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> billionaires launching cars into space Can you help me understand the ire over that launch? It's standard that new rockets are tested with a dummy payload t

> billionaires launching cars into space Can you help me understand the ire over that launch? It's standard that new rockets are tested with a dummy payload to avoid destroying something valuable. Typically that's steel plates, but the Falcon Heavy was going to go up with a useless payload regardless. Saturn I-IV did the same, and V only had a payload because it was a module test and a launch test rolled into one. I suppose the Tesla took up some extra man-hours fitting the car for launch, and the rocket wasn't aimed somewhere it would be destroyed (though I can't tell whether they usually are). But seeing this spun as "SpaceX won't save us, they're just shooting cars into space!" is baffling to me; it was some personal wealth spent on adding spectacle to a totally normal rocket launch.

pmarsh 9y ago
Most likely due to the same troll farms that paint the narrative that SpaceX wastes tax payer money. Now who would not want a new private American company to succeed in revitalizing the industry and increasing competition. Hmm, I can think of a few. It used to be "NASA is a bloated waste of tax payer money let private Enterprise in." And now the same people who said that, have been convinced that private industry is stealing.
- Bartweiss 9y ago
  > the same people who said that This part doesn't match my experience? "NASA is a waste" is, broadly, a conservative/Republican stance. Almost everyone I've seen outraged about the Tesla launch was noticeably left of the average Democrat. I don't think a narrative of "they hated the public version, now they hate the private version" holds up for the people I've seen. Granted, there's a second group on the left who hated NASA before and SpaceX now. But that narrative is usually "space exploration is a waste when people are going hungry", with not much concern about public/private status.
  - stcredzero 9y ago
    "NASA is a waste" is, broadly, a conservative/Republican stance..."space exploration is a waste when people are going hungry" It's definitely now also a Far Left talking point. Larry Wilmore basically went back to the old 60's, "Why is there poverty, and we're putting men on the moon?" There's a scene somewhere where he's telling Bill Nye to STFU about his Science. This brings to mind Phillip DeFranco's t-shirt about substituting feelings for facts.

pmarsh 9y ago

Most likely due to the same troll farms that paint the narrative that SpaceX wastes tax payer money. Now who would not want a new private American company to succeed in revitalizing the industry and increasing competition. Hmm, I can think of a few. It used to be "NASA is a bloated waste of tax payer money let private Enterprise in." And now the same people who said that, have been convinced that private industry is stealing.

Bartweiss 9y ago
> the same people who said that This part doesn't match my experience? "NASA is a waste" is, broadly, a conservative/Republican stance. Almost everyone I've seen outraged about the Tesla launch was noticeably left of the average Democrat. I don't think a narrative of "they hated the public version, now they hate the private version" holds up for the people I've seen. Granted, there's a second group on the left who hated NASA before and SpaceX now. But that narrative is usually "space exploration is a waste when people are going hungry", with not much concern about public/private status.
- stcredzero 9y ago
  "NASA is a waste" is, broadly, a conservative/Republican stance..."space exploration is a waste when people are going hungry" It's definitely now also a Far Left talking point. Larry Wilmore basically went back to the old 60's, "Why is there poverty, and we're putting men on the moon?" There's a scene somewhere where he's telling Bill Nye to STFU about his Science. This brings to mind Phillip DeFranco's t-shirt about substituting feelings for facts.