SpaceX just made history.

[svauto-erotic855]

I'm really not trying to be a fanboy here, but you don't make sense.


"I know my rocket inside out and backward. I can tell you the heat treating temper of the skin material, where it changes, why we chose that material, the welding technique... down to the gnat's ass."
- Elon Musk


Sounds like an engineer's mind to me (?)

He is smart as hell but being able to recite things from memory and understanding the what and the why doesn't make the man an engineer. He can hire the best engineers and doesn't need to be one himself. His gift is his drive and foresight. While I do believe that he could learn how to design and build his own rockets if he chose to do so he could not do either as of this moment. I do firmly believe that he will be buried on Mars and will spend his last days on the same planet but I can also see past the hype that surrounds the man.

[Strychnine]

He is smart as hell but being able to recite things from memory and understanding the what and the why doesn't make the man an engineer. He can hire the best engineers and doesn't need to be one himself. His gift is his drive and foresight. While I do believe that he could learn how to design and build his own rockets if he chose to do so he could not do either as of this moment. I do firmly believe that he will be buried on Mars and will spend his last days on the same planet but I can also see past the hype that surrounds the man.

True. There is a difference between superficial knowledge and expert knowledge, and he is not an expert in rocket design. I totally agree.

He did get into Stanford's physics PhD program though so it's not like he's just a community organizer who reads books. The righty-tighty lefty-loosey hyperbole might be a bit much

[Ruffdaddy]

While everyone is getting all excited about some tony stark wanna be, real progress happened.

http://fortune.com/2016/01/25/blue-origin-makes-history-by-landing-reusable-rocket-a-second-time/

I wonder what kind of twitter fit musk will throw this time.

[Ruffdaddy]

Also, i like his mention of the pendulum effect. Probably to shut these dumbasses up about taller being harder.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/11/24/9793220/blue-origin-vs-spacex-rocket-landing-jeff-bezos-elon-musk

[mschmoyer]

While everyone is getting all excited about some tony stark wanna be, real progress happened.

http://fortune.com/2016/01/25/blue-origin-makes-history-by-landing-reusable-rocket-a-second-time/

I wonder what kind of twitter fit musk will throw this time.

The guy is making news about nothing and stealing wind for a recreational ship that does not get close to orbit. I think Musk has a right to throw a fit.

[Ruffdaddy]

The guy is making news about nothing and stealing wind for a recreational ship that does not get close to orbit. I think Musk has a right to throw a fit.

That graphic is clearly biased and as i would expect, a musk nut huggers rationale as to why his dreams are better than real results.

Space x has only been testing the first stage landing not full rocket recovery, and the reuse test wasnt successful in a test bench, much less actual flight.

Youre a fool if you think the blue origin tech cant be expanded to other applications. Thats how development works.

[Ruffdaddy]

For people who care about data accuracy...

[mstng86]

We are going to need more charts.

Can someone get us some more charts?

[TexasPyro]

Sure Blue Origins can be expanded, seems SpaceX has already expanded way past where Blue Origins is currently. Your own comparison graphics shows the two ships are two very different animals. I am a fan of what both companies are doing, hopefully the competition drives the technology in radical new directions.

[Sgt Beavis]

Blue Origin is simply going after the same goal as SpaceX from a different direction. They are starting small and trying to scale up. SpaceX started at scale and is trying to engineer its was to a landing. SpaceX has always intended to make their 1st stage reusable but they greatly underestimated the forces the 1st stage goes through before it can make a landing. A parachute recovery was way too hard on the booster, as were all the forces put upon it after separation from the 2nd stage.

So Musk, changed direction and started working towards a powered landing. The Falcon9 1.1 was the result. Now they are have finally achieved their goal but on the way they have lost every 1st stage booster except for one. Of course they also managed to launch every Falcon9 payload except for one. Musk's strategy does have an advantage in that he is paying as he goes. The costs of the test flights are built into the cost of launching the payload. It's a lot of money, but it is someone else's money.

Blue Origin's method is going to take longer to get into orbit, but it will cost a lot less up front capital. Both have their merits. I just kinda got pissed the Bezos acted as if he made his rocket walk on water when he really just learned to swim in the kiddie pool.

[Ruffdaddy]

Bezos congratulated a team that spent years of hard work accomplishing something that hadn't been done before. It was musk that responded like a little bitch on twitter.

You SpaceX fanbois are worse than apple hipsters.

Bezos just made real history by actually reusing the rocket.

[Gasser64]

I still can't wait to see this put into regular use.

http://www.kurzweilai.net/is-this-the-biggest-breakthrough-in-propulsion-since-the-jet-engine

A jet(ish) engine that can fly into space. Pretty darn cool if you ask me. No giant rocket, it'll look more like a plane

[BP]

I don't know what they were testing last night but it was a good 70db at my place 20 miles away. If anyone wants to experience one the loudest things on the planet be around McGregor between 9:30 and 10:00. They've been firing off something every night this week.

[jw33]

It's happening...

http://www.spacex.com/webcast

[jw33]

it's not happening...