Blue Origin

[Rexedgar]

Color me unimpressed with today’s flight. Alan Shepard did the same thing 60 years ago.

I’m not belittling anyone’s courage who participated, but not much of a difference from the first manned space flight from the US.

What a clownish after presser….


EDIT: The landing of the launch vehicle was impressive!

 

[americanwoman]

I thought it was pretty cool. My young daughter loved it and started talking about how cool astronauts are, I love that.

I do like all the Austin Powers jokes going on and I have to say it did have a certain phallic shape to it.

 

[bluesmoke]

Any move to the moon or what will be govt funded and private profit, period. You're looking at two of three private $ drops into a bucket that will be filled by taxpayer funding.

 

[ttwtt78640]

Color me unimpressed with today’s flight. Alan Shepard did the same thing 60 years ago.

I’m not belittling anyone’s courage who participated, but not much of a difference from the first manned space flight from the US.

What a clownish after presser….


EDIT: The landing of the launch vehicle was impressive!

Hmm… did Alan Shepard fund the entire operation?

 

[Rexedgar]

Hmm… did Alan Shepard fund the entire operation?

Irrelevant to my point. The astronaut tag is cheap. This was “Spam in a can.“

 

[Pippi Longstock]

air pollution

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

Color me unimpressed with today’s flight. Alan Shepard did the same thing 60 years ago.

I’m not belittling anyone’s courage who participated, but not much of a difference from the first manned space flight from the US.

What a clownish after presser….


EDIT: The landing of the launch vehicle was impressive!

Huge difference.
That giant Blue Origin dildo was cheaper, faster, more efficient and much more sophisticated than any of its predecessors, and that was the whole point.
Also, it makes people think Bezos has a big dick. <<<<----this part is a feeble attempt at humor.

 

[Rexedgar]

Huge difference.
That giant Blue Origin dildo was cheaper, faster, more efficient and much more sophisticated than any of its predecessors, and that was the whole point.
Also, it makes people think Bezos has a big dick. <<<<----this part is a feeble attempt at humor.

You’ll have to excuse me if I am a little jaded. Mrs. Halloran, (who taught 3rd and 4th grade in one classroom,) herded us all into a stairwell to watch the Shepard launch in May of 1961. These weren’t astronauts by any stretch, imo.

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

You’ll have to excuse me if I am a little jaded. Mrs. Halloran, (who taught 3rd and 4th grade in one classroom,) herded us all into a stairwell to watch the Shepard launch in May of 1961. These weren’t astronauts by any stretch, imo.

In any case many AT NASA always knew this was where it was all headed someday.
NASA was all about public-private from the get-go.
Back before 1967 (some say 1965) editing videotape was a hit or miss affair because it was impossible to get 2-inch Quadruplex VTR's to be frame accurate without a usable means of naming each and every frame on the tape in a way that machines could read.
EECO's "On-Time Rocket Telemetry Management" (developed for NASA) system got adapted to videotape...the world's first ON TAPE time code system that could work in ways similar to motion picture film "Key Code" frame numbers.
And thus the first frame accurate electronic machine to machine videotape editing system was born.
Almost EVERY piece of technology we use today, including microprocessors themselves, owe NASA and our space race a debt of some kind.

And NASA has always said that it looked forward to the day when commercial space became an industry.

 

[Antiwar]

air pollution

The solution to pollution is no longer dilution; the solution is for the ultra-wealthy to get off of Earth.

 

[Rexedgar]

The solution to pollution is no longer dilution; the solution is for the ultra-wealthy to get off of Earth.

See “Elysium,” the film.

not that far away….

 

[Callen]

I think it was great. Trains and planes started out as transportation for the wealthy and evolved. As my Mom used to tell us..........you can't finish if you don't start.

What was really, really cool was his announcement at the end of his awarding 100 million dollars each to Van Jones and Chef Jose Andres. Way cool!

 

[Bum]

 

[Glitch]

Color me unimpressed with today’s flight. Alan Shepard did the same thing 60 years ago.

I’m not belittling anyone’s courage who participated, but not much of a difference from the first manned space flight from the US.

What a clownish after presser….


EDIT: The landing of the launch vehicle was impressive!

The notable difference here is that it is private industry performing these tests, not government.

If space exploration is ever going to be made more economically efficient, it needs more private business involvement like Blue Origin. Government throws away its rockets as a one-off taxpayer expense. Blue Origin doesn't have that luxury and therefore needed to make its rockets reusable.

That doesn't mean government should not be involved. Government should certainly be overseeing every safety measure, but the bulk of the work (and therefore the cost) should be done by private industry. If you want to be technical, Congress was never given the authority by the US Constitution to create NASA in the first place. Since the military also has its ICBMs and its own satellites, the excuse that NASA was created for the National Defense cannot be used. Which makes NASA an unconstitutional federal organization.

 

[Rexedgar]

The notable difference here is that it is private industry performing these tests, not government.

If space exploration is ever going to be made more economically efficient, it needs more private business involvement like Blue Origin. Government throws away its rockets as a one-off taxpayer expense. Blue Origin doesn't have that luxury and therefore needed to make its rockets reusable.

That doesn't mean government should not be involved. Government should certainly be overseeing every safety measure, but the bulk of the work (and therefore the cost) should be done by private industry. If you want to be technical, Congress was never given the authority by the US Constitution to create NASA in the first place. Since the military also has its ICBMs and its own satellites, the excuse that NASA was created for the National Defense cannot be used. Which makes NASA an unconstitutional federal organization.

You are missing my point. Doesn’t matter who financed this fireworks. Alan Shepard did this with much more risk, 60 years ago. I would think that there was a foundation there that could be built upon. Sorry, I am meh about Bezos and Branson’s “feats.”

 

[Glitch]

You are missing my point. Doesn’t matter who financed this fireworks. Alan Shepard did this with much more risk, 60 years ago. I would think that there was a foundation there that could be built upon. Sorry, I am meh about Bezos and Branson’s “feats.”

It matters. It matters a great deal.

We did a lot of very stupid things in the early days of the Space Race for purely political reasons. Like putting a man on the moon in 1969 with a spacecraft that barely had the computing power of an 1982 Commadore 64. Then in 1972 we wised up and stopped putting the lives of astronauts at great risk, and that was the last time any manned-mission left low-Earth orbit.

 

[Rexedgar]

It matters. It matters a great deal.

We did a lot of very stupid things in the early days of the Space Race for purely political reasons. Like putting a man on the moon in 1969 with a spacecraft that barely had the computing power of an 1982 Commadore 64. Then in 1972 we wised up and stopped putting the lives of astronauts at great risk, and that was the last time any manned-mission left low-Earth orbit.

Ok we are going to have to disagree.

How many lifetimes is 13 years in computer development?
What the above means is that they went with what they had.

 

[phoenix2020]

You are missing my point. Doesn’t matter who financed this fireworks. Alan Shepard did this with much more risk, 60 years ago. I would think that there was a foundation there that could be built upon. Sorry, I am meh about Bezos and Branson’s “feats.”

You are focusing on the wrong people. Neither Bezos nor Brandon performed any feat other than providing funding just as Alan Shephard's main contribution was sitting in a seat. The feat, then and now, was the work of the engineers who designed a system from scratch with the tools of the day.

 

[Rexedgar]

I think it was great. Trains and planes started out as transportation for the wealthy and evolved. As my Mom used to tell us..........you can't finish if you don't start.

What was really, really cool was his announcement at the end of his awarding 100 million dollars each to Van Jones and Chef Jose Andres. Way cool!

I’d be happier if he would pay more taxes…..

 

[Rexedgar]

You are focusing on the wrong people. Neither Bezos nor Brandon performed any feat other than providing funding just as Alan Shephard's main contribution was sitting in a seat. The feat, then and now, was the work of the engineers who designed a system from scratch.

Bezos’ and Branson’s engineers hardly started from scratch. All I’m stating is that going up and then coming down via parachute is unimpressive to me.
I was more impressed by the launch vehicle returning to a pre-plotted point.

 

[Glitch]

Ok we are going to have to disagree.

How many lifetimes is 13 years in computer development?

For 1969 it was certainly the most advanced computer of its day, but your smart phone is several orders of magnitude better today. Would you want to risk your life on just the computing power of your smart phone?

I don't think you realize just how lucky we were. Had the July 1969 launch occurred just 12 days later none of the astronauts would have made it back alive. On August 1, 1969 there was an X-class solar flare directed toward Earth. It took less than 20 hours for the CME to arrive. The resulting radiation would have killed the astronauts instantly.

Once astronauts leave the protection of the Van Allen Belt their exposure to solar and cosmic radiation increases by 150 times. Currently NASA has no way of protecting the astronauts from this radiation other than pathetic radiation vests, that do not protect the head. While the moon is only a ~3 day journey and we can try to get astronauts to the moon without giving them a fatal dose of radiation, getting astronauts to Mars and back alive is another story altogether.

 

[Rexedgar]

For 1969 it was certainly the most advanced computer of its day, but your smart phone is several orders of magnitude better today. Would you want to risk your life on just the computing power of your smart phone?

I don't think you realize just how lucky we were. Had the July 1969 launch occurred just 12 days later none of the astronauts would have made it back alive. On August 1, 1969 there was an X-class solar flare directed toward Earth. It took less than 20 hours for the CME to arrive. The resulting radiation would have killed the astronauts instantly.

Once astronauts leave the protection of the Van Allen Belt their exposure to solar and cosmic radiation increases by 150 times. Currently NASA has no way of protecting the astronauts from this radiation other than pathetic radiation vests, that do not protect the head. While the moon is only a ~3 day journey and we can try to get astronauts to the moon without giving them a fatal dose of radiation, getting astronauts to Mars and back alive is another story altogether.

We’re talking past each other. I wouldn’t bet my life on making a cross town call on my phone.

 

[Glitch]

We’re talking past each other. I wouldn’t bet my life on making a cross town call on my phone.

That is because you are making rational decisions, which is not something NASA did 60 years ago. NASA's choices were driven entirely by politics, and the lives of those like Alan Shepard and John Glenn were completely meaningless. There were expendable political props, nothing more.

Which is another reason why NASA should not exist.

 

[Pippi Longstock]

air pollution

The solution to pollution is no longer dilution; the solution is for the ultra-wealthy to get off of Earth.

Not sure what you mean. The thing is while those jokers are playing with their rockets the same people are proposing that we all drive battery operated cars, reduce our carbon footprint and more.

 

[RAMOSS]