SpaceX just made history.

[lowthreeohz]

I’m the only one that’s more interest in AbecX making history?
He ever finish that Dodge?

check his IG

[hxbernal]

Falcon heavy launch scheduled for tomorrow...

@ 5:35 PM our time

[jw33]

Falcon heavy launch scheduled for tomorrow...

[Gasser64]

This mornings docking was a complete success. The capsule stopped 20m short of the station, backed off in a planned maneuver then went back in and completed the docking.

That's great but I'll start paying attention again when they launch the first BFR.

[Gasser64]

I’m the only one that’s more interest in AbecX making history?
He ever finish that Dodge?

I am interested in how he updated it.

[Mike]

I’m the only one that’s more interest in AbecX making history?
He ever finish that Dodge?

[Sgt Beavis]

This mornings docking was a complete success. The capsule stopped 20m short of the station, backed off in a planned maneuver then went back in and completed the docking.

[Sgt Beavis]

I just finished watching it and am now watching the media conference. Is it just me or does the inside of the Dragon 2 spacecraft look similar to the interior of a Tesla?

It’s not just you.

[jw33]

I just finished watching it and am now watching the media conference. Is it just me or does the inside of the Dragon 2 spacecraft look similar to the interior of a Tesla?

[Sgt Beavis]

Did anyone watch last lights test flight of the manned capsule?

It will dock with the space station tonight to test the auto docking system. No actual people on board for this flight, just a maniquen named Ridley.

If this mission goes well, SpaceX will next conduct an in flight test of the abort escape system. That will be followed by the first manned test flight.

Boeing will be testing their manned capsule later this spring.

[Ruffdaddy]

5G looks a lot more like massive MIMO than satellites. I'm not sure satellites are practical for 5g.

[Gasser64]

I'm imagining affordable satellite phones with 5G connectivity.

how affordable

[Sgt Beavis]

Government has to do things that private industry can't because of scale. Like fight wars, build the interstate system in the 1950s or go to the moon. I believe that a public/private partnership is the best, where you can capitalize on the best attributes of both systems. Even then, it doesn't always work well to have government involved, see the NTTA for an example. For a positive example just look at Alliance Airport, everyone involved is benefiting from that one.

Totally agree. It will be some time before the "new space" industry can stand on its own. I suspect asteroid mining will be the next big step that pushes them into independence. SpaceX, for it's part, is seeking that profitability by building it's space based internet network. Musk could rake in billions with that. I'm imagining affordable satellite phones with 5G connectivity.

[Ruffdaddy]

We might have still been restricted by some advances in computing and miniaturization that SpaceX is benefiting from (not to mention an adult-aged Elon Musk), but the Shuttle definitely hurt.

Excellent point. NASA also gave us NASTRAN which is like the grandparent of any major FEA solver. That alone has sped up the pace of development and dropped the cost in just about any industry.

Government has to do things that private industry can't because of scale. Like fight wars, build the interstate system in the 1950s or go to the moon. I believe that a public/private partnership is the best, where you can capitalize on the best attributes of both systems. Even then, it doesn't always work well to have government involved, see the NTTA for an example. For a positive example just look at Alliance Airport, everyone involved is benefiting from that one.

Even McKinney airport has been growing pretty damn well and I suspect the tax support had a fair amount to do with that.

[YALE]

Agreed. When Apollo 1 burned up on the pad and killed 3 astronauts it was Frank Borman (considered one of NASA's top astronauts at the time, the first to go inside the charred remains of Apollo 1 command module) who went before congress to try to keep NASA and the Apollo program alive. He basically got up there and said, "Stop the witch hunt and let us get on with this. We have faith in ourselves, do you have faith in us?" And he won - they stepped back to watch the show. Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo were arguably the craziest, most ballsy, "fuck you guys, we're awesome and you can't stop us" things human beings have ever done, similar to the pace SpaceX is trying to keep now.

But after Apollo 11 I can see how an argument could be made for a decline and a transition into bureaucracy.

It could be argued that for the ballsy/sexy, relatively near space missions, the low hanging fruit was gone after Apollo 11. The shuttle program was never as sexy as the Apollo program, but we got a metric shit ton of good science done with it, and the entire world benefited from what we learned through it.