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Netflix announces Space X documentary on civilian mission into orbit

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Re: Netflix announces Space X documentary on civilian mission into orbit

#41

Post by bdamm »

inglor_cz wrote: post #28
dotBen wrote: post #11

What I've been surprised about is that Elon isn't going on either this mission or just one of his own seeing as SpaceX could presumably have two commercial flights. Given the 'length comparison games' that Branson and Bezos have been up to with their 'near space' escapades it's a massive F U for Elon to do a trip like this which will actually be one of the furthest distances humans have gone from Earth since the moon…

I think the explanation is simple. Musk is a notorious workaholic and does not want to leave Boca Chica at this stage of Starship development. The activity at Starbase is frantic right now and will likely be frantic for some months to come.

This is exactly right. He could not imagine delaying the development of Starship for the ~week it would take him to train for, orient on, and fly the mission. It would be a huge distraction for him and everyone in the company. Once the Starship trips are normal, operational, and for sale, my bet is he'll take a jog around orbit.

Re: Netflix announces Space X documentary on civilian mission into orbit

#42

Post by milansuk »

InTheArena wrote: post #6

The recent interview of Elon by Tim Dodd is probably more informative and interesting this this could ever be. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t705r8ICkRw

I remember watching "Everyday Astronaut" live with less than 1000 other people. Today, the numbers are over 100K. He is a great guy, who is very interested in and passionate about everything around space exploration and his articles and videos go very deep, the same for answering questions live. Only if more YouTubers were like him.

Can't wait for 2nd and 3rd parts.

His notes for 1st part: https://everydayastronaut.com/starbase-tour-and-interview-wi...

Re: Netflix announces Space X documentary on civilian mission into orbit

#43

Post by Denvercoder9 »

yupper32 wrote: post #22

When was the last time a crew that orbited earth were all first timers? I think all of the SpaceX launches so far have been almost all experienced people who have ridden on the shuttle or soyuz. I remember being amazed that we had such a deep pool of experienced astronauts.

> When was the last time a crew that orbited earth were all first timers?

Shenzhou 7 in September 2008.

The Russians did it last in April (launch) and October (landing) 2008, while for the US you have to go back all the way to the second Shuttle flight in 1981.

Re: Netflix announces Space X documentary on civilian mission into orbit

#44

Post by yupper32 »

Denvercoder9 wrote: post #43
yupper32 wrote: post #22

When was the last time a crew that orbited earth were all first timers? I think all of the SpaceX launches so far have been almost all experienced people who have ridden on the shuttle or soyuz. I remember being amazed that we had such a deep pool of experienced astronauts.

> When was the last time a crew that orbited earth were all first timers? Shenzhou 7 in September 2008. The Russians did it last in April (launch) and October (landing) 2008, while for the US you have to go back all the way to the second Shuttle flight in 1981.

Awesome stuff, thanks.

Totally makes sense why we'd basically always want someone who has done the trip before. I wonder if that was actually the thought process?

Re: Netflix announces Space X documentary on civilian mission into orbit

#45

Post by IanClarke »

InTheArena wrote: post #6

The recent interview of Elon by Tim Dodd is probably more informative and interesting this this could ever be. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t705r8ICkRw

I was surprised how Elon talked "in depth" about technology and engineering in this video with Tim, since Elon often uses relatively simple things to talk about to reach the masses, like "rockets must be fully reusable", "we need sustainable transportation (and they are electric cars)", etc. Elon likes to use simple language and paint big pictures. But he (and his team) must have evaluated thousands of interdependent complex factors and found the one solution (e.g. Methane-propelled Starship) before reaching to these simple "big pictures" (which he then likes to talk about and present to the public) and ofc. it's the right thing to do and there is nothing wrong with it.

Elon is the new Steve Jobs, informing and educating us about the future, just like Steve did it. This time with cars and space exploration, which is just "next" (Steve Jobs informed us about the iPod and the iPhone). When Steve wiped out Nokia with the iPhone, I thought that someone from Silicon Valley would do the same for cars and there are a couple of contenders now with Tesla leading. But it's a big market with a lot of companies, and instead of wiping one out, there are just many suffering now - more or less, or still doing fine.

Though there are very much details, which he is aware of and trading/evaluating... at least with his engineers and which he does in this video, which is nice, refreshing and new information (for us and from him).

I really like Tim Dodd, though he comes from a background of "I wasn't good at school and am still excited and knowledgeable about rockets today [and so can you(everyone)]", he is sometimes over-explaining simple things imho. I have also the feeling that Tim Dodd might be a sub-par interview partner for Elon in this video, but Elon manages it fine and I think he likes Tim for everything he achieved despite not having an academic background.

Just recently I found https://youtube.com/c/MarcusHouse, which fits my taste a bit better, currently.

Re: Netflix announces Space X documentary on civilian mission into orbit

#46

Post by Denvercoder9 »

ben_w wrote: post #24
ortusdux wrote: post #4

I have a bet with a friend that James Cameron will be one of the first private citizens to go to the moon, and that he will bring an IMAX camera to fund the trip.

Sounds plausible. Musk’s target price is essentially a rounding error compared to the budgets of Gravity or The Martian .

> Musk’s target price is essentially a rounding error compared to the budgets of Gravity or The Martian.

Do we even know Musk's target price for a return-trip to the moon? It's very hard to extrapolate from the $10/kg figure ($1M/launch) that keeps getting quoted, as a return-trip to the moon without discarding a Starship (which will blow up the cost enormously) will involve a lot of launches. Even the HLS architecture, which leaves Starship stranded in lunar orbit and uses Orion to get the astronauts back, needs 10 launches.

Even if we're very generous and assume 20 launches at $1M/launch, that's ~20% of the budget of these movies. But that's very aspirational: for HLS, which is already ambitious, NASA paid $2.89B for development & 2 launches. If we assume 80% is development, you're still looking at $289M per trip.

Re: Netflix announces Space X documentary on civilian mission into orbit

#47

Post by Denvercoder9 »

bdamm wrote: post #41
inglor_cz wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the explanation is simple. Musk is a notorious workaholic and does not want to leave Boca Chica at this stage of Starship development. The activity at Starbase is frantic right now and will likely be frantic for some months to come.

This is exactly right. He could not imagine delaying the development of Starship for the ~week it would take him to train for, orient on, and fly the mission. It would be a huge distraction for him and everyone in the company. Once the Starship trips are normal, operational, and for sale, my bet is he'll take a jog around orbit.

Flying on Dragon takes a lot more training than a few days. The Inspiration4 crew has been training for months.

Re: Netflix announces Space X documentary on civilian mission into orbit

#48

Post by [deleted] »

sandworm101 wrote: post #21
_Microft wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed, even though that has not been that different on the crew rotation flights to ISS. Doug Hurley (iirc - might have been Bob Behnken instead?) got to fly Crew Dragon manually during the first crewed mission "Demo 2" but the spacecraft is meant to bring people where they should be all by itself (and with help from ground control).

The ISS is a special case. That requires a pilot who can take manual control should the docking system go wrong. A stuck jet on approach could shatter the station and so you need someone who can take over and make very fast avoidance decisions. The recent incident with a docked module was a huge reminder of those dangers.

[deleted]

Re: Netflix announces Space X documentary on civilian mission into orbit

#49

Post by hackeraccount »

IanClarke wrote: post #45
InTheArena wrote: post #6

The recent interview of Elon by Tim Dodd is probably more informative and interesting this this could ever be. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t705r8ICkRw

I was surprised how Elon talked "in depth" about technology and engineering in this video with Tim, since Elon often uses relatively simple things to talk about to reach the masses, like "rockets must be fully reusable", "we need sustainable transportation (and they are electric cars)", etc. Elon likes to use simple language and paint big pictures. But he (and his team) must have evaluated thousands of interdependent…

Tim Dodd reminds me of Andy Weir. They're both trying to explain things that are fairly complicated to an audience which is interested but might be starting from zero. That's actually really hard to do and then they add to the degree of difficulty by not being afraid to release the minimum viable product to that end.

For me it makes both of them fun to watch because you can see them getting better. As a novelist Weir is - in my opinion - improving his craft with each novel. Same with Dodd when it comes to the videos he's making. Both really impress me.

Re: Netflix announces Space X documentary on civilian mission into orbit

#50

Post by IanClarke »

tpmx wrote: post #38
InTheArena wrote: post #6

The recent interview of Elon by Tim Dodd is probably more informative and interesting this this could ever be. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t705r8ICkRw

Shouldn't they have been wearing helmets when filming that segment? It was a quite busy work site with high altitude work (so a risk of dropping tools etc).

In the beginning of the video they were high up and I feared Elon could fall to his death and that would bring "all of human's progress to a halt". They not only work 24 hours and 7 days a week (In 12 hour shifts: 3 days and 4 days in a row, then 3/4 days off), but they also rush things, with tight deadlines, ofc. top-notch workers/engineers, but still. No fatalities while working like this (I googled it the other day) - It all looks dangerous.
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