SpaceX

[gardenmom5]

You've got to give them credit:

about today's launch - Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly before stage separation

 

that's a wordy way to say "it blew up".   (it wouldn't separate when staging.)

[Halftime Hope]

I was sad that it didn't work, but so very glad it was unmanned.  I was interested to see a quote from an FAA(?) official of about an expected 11% failure rate in the experimental space.  (Who knew!?!)  

 

 

Edited April 20, 2023 by Halftime Hope

[gardenmom5]

5 minutes ago, Halftime Hope said:

I was sad that it didn't work, but so very glad it was unmanned.  I was interested to see a quote from an FAA(?) official of about an expected 11% failure rate in the experimental space.  (Who knew!?!)  

 

 

Elon Musk gave it a 50% chance of failure.  He was happy it got off the ground.  It's bigger and heavier than a Saturn V.  And that had a lot of issues before getting it into orbit.

[Murphy101]

Oh my word. I have a horrible head cold and I was dying laughing watching the live launch.

They kept giddily repeating that anything after clearing the tower was icing and I was just wow. That has to be the most expensive loopyloop fireworks ever. 

I was cracking up because I honestly can’t tell if those engineers were just genuinely giddy about all the new data they get to play with or just trying to make it until they get off air for some day drinking. 

[Faith-manor]

They will go drinking. I am fairly certain alcohol consumption is required to survive Musk.

The "commentators" were bizarrely annoying this time. Can we get DNA from Walter Cronkite, have him cloned, and replace everyone with clones! Or Peter Jennings or something. Is it that hard to actually educate oneself, just a little, about the thing being covered so open does not sound like an idiot? Makes my brain twitch.

[lauraw4321]

I sent the photo of it blown up to my family and said this is what happens when you try to build a rocket without my DH. 😅

 

[BronzeTurtle]

It was expected that it would blow up. Making it past the launchpad was the goal. Getting the data from the failed spin/flip is great.

Do you know how many rockets we had to blow up to even get into orbit, much less to the moon? And yes the scientists used the data each time to eventually get there.

Yes rocket scientists are excited about this project, this development, and all the data they got off of this to further space exploration.

[lauraw4321]

36 minutes ago, gardenmom5 said:

a rapid unscheduled disassembly before stage separation

😅😜

[BronzeTurtle]

Are people really thinking this was a net loss to space exploration?

And laughing because they don't like Elon Musk?

[lauraw4321]

4 minutes ago, BronzeTurtle said:

Are people really thinking this was a net loss to space exploration?

And laughing because they don't like Elon Musk?

It's light-hearted. I don't think it's a net loss to space exploration. I don't like Elon Musk. SpaceX has tried really hard to recruit my husband and he hasn't gone because of the rumored mismanagement and miserable work conditions. No one was hurt. Data was gained. Watching it spin around before self-destructing with commentators trying to maintain a neutral, professional air was funny. We don't mean ill will to anyone (except maybe a tiny bit of schadenfreude against Musk).  

[Murphy101]

11 minutes ago, BronzeTurtle said:

It was expected that it would blow up. Making it past the launchpad was the goal. Getting the data from the failed spin/flip is great.

Do you know how many rockets we had to blow up to even get into orbit, much less to the moon? And yes the scientists used the data each time to eventually get there.

Yes rocket scientists are excited about this project, this development, and all the data they got off of this to further space exploration.

Yes. I know.  Calm down. Laughing and learning from failure is the core of all scientific discovery.

Just now, lauraw4321 said:

It's light-hearted. I don't think it's a net loss to space exploration. I don't like Elon Musk. SpaceX has tried really hard to recruit my husband and he hasn't gone because of the rumored mismanagement and miserable work conditions. No one was hurt. Data was gained. Watching it spin around before self-destructing with commentators trying to maintain a neutral, professional air was funny. We don't mean ill will to anyone (except maybe a tiny bit of schadenfreude against Musk).  

Yep. All of this. 

[BronzeTurtle]

There is no schadenfreude to be had because...it was not expected to *not explode*. This was the point of the test launch. The reason the commentators were excited and professional is because it got to the spin. Having that data is crucial to the next iteration. It wasn't an act that people were putting on or trying to be "neutral and professional". Did you hear the cheering after it exploded?

I mean I respect that your husband doesn't want to work for Elon Musk or SpaceX and good on him for being great enough to be recruited, but a test flight is a test flight. Again, do people realize how many rockets have blown up in the history of the space program? As it happens SpaceX can build about 5 of their vehicles in the time it takes to build 1 SLS? So they can do more tests, and gather more data quickly.

Maybe Musk is the worst. Obviously the tone about him and SpaceX changed after he took over twitter, but whatever about one rich dude financing this stuff... I am excited about the future of space flight, and thinking this would blow up on the launchpad, I too was excited to see that it didn't.

[BronzeTurtle]

6 minutes ago, Murphy101 said:

Yes. I know.  Calm down. Laughing and learning from failure is the core of all scientific discovery.

 

That's what I was trying to point out, but people want to laugh because his rocket was a "failure". As it turns out, no. They are talking about being happy that "Elon" failed and that's pretty exactly not what happened here, but okay.

Also you should know that telling a woman to calm down is pretty misogynistic.

[gardenmom5]

19 minutes ago, BronzeTurtle said:

Are people really thinking this was a net loss to space exploration?

And laughing because they don't like Elon Musk?

I don't think this was a net-loss. They will learn from it, and move on.
I was laughing at the wording of the statement.
 

[fraidycat]

43 minutes ago, BronzeTurtle said:

That's what I was trying to point out, but people want to laugh because his rocket was a "failure". As it turns out, no. They are talking about being happy that "Elon" failed and that's pretty exactly not what happened here, but okay.

Also you should know that telling a woman to calm down is pretty misogynistic.

No one on this thread is the "people" you are talking about, though. So your strident chiding tone is uncalled for and will result in being told to "calm down". 🤷🏻‍♀️

Edited April 20, 2023 by fraidycat

[Murphy101]

39 minutes ago, BronzeTurtle said:

That's what I was trying to point out, but people want to laugh because his rocket was a "failure". As it turns out, no. They are talking about being happy that "Elon" failed and that's pretty exactly not what happened here, but okay.

Also you should know that telling a woman to calm down is pretty misogynistic.

Sigh. Whatev that’s not what anyone here has said.

Though I’ll happily admit I’d rather NASA do this than Musk or any other private company.

[BronzeTurtle]

10 minutes ago, Murphy101 said:

Though I’ll happily admit I’d rather NASA do this than Musk or any other private company.

Yes, slower and with more human casualties would be super.

[KSera]

14 minutes ago, fraidycat said:

No one on this thread is the "people" you are talking about, though. So your strident chiding tone is uncalled for and will result in being told to "calm down". 🤷🏻‍♀️

I’m wondering if perhaps commentary is being read elsewhere and being projected onto people here who have not said anything like that. Given that this was considered a successful outcome, I don’t see the problem with being lighthearted about it. The phrasing of the SpaceX tweet was humorous. I expect it was intended to be.

[BronzeTurtle]

13 minutes ago, fraidycat said:

No one on this thread is the "people" you are talking about, though. So your strident chiding tone is uncalled for and will result in being told to "calm down". 🤷🏻‍♀️

I was responding to people (person?) who did not, in fact, know why the commentators would be as giddy as they were. I believe the terms day-drinking and schadenfreude were used, but okay. I'm strident and chiding. What's funny is that when a man is direct and confident no one tells him to calm down. Women can't say anything without multiple exclamations and emoji's without being accused of being strident, chiding, aggressive, or bossy. Pick the word, all the same. Even from other women!

[ktgrok]

Isnt' he the one that, after a very very expensive rocket of his blew up, said, "Rockets are tricky" as a response? Before I knew HOW crazy he was I loved that low key response. Like, meh....sure it was a zillion dollars, but happens. Rockets are tricky.

_____ are tricky is a go to thing to say here in our house when things don't go as planned. 

[Pam in CT]

The phrasing of the statement was funny.  Getting off the launchpad was helpful in gathering the data to get a little further next go.

Both can be -- are -- true at the same time.  Rockets are tricky.

 

 

 

 

[Terabith]

They do need to put in a flame trench.  Chunks of concrete from the pad flew hundreds of yards and smashed into the back of a truck.  There’s a LAYER of sand and dirt on everything more than five miles away.  It’s pretty stupendous stuff.  

[SKL]

1 hour ago, gardenmom5 said:

I don't think this was a net-loss. They will learn from it, and move on.
I was laughing at the wording of the statement.
 

Mr. Musk does have a way with words.

That said, it is disappointing to see some of the tone here.  It sounds like some of us lack the ability to be objective observers of anything, including inanimate objects and actual science.

[SKL]

Personally I think it's kinda cool that a guy would risk his wealth for the sake of scientific and/or human progress.

[SKL]

1 hour ago, Murphy101 said:

Though I’ll happily admit I’d rather NASA do this than Musk or any other private company.

Why?

[Murphy101]

Just now, SKL said:

Why?

There are some endeavors I think humanity should actively participate in for the positive growth of civilization rather than be bystanders observing individual/corporate attainment.

[gardenmom5]

18 minutes ago, SKL said:

Mr. Musk does have a way with words.

That said, it is disappointing to see some of the tone here.  It sounds like some of us lack the ability to be objective observers of anything, including inanimate objects and actual science.

I think most people on the board hadn't been born when the mercury/gemini/apollo programs were going on.  there were *a lot* of failures.  The US was mocked by a few other for those failures.   They learned, and moved on.

I read Lovell's book on Apollo 13 - It was far more helpful to understand what was going on, and just how critical somethings were that the movie just didn't have the time or capacity to explain.
(though the guy who led the team to come up with the idea for the carbon dioxide scrubbers had ideas in his head from shortly after things went south of how to "put a square peg in a round hole", long before it showed up in the movie.)

1 hour ago, Murphy101 said:

Sigh. Whatev that’s not what anyone here has said.

Though I’ll happily admit I’d rather NASA do this than Musk or any other private company.

So, you'd rather taxpayers paid for it.  

6 minutes ago, Murphy101 said:

There are some endeavors I think humanity should actively participate in for the positive growth of civilization rather than be bystanders observing individual/corporate attainment.

developments by private companies eventually make it out into the public sector.   Just as things from the Apollo program *eventually* made it out into the public sector.  (not overnight - it takes time.)

[SKL]

11 minutes ago, Murphy101 said:

There are some endeavors I think humanity should actively participate in for the positive growth of civilization rather than be bystanders observing individual/corporate attainment.

So what are the criteria by which some projects should be designated for humanity's investment vs. individual/corporate investment?

[gardenmom5]

The wording could also be an engineer thing.  re: Apollo 13. I still snicker at the itemized bill someone from Grumman (builder of the LEM) wrote up to send to someone from Rockwell (builder of the CM) for *towing*.   (dont' think it was actually sent, but definitely worthy of a laugh.)

[Murphy101]

12 minutes ago, gardenmom5 said:

So, you'd rather taxpayers paid for it.  

absolutely! There are many things in the building of civilization that I whole-heartedly approve being paid for with taxes. 

12 minutes ago, gardenmom5 said:

developments by private companies eventually make it out into the public sector.   Just as things from the Apollo program *eventually* made it out into the public sector.  (not overnight - it takes time.)

Note. The Apollo program was not a private program.

Personally, I completely support NASA in no small part because I am well aware of how many scientific advances and developments came from it. 

[Murphy101]

14 minutes ago, SKL said:

So what are the criteria by which some projects should be designated for humanity's investment vs. individual/corporate investment?

Utilities is the first to come to mind.

I’m not looking at the start. I’m looking at the goal posts.

But if we are going to use the word investment then I would rephrase it this way:

A step in the goal of civilization development should have the investment of the civilization being developed.

[Lady Florida.]

2 hours ago, Terabith said:

They do need to put in a flame trench.  Chunks of concrete from the pad flew hundreds of yards and smashed into the back of a truck.  There’s a LAYER of sand and dirt on everything more than five miles away.  It’s pretty stupendous stuff.  

 

The FAA will be investigating. They're supposed to see to public safety during commercial launches and re-entry. Hopefully they'll come up with reasonable safety changes. 

[Faith-manor]

A rocket team member sent me this cryptic message about the launch. "Cato, RTKF."

Catastrophic event at take off/launch. Return to kit form.

LOL. I love my rocket kids. (I really should stop calling them kids. There are 32 of them, and not one is still a minor! 😂😂😂)

[Faith-manor]

50 minutes ago, Murphy101 said:

absolutely! There are many things in the building of civilization that I whole-heartedly approve being paid for with taxes. 

Note. The Apollo program was not a private program.

Personally, I completely support NASA in no small part because I am well aware of how many scientific advances and developments came from it. 

Some of the biological experiments on the ISS are going to be huge. The data being gathered is amazing. 

[kirstenhill]

2 hours ago, Terabith said:

They do need to put in a flame trench.  Chunks of concrete from the pad flew hundreds of yards and smashed into the back of a truck.  There’s a LAYER of sand and dirt on everything more than five miles away.  It’s pretty stupendous stuff.  

Agree about the flame trench.  The truck was super close though.  Whichever channel put that vehicle cam there must have known that debris damage was a possibility.  This cam shows a good view of where the truck is.  But the sand raining down five miles away is not going to make regulators happy.  I watched the main SpaceX stream live but then went over to Everyday Astronaut to watch their reaction.  It was pretty crazy to watch him and his co-presenter scramble inside due to the sand/particulates raining down.

 

Edited April 20, 2023 by kirstenhill

[Faith-manor]

1 hour ago, gardenmom5 said:

I think most people on the board hadn't been born when the mercury/gemini/apollo programs were going on.  there were *a lot* of failures.  The US was mocked by a few other for those failures.   They learned, and moved on.

I read Lovell's book on Apollo 13 - It was far more helpful to understand what was going on, and just how critical somethings were that the movie just didn't have the time or capacity to explain.
(though the guy who led the team to come up with the idea for the carbon dioxide scrubbers had ideas in his head from shortly after things went south of how to "put a square peg in a round hole", long before it showed up in the movie.)

So, you'd rather taxpayers paid for it.  

developments by private companies eventually make it out into the public sector.   Just as things from the Apollo program *eventually* made it out into the public sector.  (not overnight - it takes time.)

I was born in 68. Not old enough to remember, but my brother was 5 years old and so was hubby. They both remember watching it with their parents on t.v., and when they started kindy in the fall, their teachers planned all kinds of space and NASA themed activities. 

Tons of failures. Lots and lots of failures. All the ways how to " not" make a lightbulb kinds of failures. It was especially embarrassing to the U.S. because the Soviet Union had figures out the math, and we had not. It was considered a major Cold War failure as well as massive security risk to have them so far ahead of us.

Mark and I just finished reading Scott Kelly's book, "Endurance". Wonderful read!

[kirstenhill]

1 minute ago, Faith-manor said:

 

Tons of failures. Lots and lots of failures. All the ways how to " not" make a lightbulb kinds of failures. It was especially embarrassing to the U.S. because the Soviet Union had figures out the math, and we had not. It was considered a major Cold War failure as well as massive security risk to have them so far ahead of us.

 

I recently read Epic Rivalry: The Inside Story of the Soviet and American Space Race, and that also highlighted the many ways in which we did not know what we were doing...😳  Space X's iterative design process looks so different than how NASA runs things these days, that I think it can be confusing to people wondering why SpaceX has had so many "big booms" in the Starship design process (all the SN test ships that blew up before SN15 landed).  Both processes can get to the goal in the end.  

I visited Starbase in Jan 2022, and I thought that maybe the ship/booster combination I saw would be the ones to take flight (this was ship 4/booster 20)...it turns out they had more iterating to do before we got to today.  It is really incredible that you can visit and get close enough from the public road to watch what's going on.

[Murphy101]

I was sitting in Mrs A’s 6th grade civics class watching on the rolled in “big screen” tv with all the other 6th graders as the Challenger exploded.

I still would rather support NASA over SpaceX.

[Faith-manor]

Y'all, I want you to know that when I went to Red Stone Arsenal for a tour with our rocket team in 2017, I asked the engineer leading our tour how I could get my hands on a nice big tank of liquid hydrogen like to they had sitting about the base. I told him our rocket team needed it to further our aerospace program back home. 😂😂😂 I am so glad NASA folk have a sense of humor!

10 minutes ago, Murphy101 said:

I was sitting in Mrs A’s 6th grade civics class watching on the rolled in “big screen” tv with all the other 6th graders as the Challenger exploded.

I still would rather support NASA over SpaceX.

Agreed. I prefer answering to the public than to a board of investors for accountability.

I had just finished giving a piano lesson and was rushing to the t.v. to see how the launch went when I found out about the explosion.

[Sneezyone]

5 minutes ago, Faith-manor said:

Y'all, I want you to know that when I went to Red Stone Arsenal for a tour with our rocket team in 2017, I asked the engineer leading our tour how I could get my hands on a nice big tank of liquid hydrogen like to they had sitting about the base. I told him our rocket team needed it to further our aerospace program back home. 😂😂😂 I am so glad NASA folk have a sense of humor!

Agreed. I prefer answering to the public than to a board of investors for accountability.

I had just finished giving a piano lesson and was rushing to the t.v. to see how the launch went when I found out about the explosion.

I was 10 yrs old for Challenger and watched it in class. It definitely shaped my view of space exploration. If billionaires want to beam themselves up as experiments, have at it! don't send public servants until you're sure. Muck is a charlatan. His company would be better off with him gone.

Edited April 20, 2023 by Sneezyone

[pinball]

3 hours ago, BronzeTurtle said:

I was responding to people (person?) who did not, in fact, know why the commentators would be as giddy as they were. I believe the terms day-drinking and schadenfreude were used, but okay. I'm strident and chiding. What's funny is that when a man is direct and confident no one tells him to calm down. Women can't say anything without multiple exclamations and emoji's without being accused of being strident, chiding, aggressive, or bossy. Pick the word, all the same. Even from other women!

When people show you who there are, believe them. 
 

 

[KSera]

2 hours ago, kirstenhill said:

I watched the main SpaceX stream live but then went over to Everyday Astronaut to watch their reaction. 

Thanks for this. I hadn't seen the full video yet, and found the recording from Everyday Astronaut, and it was pretty fun to see their enthusiasm 😁.

[Murphy101]

6 hours ago, BronzeTurtle said:

I was responding to people (person?) who did not, in fact, know why the commentators would be as giddy as they were.

I never said I didn’t know why they would be giddy or go day-drinking. I know why and hold no negative judgement about either. I expressed that I was amused. Because it was funny as heck. 

6 hours ago, BronzeTurtle said:

I believe the terms day-drinking and schadenfreude were used,

I didn’t use schadenfreude. Not my problem if someone else did. 

6 hours ago, BronzeTurtle said:

but okay. I'm strident and chiding.
 

I also didn’t say you were strident or chiding so I guess that’s someone’s words too. Not that they were wrong.

6 hours ago, BronzeTurtle said:

What's funny is that when a man is direct and confident no one tells him to calm down.
 

Good grief. I can’t believe someone is claiming that me of all people is upset with someone for being direct and confident.  I didn’t think you were direct or confident.  I thought you were going off on lecturing me about something that I wasn’t even arguing about.  And if you’d been a man (which for all I know you could be) I’d have said the same thing.

6 hours ago, BronzeTurtle said:

Women can't say anything without multiple exclamations and emoji's without being accused of being strident, chiding, aggressive, or bossy. Pick the word, all the same. Even from other women!

I’ll have you know I actually do speak with exclamations and a face that screams emojis even when I’m not saying anything because I am an unapologeticly enthusiastic person about many things, because I AM the boss of my life, and not because I’m worried I’ll not seem subservient enough to someone else, man or woman.

!

!

!

🫰

!

!

!

[gardenmom5]

4 hours ago, Faith-manor said:

I was born in 68. Not old enough to remember, but my brother was 5 years old and so was hubby. They both remember watching it with their parents on t.v., and when they started kindy in the fall, their teachers planned all kinds of space and NASA themed activities. 

Tons of failures. Lots and lots of failures. All the ways how to " not" make a lightbulb kinds of failures. It was especially embarrassing to the U.S. because the Soviet Union had figures out the math, and we had not. It was considered a major Cold War failure as well as massive security risk to have them so far ahead of us.

Mark and I just finished reading Scott Kelly's book, "Endurance". Wonderful read!

I remember watching Apollo 11.  I remember later, watching a landing in the ocean, and wondering why it was taking so long (my mother didn't talk to me much).  That was Apollo 13.

4 hours ago, Faith-manor said:

Y'all, I want you to know that when I went to Red Stone Arsenal for a tour with our rocket team in 2017, I asked the engineer leading our tour how I could get my hands on a nice big tank of liquid hydrogen like to they had sitting about the base. I told him our rocket team needed it to further our aerospace program back home. 😂😂😂 I am so glad NASA folk have a sense of humor!

Agreed. I prefer answering to the public than to a board of investors for accountability.

I had just finished giving a piano lesson and was rushing to the t.v. to see how the launch went when I found out about the explosion.

If you only knew the reality . . . . There's a lot of not wanting to anger congress (who hold the purse strings) or upset fragile egos going on at NASA too.  I have that from insiders who have expressed their outrage and frustration about risky decisions that were made because of it.  It was very directly addressed by a former NASA person (because he was former - his job wasn't on the line for saying what he really thought.)  who addressed ds's capstone group.  There was much frustration expressed about how the engineers couldn't say anything that would tick off the director or they'd lose their jobs.    

I remember when Challenger blew - and the second guessing that if NASA hadn't felt so much pressure to launch, they would probably have delayed. They felt pressure to launch because they're taxpayer funded and there had already been so many delays, congress et. al were getting impatient to see the shuttle actually launch.  *regardless* about safety.  To quote Tom Hanks in Apollo 13 - there's nothing routine about space flight.  

Edited April 21, 2023 by gardenmom5

[Faith-manor]

14 minutes ago, gardenmom5 said:

I remember watching Apollo 11.  I remember later, watching a landing in the ocean, and wondering why it was taking so long (my mother didn't talk to me much).  That was Apollo 13.

If you only knew the reality . . . . There's a lot of not wanting to anger congress (who hold the purse strings) or upset fragile egos going on at NASA too.  I have that from insiders who have expressed their outrage and frustration about risky decisions that were made because of it.  It was very directly addressed by a former NASA person (because he was former - his job wasn't on the line for saying what he really thought.)  who addressed ds's capstone group.  There was much frustration expressed about how the engineers couldn't say anything that would tick off the director or they'd lose their jobs.    

I remember when Challenger blew - and the second guessing that if NASA hadn't felt so much pressure to launch, they would probably have delayed. They felt pressure to launch because they're taxpayer funded and there had already been so many delays, congress et. al were getting impatient to see the shuttle actually launch.  *regardless* about safety.  To quote Tom Hanks in Apollo 13 - there's nothing routine about space flight.  

Actually, you assume I am not well informed. We have NASA and Northrop engineers in our extended family. My father was a civilian engineer just out of the Air Force and working for a NASA affiliated company at the time.

There is practically ZERO oversight of private companies compared to the oversight that NASA received from the government which was sadly, not nearly enough. The thought of putting all the safety eggs in the Musk basket is hard to imagine. If you think the pressure to launch for Challenger was high, you might want to consider how much more pressure there is from the greed machine standing to make a profit from the technology. That said, it isn't like Grumman and friends in the 1960s were morally upright. I still have questions about the design of that power panel under Grissoms seat. No conspiracy theory at all. Not really sure what their design review process was back then, but definitely not top shelf. It is an indication of the perception that they didn't need independent eyes on the designs. It was literally something that our 4H Introduction to Engineering class students would have picked up. Basic high school chemistry and physics.

Privatizing space exploration makes it a for profit entity in a country loathe to do a thing to regulate big business who routinely eludes even a modicum of oversight much less responsibility for the loss of humans. 

Mostly though, it is a bizarrely risky business, and anybody choosing to pursue the astronaut corp is well informed of that.

Despite my misgivings about Musk and company, we were mighty proud when the first alumni of The American Rocketry Challenge docked with the ISS on a Dragon last month. Everyone who has ever mentored a rocket team felt that very personally, and we know that astronaut's high school mentor. It was a great moment, and a launch that I felt a lot of anxiety about!

[SKL]

The government a few administrations back essentially canceled the taxpayer-funded space program, if anyone remembers.

[BronzeTurtle]

I really enjoyed a lot of this thread after I had to leave yesterday.

I think Truth, Lies and O-Rings is a great book re: culture at NASA and what led to the Challenger disaster. The Right Stuff by tom Wolfe is GREAT. It's a fictionalized account but also not really fiction. You could just watch the movie but the book is so good. Failures and lives at stake,and egos. It's just a fun read.

 

As for private vs. government....okay, we take government money, filter it through a layer of nonsense and then give it to a private company who may or may not be the lowest bidder in a government contract. And then deal with layers of bureaucracy in even building stuff after 

When you can just have the billionaire fund the whole thing directly, build more faster, do more iterations to gather more data sooner, and hey, his money is going towards tech and goals that will benefit all of humanity not just his own bottom line, if the whole thing does ever pay off in his lifetime anyway. I honestly don't understand how filtering his money, projects, etc. through the government would make them objectively better. 

 

I did go back to look at my original post and I did not find anything that warranted anyone telling me to calm down. I just disagreed that the commentators were somehow less learned than, say, Walter Cronkite or Peter Jennings on what was happening with the launch. The announcers are typically engineers themselves. I mean maybe they are less smart than the aerospace engineers on this thread, but I don't have a frame of reference for that. I saw a string of similar on news sites that was like haha, elon's rocket blew up and as a science nerd it rankled. Like this whole thing is amazing and will likely result in a lot of good stuff even outside the space technology and exploration.

[BronzeTurtle]

Faith, as an aside it always amazes me how many things you have expertise in. When I read threads on so many various topics you almost always know someone or have been involved in some thing some way so as to know so many great details at such an intimate/intricate level. Makes me feel like I've lived such a sheltered existence!

[Murphy101]

14 hours ago, SKL said:

The government a few administrations back essentially canceled the taxpayer-funded space program, if anyone remembers.

I do and it was beyond stupid imnsho. 

[Clarita]

DH and I agree anytime our house is a mess we will just call it "a rapid and unscheduled disassembly occurred".