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SpaceX’s monstrous, dirt-cheap Starship may transform space travel

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Re: SpaceX’s monstrous, dirt-cheap Starship may transform space travel

#301
post #216

I think Gwynne Shotwell is the rather unsung hero keeping SpaceX running correctly day by day. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwynne_Shotwell

This from her seemed dangerously like fraud: https://www.ted.com/talks/gwynne_shotwell_spacex_s_plan_to_f... Passenger service by 2028 on starship for between an economy and business class ticket. A couple years later they confirmed they were still going for the same timeline.

Giving a talk in 2018 to say their new product might be ready in 2028 is maybe too hopeful, but that's not what fraud is.

Re: SpaceX’s monstrous, dirt-cheap Starship may transform space travel

#303

If you're ever in the Houston area, I highly recommend going to see NASA Johnson Space Center. They have a full-size replica (?) Saturn V rocket on its side, you can see. You simply can't grasp how big these rockets are until you see it up close. It's like a tall building blasting off into space. They're humongous. I hope to one day see Starship up close in person as it takes off to space.

I found it depressing. Ships aren't built to stay in the harbor, and rockets aren't built to lie on their side rusting. They say we couldn't build another Saturn V if we tried. Apparently that old saw is true enough, at least for the original contractors.

lol of course we could build another Saturn V. It would be practically from scratch and require a congress which is a bit less polarized, but that's just a silly statement.

Re: SpaceX’s monstrous, dirt-cheap Starship may transform space travel

#304

If you're ever in the Houston area, I highly recommend going to see NASA Johnson Space Center. They have a full-size replica (?) Saturn V rocket on its side, you can see. You simply can't grasp how big these rockets are until you see it up close. It's like a tall building blasting off into space. They're humongous. I hope to one day see Starship up close in person as it takes off to space.

I wonder if someone is maintaining a non-SEO-spam bucketlist of things to do/see/experience before you die for a typical hacker/STEM/bookish geek?

Re: SpaceX’s monstrous, dirt-cheap Starship may transform space travel

#305
post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This from her seemed dangerously like fraud: https://www.ted.com/talks/gwynne_shotwell_spacex_s_plan_to_f... Passenger service by 2028 on starship for between an economy and business class ticket. A couple years later they confirmed they were still going for the same timeline.

> This from her seemed dangerously like fraud Pretty heavy statement. Which part is the fraud? The timeline or the ability? I think it's fair to say far-fetched, but the label fraud or even "sounding like fraud" sounds too heavy.

The person thinks it's fraud because they watched videos by a propagandist who goes by the name "common sense skeptic" who makes videos that sound a lot like the people who make videos about flat earth. I say this as they quote all the same talking points of that person.

Re: SpaceX’s monstrous, dirt-cheap Starship may transform space travel

#306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The phrase, “we couldn’t build one if we wanted to,” is misleading. We could build the exact vehicle but we could build one that looks similar and does the same thing.

We could not get it working in 5 years, maybe in 10. At that point you are not building, you are reverse engineering and re-engineering

With money and political will they absolutely could build one in 5 years. I'm not sure why people are stuck on this "we just can't accomplish what they did in the good ol' days"

Re: SpaceX’s monstrous, dirt-cheap Starship may transform space travel

#307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The military wants a C-130 payload anywhere in the world in 1 hour. Military up the wazoo in contracts. Militarization of space is inevitable, they'll want bases up there. If the payload costs are true for starship, they'll put big ones up there. Starship will represent a total paradigm change in space superiority on economics alone. I'm surprised China and Russia aren't loudly complaining about this. It would enable…

> they'll want bases up there They'll be highly expensive and highly vulnerable targets. You can't armor a space station.

Not with that attitude...

Re: SpaceX’s monstrous, dirt-cheap Starship may transform space travel

#308
post #26

https://archive.is/1IIml BTW, if you like the Energia rocket and heavy metal, you might like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVWfqOSdzs4 . This quote (from the article) is astounding: > [SpaceX] has pulled off 111 Falcon 9 launches in a row without failure

Who knew that heavy space polka was something I needed today, thanks :)

Re: SpaceX’s monstrous, dirt-cheap Starship may transform space travel

#309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This from her seemed dangerously like fraud Pretty heavy statement. Which part is the fraud? The timeline or the ability? I think it's fair to say far-fetched, but the label fraud or even "sounding like fraud" sounds too heavy.

The person thinks it's fraud because they watched videos by a propagandist who goes by the name "common sense skeptic" who makes videos that sound a lot like the people who make videos about flat earth. I say this as they quote all the same talking points of that person.

Honestly, I don't know what to think of a CEO, who publicly puts her authority behind a video suggesting that doing anything off the open coast line of Zürich may be a viable business proposition. (It's a bit like selling a technology driven by the glaciers of New Mexico.)

Re: SpaceX’s monstrous, dirt-cheap Starship may transform space travel

#310

If you're ever in the Houston area, I highly recommend going to see NASA Johnson Space Center. They have a full-size replica (?) Saturn V rocket on its side, you can see. You simply can't grasp how big these rockets are until you see it up close. It's like a tall building blasting off into space. They're humongous. I hope to one day see Starship up close in person as it takes off to space.

I wonder if someone is maintaining a non-SEO-spam bucketlist of things to do/see/experience before you die for a typical hacker/STEM/bookish geek?

Seeing a rocket launch live is definitely on my list, but it's a bit difficult living in an entirely different continent and all.
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