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Just because one of his goals is to drive competition into the race to mars doesn't mean it's his only goal. I don't doubt he not only wants to speed up the ra
by watty 10y ago
Just because one of his goals is to drive competition into the race to mars doesn't mean it's his only goal. I don't doubt he not only wants to speed up the race to mars but wants to be known as the first.
- rbanffy 10y agoElon Musk is the only human being that can use the Zaphod Beeblebrox pickup line, "Do you wanna see my spaceship?". That's pretty awesome.
- dragonwriter 10y ago> Elon Musk is the only human being that can use the Zaphod Beeblebrox pickup line, "Do you wanna see my spaceship?". Is Richard Branson not a human?
- Chronic9q 10y agoHacker News has a huge boner for Elon Musk. They forget that others beat Musk and are well known for beating Musk (re: spaceships).
- rbanffy 10y agoOnly in the most literal sense they could be called spaceships. They are no more spaceships than a swimming suit is a boat.
- dragonwriter 10y agoThose two sentences are contradictory. A swimming suit is not a boat, especially in "the most literal sense." A suborbital manned spacecraft, OTOH, is a spaceship in every sense. (It's neither an orbital spaceship nor, say, an interplanetary spaceship, but it's definitely a spaceship.) Saying they aren't is like saying a riverboat isn't a boat because it's not ocean-going.
- rbanffy 10y agoA suborbital spaceship is analogous to a boat that can go into waters, just as long as they are knee-deep. It can touch space, but a ship is not defined by its ability to touch the water.
- manicdee 10y agoDoes Richard Branson have passenger vehicles that can achieve interplanetary flight?
- ballooney 10y agoNo one does.
- rbanffy 10y agoNot even get into orbit.
- dragonwriter 10y agoNo, but then neither does Musk, or anyone else, individual, corporate, or government.
- rbanffy 10y agoSuborbital flight is a stretch, but I agree Branson seems to be an inspiration for Zaphod's movie depiction.
- traviswingo 10y agoha
- cheeze 10y agoUhh, Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos?
- wtallis 10y agoFor the moment, I suppose you can still make a case for casual use of the term "spaceship" to include suborbital flights. I doubt that will continue for very long as private orbital spacecraft and launch vehicles become less novel; the sub-orbital minor leagues probably won't be seen by most as being the "real thing".
- njloof 10y agoJust ask Alan Shepard. You know, the first American in space?
- blacksmith_tb 10y agoPresumably because in this sense, the Mercury wasn't "his spaceship" as he didn't own it or the organization that produced it (like Gagarin and the Vostok, for that matter).
- rbanffy 10y agoMercury was capable of staying in space. The rocket that put it on a suborbital flight is a different thing.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- ge96 10y agoHavala kavulah!!!!!
- ge96 10y agoHavala kavulah!!!!!