quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
I really hate to say it but Elon Musk is eating NASA's lunch at this point, he's building stuff for FAR less money that is reusable compared to what NASA is doing with the SLS which is a bunch of old technology cobbled together in a rocket that won't stop leaking fuel. I really doubt that Artemis is going to even get their test launch in this year, the window is rapidly closing

Why do you 'really hate to say it'? American ingenuity/private business/capitalism are VERY good things and trump ANYTHING sponsored, funded and/or run by the government EVERY SINGLE TIME!

Well...I work for the company that built that capsule on top of the SLS so if the rocket fails, it's not good on us.

One or two benefits coming out of SpaceX isn’t just the rocket but the manufacturing technology advances coming out of Tesla and making it to the shop floor in Hawthorne.

Found a beautiful photo of a Falcon 9 at launch. The photo is pretty large so I'm only linking the url:

http://superdimension.net/images/spacex.jpg

^^^^^^^^
Neat. The exhaust out of the thrust nozzles appears to be laminar flow, or close.

Wikipedia:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laminar_flow

I am so excited for tomorrow morning! I hope the launch goes as planned and they have multiple camera angles at the landing zones to catch the Super Heavy booster and Starship as they return for their ocean landings.


https://www.youtube.com/live/L...eqOrTA?feature=share

Ran across this animation. It should be interesting.

I would imagine Thursday

quote:

Originally posted by SigSentry:
I would imagine Thursday

quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
I really hate to say it but Elon Musk is eating NASA's lunch at this point, he's building stuff for FAR less money that is reusable compared to what NASA is doing with the SLS which is a bunch of old technology cobbled together in a rocket that won't stop leaking fuel. I really doubt that Artemis is going to even get their test launch in this year, the window is rapidly closing

Why do you 'really hate to say it'? American ingenuity/private business/capitalism are VERY good things and trump ANYTHING sponsored, funded and/or run by the government EVERY SINGLE TIME!

Good point.

I have a friend who is a Petroleum Geologist. I can't remember the exact year, but in the early 2000's, I think, the oil patch was going through a rough time. Lost his job, as so many oil folks did, in the USA.

He ended up working in Mexico for Pemex. Pemex, as I understand it, is owned by the Mexican government and there is no other oil company allowed in Mexico, if I understand that correctly.

He told me a story of when he was working in Mexico he noticed the drawer handle knob on his desk was loose. He asked to borrow a screwdriver to tighten it and was rebuked. He was told that you only did what you were told to do, nothing more or less. You have to request and wait for the guy whose job is screwdriver-ing things to come by.

Then it was explained to him that since everyone was working for Pemex, if they lost their job there was no other place to go in Mexico.

So, with that in mind, no one did anything, work just got stagnant and boring, no one would do anything to get them noticed. Can't lose your job.

Having said all that, that is what NASA was, and is, when Elon Musk came along and said he had a better and cheaper way of doing it.

Now don't take me wrong, NASA has done a lot of amazing stuff, obviously, but they were the only game around and if you lost your job at NASA, you didn't have much option.

You have to admire the spirit that Elon Musk brought to his employees. That's American right there, find a problem, kick it in the ass, fix it, keep on going.
.

Send it.

My boss grabbed me right as it was coming off the pad.
I told him something didn't seem right after MECO, then Boom.

Crazy to see it cartwheel a few times while attempting stage separation.

Too bad it didn't go entirely as planned but sometimes that's part of the process.
My early days were at the beginning of our manned space program and this seems to be moving forward at warp speed compared to the full government run version.

Rocket science is hard, but it's an opportunity to learn. They will do better next time.

This IS rocket science, after all.

"Starship just experienced what we call a rapid unscheduled disassembly...."

"rapid unscheduled disassembly"

Any of us who has ever worked for the govt in any capacity can relate to the "rapid unscheduled disassembly" quote.

I for one applaud Space-X and Must for igniting the imagination of a billion kids!