Let's Light This Candle, Part Deux

[Baldanders]

Elon Musk is, apparently, an insufferable prick. But his company developed a new and partially-reusable booster. SpaceX did it for about 60%, give or take, of what Boeing is being paid. Not to mention Boeing is basically flying a booster that was first developed over sixty years ago and, in its current configuration, uses Russian rocket engines (and the cheapest software engineers available).

Right now, if you're going to space, a good motto would be "if it's Boeing, I ain't going".

We would be far better off as Americans if Boeing ceased to exist.

"You must keep us alive because we are the only US military aviation supplier left!"

Because our dipshit government allowed mergers they never should have. Allowing you to build our military aircraft is like allowing Kel-Tec to build our small arms because they bought everyone else.

"We have led US space exploration!"

Because you shut out everyone else via govt. contacts. You are why the Russians dominate space tech.

Crony capitalism sucks.

[Stephanie B]

Yep. The Boeing- McDonnell-Douglas merger was the work of chuckleheads.

[JDD]

Elon Musk is, apparently, an insufferable prick. But his company developed a new and partially-reusable booster. SpaceX did it for about 60%, give or take, of what Boeing is being paid. Not to mention Boeing is basically flying a booster that was first developed over sixty years ago and, in its current configuration, uses Russian rocket engines (and the cheapest software engineers available).

Right now, if you're going to space, a good motto would be "if it's Boeing, I ain't going".

I could not have said it better.

The Falcon 9 has something like 80+ successful launches by now. Although not all of them are to the ISS, their launch tempo is pretty quickly establishing the falcon series as an extremely reliable option. I also think Gwynne Shotwell is in large part responsible for offsetting quite a bit of Musk's... special muskyness. It might be nice if Tesla got themselves an equivalent sane leader.

[JDD]

We would be far better off as Americans if Boeing ceased to exist.

"You must keep us alive because we are the only US military aviation supplier left!"

Because our dipshit government allowed mergers they never should have. Allowing you to build our military aircraft is like allowing Kel-Tec to build our small arms because they bought everyone else.

"We have led US space exploration!"

Because you shut out everyone else via govt. contacts. You are why the Russians dominate space tech.

Crony capitalism sucks.

The worst part of the ULA use of Russian tech is that they did it because it was cheap to buy the motors. So somehow, this stupid conglomerate government sponsored monopoly that was supposed to preserve US space manufacturing capacity decided to take their sweet taxpayer bucks - and buy a bunch of Russian manufactured soviet tech. There should have been absolutely no reason that SpaceX or Blue Origin could have even hoped to compete, and yet somehow....

[LockedBreech]

Got a little choked up watching that.

It was good to see some good news.

+1

I'm so used to things going wrong these days I think I was more ready for tragedy than triumph. Seeing that smooth, beautiful launch, the Falcon 9 land square on the Of Course I Still Love You (an homage to one of my all-time favorite authors, Iain M. Banks), and hearing the astronauts thank the Falcon 9 team on a live feed was highly uplifting. Great way to spend a Saturday.

[Stephanie B]

The worst part of the ULA use of Russian tech is that they did it because it was cheap to buy the motors. So somehow, this stupid conglomerate government sponsored monopoly that was supposed to preserve US space manufacturing capacity decided to take their sweet taxpayer bucks - and buy a bunch of Russian manufactured soviet tech. There should have been absolutely no reason that SpaceX or Blue Origin could have even hoped to compete, and yet somehow....

Maybe it’s premature to be dancing on Boeing/ULA, but jeebus! They’re basically using 1960s tech below the capsule. Same old expensive throw-everything-away technology that took us to the Moon. Fine if the government writes blank checks, but any bright kid can look at this and see that the way to drive down costs is to reuse the rockets.

SpaceX hired those kids.

[Unisaw]

My God, I suddenly feel so old...

Hey, the first manned launch I watched was Alan Shepard in Freedom 7. You’re just a whippersnapper!

[blues]

Hey, the first manned launch I watched was Alan Shepard in Freedom 7. You’re just a whippersnapper!

Tell it!

[Trooper224]

One of my youngest sons highschool buddies is a genuine rocket scientist and helped fit Bob's spacesuit.

[blues]

One of my youngest sons highschool buddies is a genuine rocket scientist and helped fit Bob's spacesuit.

That's a tailor, @Trooper224.