Virtually every entity that has ever attempted to fire a rocket into space has blown one up in the process. NASA, the Russian Space Agency, the Europeans, etc. Yesterday’s spectacular failure of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was not out of line for what has historically been the case with the most powerful hot rods that mankind has ever created but it still bears noting. Maybe it bears noting because it was a spectacular failure as all rocket mishaps are, or maybe it bears noting because we’re talking about a private company bearing the brunt of this exercise, not some government. Elon Musk is the guy behind SpaceX and he’s also the guy behind the Tesla brand of electric cars that have been the talk of the world over the last couple of years. This is a guy playing as high stakes a game of technological high stakes poker as has ever been played and yesterday he watched a rocket of his company’s creation literally vaporize with some pretty important cargo on it. The silver lining? No humans lost.
Among the cargo items lost in the calamity was a new docking adapter which would accommodate the next generation of US built space ships that are supposed to be carrying people to the space station, and lots of experimental equipment that would have been used by those aboard the station to further the scientific research that is happening there.
We live in incredible times. Yeah, I know that the news over the last couple of weeks has seemed like one crisis after another but the reality is that yesterday a space rocket that was traveling on its own to replenish people living in a capsule above the Earth exploded and no one even managed to get a hangnail from the experience. Yes, lots of money vaporized in the mess but not on person was harmed and even the people LIVING IN SPACE were not all that put out.
While we fight about flags and who is allowed to marry who, remember that stuff like this is happening and that some of the smartest people in the history of civilization are making it happen. Yes, this was a failure and hopefully it can be examined, learned from, and cured for the future, but 100 years ago people were still seeing heavier than air flight for the first time. Today rocket launches only make news when they fail.
Incredible days, indeed.
A lot of money gone, but there was no loss of life.
Yup ! Good ole Elon Musk(rat)
Damn but that man finds more ways to waste our money .. all while ObamaClaus and Company worships at the @$&holes feet and the lemming minions buying/investing in his TESLA crap they already paid for before they bought it [ through all the tax subsidies , government financed loans , tax rebates , tax payer funded carbon credits etc ] bow down before the great alter of Musk
When the ___ will we ever learn ? A con artist is a con artist regardless of what his title is and how large his bank account may be
Here’s a hint US Government ;
Either put the space program back into the hands of the professionals [ NASA ] … or face facts and drop the damn thing all together . Because … like Charter Schools … this little experiment is failing miserably … at our expense !!!!!!! AGAIN !
How’s that tin-foil hat fitting ya?
The better and more accurate question being ;
Hows the inability to see whats right there in front of your rose colored glasses covered eyes while completely ignoring the obvious suiting you hot shot ?
Oh wait . Let me guess . Either you were dumb enough to buy a TESLA / invest in Musk … or your ethics are low enough that you actually work for the Grifter . So which is it ? Deluded investor/owner or corrupt company shill ?
That’s a nice straw man you’ve got there.
Why am I not surprised that CK trusts the government with my money?
Huh? You’re bitching about taxpayer dollars somewhat paying for a rocket launch, then want taxpayer dollars to pay for a rocket launch? Do you even know what you’re saying? Also, NASA blows shit up too, has even killed people with the stuff they blew up, so I’m still not sure what you’re on about.
This is making me want to play some more Kerbal Space Program.
What makes me laugh is that the guy who owns Tesla is still involved in the old firework and a stick technology – I thought he’d have come up with warp drive or something similar by now..
And this surprises you in light of the fact that the little grifter builds all his cars on a now 12 year old platform [ BMW Z8 ] while claiming they are an entirely new design … not to mention doing nothing more than converting an ICE to EV with a different party dress on all while claiming its Brand Spanking New technology ?
Hell … Musk hasn’t had an original or new idea in his entire life . And in case you’re thinking about bringing up PayPal … Musk was the third and least important spoke in the wheel who’s only contribution was to help with the engineering of the software . Or to put it in Steve Jobs words after Jobs sent Musk packing when he came around Apple looking for a handout for his TESLA Motors ;
” What Elon Musk did for PayPal could of been accomplished by any 2nd year computer engineering student . The only thing setting Musk apart was the fact that he was in the right place at the right time “
Dude, you are taking the pot legalization thing in Colorado way too far.
ISS – Huston we have a problem
Huston – Copy that – what is the nature of the problem?
ISS – We have watched all our porn videos and drunk all the whiskey – please inform when next batch is due
Huston – ISS – we have a problem….
It’s called a RUD. A rapid unscheduled disassembly That’s a space hardware term.