful touchdown of capsule Congrats to Blue Origin for success in tossing people through space!

> (admittedly, they probably had a lot larger fuel budget than orbital launches) That booster isn't capable of orbital launches.

I meant it's a helluva lot easier to have plenty of landing fuel when you're tossing a capsule up, vs trying to insert an actual payload into orbit.
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