SpaceX successfully lands a Falcon 9 rocket at sea for the third time • Hacker News Board

Re: SpaceX successfully lands a Falcon 9 rocket at sea for the third time

#51

Post by erikpukinskis » Tue, May 31, 2016, 1:50 AM UTC

coderdude wrote: post #50

dang wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't post uncivil comments here. We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11791424 and marked it off-topic.

My bad. Not the comment that I'm most proud of.

For what it's worth, I didn't know it was sped up, and I have taken calculus and advanced physics. I had no frame of reference for how high the rocket was when the video started. It wasn't that I thought it was realtime, I just didn't know if it was sped up or if the rocket was just way faster than I would've imagined. I was quite glad that someone pointed out it was sped up, and I think as a matter of journalistic integrity folks should generally mark when things are sped up or slowed down.

I am mentally handicapped though, so you got that right.

Re: SpaceX successfully lands a Falcon 9 rocket at sea for the third time

#52

Post by erikpukinskis » Tue, May 31, 2016, 1:57 AM UTC

untilHellbanned wrote: post #39

Please somebody justify SpaceX because "Science!" isnt cutting it for me anymore.

I wish more space aficionados would admit that it's really about entertainment. SpaceX to Mars is like the world's awesomest reality show. People seem to think it's shameful to admit that something is for entertainment, but I think it's a noble calling to do entertainment well. I think of Elon Musk as a modern day Jacques Cousteau, also a great entertainer.

People always make these super slippery arguments about how space research leads to earth inventions and humans need frontiers to stay mentally healthy, all kinds of strange stories to make space exploration seem like a humanitarian pursuit. I think it's just leftover zeal from the U.S. government story that space exploration was important for the country...

... which it was. We needed to stay up on our rocketry game for national defense reasons.

I feel it just muddies the true rationale for space when you try to make it about something it's not.

Re: SpaceX successfully lands a Falcon 9 rocket at sea for the third time

#53

Post by untilHellbanned » Fri, Jun 03, 2016, 7:05 AM UTC

fmihaila wrote: post #44

untilHellbanned wrote: post #39

Please somebody justify SpaceX because "Science!" isnt cutting it for me anymore.

How about "Money!". Glibness aside, it's a private enterprise and is profitable, so even without mentioning Musk's ultimate goal of colonizing Mars, its existence needs no further justification. It makes money and its shareholders are happy. And before someone jumps in with the "SpaceX-is-propped-up-by-the-government" canard, the U.S. government also saves money when it launches military satellites with SpaceX. Accor…

I'm asking why a company who hasn't done anything novel in the realm of science garners so much attention for its science. The fanboy-ism for SpaceX seems uneducated. Please tell me how I am wrong.