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This is great, but let's have some perspective, please. SpaceX is the beneficiary of decades of research in engineering and basic science by the US government.

by sidlls 10y ago

This is great, but let's have some perspective, please. SpaceX is the beneficiary of decades of research in engineering and basic science by the US government. They aren't making this achievement as a result of their own original effort or even funding (NASA provided a significant portion of the funding). I don't think it is fair to compare the SpaceX plan with China's (who have almost certainly had to acquire the expertise from a starting position far, far behind where SpaceX started).

ChuckMcM 10y ago
I'm not sure I understand what you're trying to say. China was the beneficiary of decades of Soviet research into space as well, their early program flew Soyuz craft, their current craft maintain backwards compatibility if what is available is to be believed. They have a space station and put a rover on the Moon. So how is that an unfair comparison? And how does using existing research take away from anything SpaceX has done? Sure NASA bought missions from them before they were sure that they could deliver, that sort of seed funding is not uncommon. Blue Origin benefited from a wealth of data in the DC-X project, also funded by NASA but its still remarkable what that they took Newshepard up and down from space four times. I disagree that the Chinese started from scratch. From where I am sitting they started at the exact same place SpaceX did, using the research and know-how from a well funded and storied space organization to bootstrap their goals.
- avmich 10y ago
  > I disagree that the Chinese started from scratch. From where I am sitting they started at the exact same place SpaceX did, using the research and know-how from a well funded and storied space organization to bootstrap their goals. We can count it different ways. Besides having millenias long history of rocketry, China modern space program started with von Karman student: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qian_Xuesen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qian_Xuesen
gozur88 10y ago
But let's have some perspective, please. NASA was the beneficiary of years of research in engineering and basic science by the German government. They didn't make anything as a result of their own original effort. So what? Nobody reinvents the wheel if they don't have to. And I don't know why you think China started behind SpaceX. China benefited from US technical assistance in a way that SpaceX didn't.

by sidlls 10y ago

ChuckMcM 10y ago

I'm not sure I understand what you're trying to say. China was the beneficiary of decades of Soviet research into space as well, their early program flew Soyuz craft, their current craft maintain backwards compatibility if what is available is to be believed. They have a space station and put a rover on the Moon. So how is that an unfair comparison? And how does using existing research take away from anything SpaceX has done? Sure NASA bought missions from them before they were sure that they could deliver, that sort of seed funding is not uncommon. Blue Origin benefited from a wealth of data in the DC-X project, also funded by NASA but its still remarkable what that they took Newshepard up and down from space four times. I disagree that the Chinese started from scratch. From where I am sitting they started at the exact same place SpaceX did, using the research and know-how from a well funded and storied space organization to bootstrap their goals.

avmich 10y ago
> I disagree that the Chinese started from scratch. From where I am sitting they started at the exact same place SpaceX did, using the research and know-how from a well funded and storied space organization to bootstrap their goals. We can count it different ways. Besides having millenias long history of rocketry, China modern space program started with von Karman student: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qian_Xuesen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qian_Xuesen

gozur88 10y ago

But let's have some perspective, please. NASA was the beneficiary of years of research in engineering and basic science by the German government. They didn't make anything as a result of their own original effort. So what? Nobody reinvents the wheel if they don't have to. And I don't know why you think China started behind SpaceX. China benefited from US technical assistance in a way that SpaceX didn't.