Falcon 9 first stage has landed on Of Course I Still Love You — world's first reflight of an orbital class rocket.— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 30, 2017
First ever time in history that an orbital class rocket has been re-used. Huge step forward for Elon Musk and SpaceX.
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Yeah, space!
Hooray interest in space! Keeping us employed!
Space FTW!
This is fucking monumental. Historic. I'm so excited about the future.
that metaphor got real weird there at the end
A thread about space, and not a single Futurama reference yet?
Elon Musk is either a Bond villain or Iron Man.
why not both?
an alien trying to get back home actually.
https://www.google.com/amp/gizmodo.com/evidence-that-elon-musk-is-an-ali...
http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/spacex-successfully-launches-lands...
A more indepth article. I love that these are being called "flight-proven" instead of "used" rockets. Even when selling to a bunch of billionaires and rocket scientists, it seems we still need to use a little marketing speak to make it work.
"This here Certified Flight-Proven Rocket was only flown by a little, old lady going to church on Sundays."
-Elon Musk (probably)
As someone who works for a direct competitor to SpaceX, i'm still glad they did this. Pushing us to keep up.
Is NASA becoming/already obsolete? Is private the new leader in space stuff?
NASA does so much more than just launch people and things into space. Weather, atmospheric flight testing, tons and tons of research on everything from materials to any of their science you can name. My bother in law works as a contractor in Hampton for them on materials and propulsion sources of energy for water based ships.
NASA also does aircraft icing research in Cleveland which provides a lot of valuable data to aircraft, rotorcraft, and nacelle manufacturers.
I do not want to be a pilot in any aircraft icing test!
I actually know an icing test pilot. Its a pretty badass job (and dangerous at times)
Not sure where to start:
NASA will never be obsolete because they enable Musk to do what he wants to do. The ISS contracts he won from the govt enable him to do GEO launches, which in turn enable him to do NSS launches, which will in turn help him go to MARS. Govt contracts (and NASA in this case) are HUGE reasons why there even are private companies.
And from what I can tell Musk is the exception to the rule regarding monetizing space technology. Musk wants to go to Mars not for profit (truly) but to fulfill mankind's manifest destiny of space exploration. Private development in space hasn't changed rocketry for the last 70 years because there's no way they could make a dollar off of it so it would be very unfair to think that "private is the new leader in space stuff".
Yeah, I get that. It's not what I think, just what I was wondering from an enormously distant and ignorant view of the space industry. I grew up with the excitement of the moon landing, and all that ensued, and have always believed that our space program was an important part of our national identity and a fantastic platform for scientific and technological advancement that benefits all of mankind. I'm all for private/public partnership, especially in grand endeavors like space travel, and I believe the benefits do, indeed, make money for those who take advantage of the above referenced advancement. Thing is, what I believe is just that. You guys in the industry are the ones who would know, and hence my question. Thanks for informing me, appreciate your input.
No worries. Sorry if the post came off harsh - wasn't intended to! I'm always eager to talk Space with folks who may have differing views and various levels of experience.
I didn't think your post was harsh at all, sorry if I gave that impression, and as I said, I appreciate the answer. I'm all for space exploration, and if we lack the national will to go at it full bore with NASA, I'm still all for it. It seems like we've gone from walking on the moon to needing the Russkies to get us to the space station, but I know less than nothing about who's doing what, and why, hence my query. Again, thanks!
Are you OATK, Sierra Nevada, Boeing, or Ratheon?
Yes.