Congratulations, SpaceX!
Post by rickl on Dec 8, 2010, 8:19pm
This is the ONLY thing I've been thinking about all day long:
December 8, 2010 will go down in history, thanks to the spectacularly successful first test flight of the Dragon space capsule atop its Falcon 9 rocket (it was only the second flight for Falcon 9).
Dragon is expected to begin unmanned cargo flights to the ISS in about a year, and it is hoped that a manned version will fly in about three years. It will carry a crew of seven to Earth orbit and back (same as the shuttle) and its heat shield is designed to withstand a reentry from the Moon or Mars (definitely not the same as the shuttle).
Here are some links:
SpaceX (The company site, with lots of information about the capsule and rocket, along with photos and video.)
Transterrestrial Musings (A fine space-related blog where I hang out sometimes.)
Space Transport News (Another space-related blog, with plenty of links to other reactions and commentary. Scroll down.)
I've been beside myself with joy all day. The flight exceeded everyone's expectations. This is a real game-changer. As Joe Biden might say, it's a Big Effin Deal.
Re: Congratulations, SpaceX!
Post by rickl on Dec 8, 2010, 10:41pm
I just can't believe that nobody except the spacebloggers are paying attention to this. It is HUGE. I can't emphasize enough how important this flight was.
Elon Musk said in the press conference that if today's flight had carried astronauts, they would have had a very nice ride. It was the first test flight of an untried spacecraft!
I had trouble getting to sleep last night in anticipation, and despite my lack of sleep, I wouldn't be surprised if I have trouble again tonight, due to my excitement. It reminds me of reading Gerard K. O'Neill's The High Frontier when I was 16. I couldn't sleep that night either.
Re: Congratulations, SpaceX!
Post by alphabetsoup on Dec 8, 2010, 10:54pm
Being a Sci-Fi buff for eons I was raised on a rich diet of space movies. If you look closely at the early ones many of the plots revolved around private industry doing the space exploration.
That soon gave way to the recognition of the enormity of a trip to the moon for example. It simply had to be underwritten by the deep pockets of the government.
So it has been with interest that I have watched the advancements of Richard Branson and the like who are reintroducing the notion of corporate space travel.
BTW: Did you hear about the Japanese probe to Venus that has gone off course? Reminds me of the flick "It Conquered the World" LOL
Re: Congratulations, SpaceX!
Post by rickl on Dec 8, 2010, 11:27pm
Dec 8, 2010, 10:54pm, alphabetsoup wrote:
That soon gave way to the recognition of the enormity of a trip to the moon for example. It simply had to be underwritten by the deep pockets of the government.
That was only because in the 1960s it was determined to be in the highest national interest to get to the moon as fast as possible in order to beat the Russians. Apollo was like the Manhattan Project in that regard.
Apollo was a magnificent undertaking and a spectacular success. It did what it was supposed to do. But in hindsight it was a wrong turn and a cul-de-sac in terms of building an infrastructure for a sustainable presence in space. Now, forty years later, we may finally be on the verge of starting to build that long-term infrastructure.
In World War II, the government didn't design and build B-17s. It contracted with private industry to do that. The government said, "We want a long-range heavy bomber" and the Boeing company designed and built it. It's time for using the same approach for getting to and from Earth orbit.
Re: Congratulations, SpaceX!
Post by libertasinfinitio on Dec 9, 2010, 7:50am
It is good that someone else besides the government is going to space. Long overdue. Being of the generation that witnessed the culmination of the space race (I was huge into rockets as a kid and of the Apollo program), we kind of got spoiled with all of the achievements...I thought back then that by now we would have had a permanent presence on the moon and would be reaching out to Mars and beyond. Reality has been a disapointment. As a result I've learned to temper my enthusiasm. But science, physics, astronomy and the like have always been interests of mine so I still find stuff like this interesting. Thanks for starting the thread Rick.
Re: Congratulations, SpaceX!
Post by alans on Dec 9, 2010, 5:50pm
Pretty cool. Brings flashbacks of Apollo.
Re: Congratulations, SpaceX!
Post by rickl on Dec 9, 2010, 8:31pm
Dec 9, 2010, 5:50pm, alans wrote:
Pretty cool. Brings flashbacks of Apollo.
Seriously, I don't think I've been this excited about a space flight since Apollo. Hell, maybe even Gemini. (I was a little kid then, so there was more of a "wow" factor.)
I was only 5 years old when the Mercury program ended in 1963, and I don't remember much about watching those flights live. The flights of John Glenn and Scott Carpenter were only three orbits each, so the whole flight from launch to splashdown unfolded over the span of a few hours. The whole nation stopped what they were doing to follow it. In this case, of course, the whole nation did not follow the flight, but hardcore space buffs certainly did. I tried to follow it as closely as I could, hunting for every scrap of news on the internet as it happened. So it gave me a taste of what those pioneering Mercury flights must have been like. That in itself was fun.
I was 14 when Apollo ended in 1972. Skylab used Apollo hardware for a couple of years after that. It was neat, but not especially thrilling. It had the potential to start building space infrastructure, but in reality all it did was use up the leftover Apollo hardware after the moon program was terminated. I knew that at the time, which took the edge off it.
I was 23 when the Space Shuttle made its maiden flight in 1981. At first it promised to make space flight routine. It was a very impressive machine and did some remarkable things, but as time went on, especially after the Challenger disaster, it seemed like NASA was increasingly playing it safe and just going through the motions. Shuttle flights became rarer and more expensive. It never lived up to its original promise. I think the ISS was built mainly to give the Shuttle a destination to go to. As the years went by, it became increasingly apparent to me that NASA had become yet another bloated government bureaucracy, concerned more with self-preservation than in actually accomplishing anything.
Yesterday I got a tantalizing glimpse of the real future of space flight, and it brought back the old excitement.
Re: Congratulations, SpaceX!
Post by glock32 on Dec 9, 2010, 8:45pm
I think you're all missing the point to be honest. What sort of Muslim outreach did they do?
Re: Congratulations, SpaceX!
Post by libertasinfinitio on Dec 10, 2010, 7:33am
Dec 9, 2010, 8:45pm, glock32 wrote:
I think you're all missing the point to be honest. What sort of Muslim outreach did they do?
Seriously though, how far have we sunk in the intervening years?
Way too far...
Re: Congratulations, SpaceX!
Post by kenanthony on Dec 12, 2010, 10:43am
December 8, 2010 will go down in history...
The one people (other than us) will remember is the first private astronaut to return safety by a private company.
It is exciting.
Re: Congratulations, SpaceX!
Post by irondiopriest on Dec 12, 2010, 10:50am
Dec 12, 2010, 10:43am, kenanthony wrote:
December 8, 2010 will go down in history...
The one people (other than us) will remember is the first private astronaut to return safety by a private company.
It is exciting.
Indeed! And welcome to the forum Ken!
Re: Congratulations, SpaceX!
Post by johnflorida on Dec 12, 2010, 11:04am
Dec 12, 2010, 10:50am, irondiopriest wrote:
Dec 12, 2010, 10:43am, kenanthony wrote:
December 8, 2010 will go down in history...
The one people (other than us) will remember is the first private astronaut to return safety by a private company.
It is exciting.
Indeed! And welcome to the forum Ken!
!
