6 ms·

SpaceX’s first crewed spacecraft launch cleared to proceed for May 27 target

99 points by jonas21 6y ago

Simulacra 6y ago
Mars must not be that far off ... Godspeed.
- jp42 6y ago
  not long ago Musk's Mars plans were seen as unrealistic by many and now they are started appearing to be possible...looking at the breakneck speed of development at Boca Chica..you right my friend, Mars is not far off. :-)
  - ISL 6y ago
    Only 160,206,027 km, according to https://theskylive.com/mars-info https://theskylive.com/mars-info
    - PopeDotNinja 6y ago
      And only 54.6 million kilometers at the closest approach! You can actually get to Mars in way less than 9 months if you don't mind crashing into the surface at a bajillion km/sec.
  - hliyan 6y ago
    I'm reminded of the 4-minute mile. All it takes for something once thought technically impossible to be achieved repeatedly, is for someone to do it once. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-minute_mile https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-minute_mile
    - ctdonath 6y ago
      In other news, Starman is at his orbit's apogee now (past Mars). https://www.whereisroadster.com https://www.whereisroadster.com
      - hliyan 6y ago
        Do we have a video link? Never actually seen proper video streamed at interplanetary distances (only photos). Maybe that's another thing SpaceX could try to solve: an interplanetary inter-network protocol. TCP/IP is not going to work because of the minute-range latencies and the heavy packet losses.
        ctdonath 6y ago
        No data link. There is an “interplanetary Internet”, look into it.
    - chrischattin 6y ago
      This is such a great example of human psychology and our ability to adapt to new paradigms. The amazing thing about the four minute mile, is once someone broke the previously thought impossible barrier, we had high school kids routinely running four minute miles within a few years. I think it also says something about how hard it is to truly do something unique and break new trail. But, it opens things up for the rest of humanity. It takes a special person.
      - AtlasBarfed 6y ago
        And then in America, a drought of high schoolers running 4 minute miles for what seemed to be two decades. Whoa, it was actually over 30 years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_high_school_students_who_have_run_a_four-minute_mile https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_high_school_s...
    - jml7c5 6y ago
      >The claim that a four-minute mile was once thought to be impossible by "informed" observers was and is a widely propagated myth created by sportswriters and debunked by Bannister himself in his memoir, The Four Minute Mile (1955). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Bannister#Sub-4-minute_mile https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Bannister#Sub-4-minute_m...
  - starpilot 6y ago
    I'm still blown away by reusable rockets. If you had asked anyone involved in rockets (possibly even Musk himself) 20 years ago if we would be landing rockets today, I doubt you'd get a single "yes." That's just not where the industry looked headed and unlike anything up until today.
    - NikolaeVarius 6y ago
      We had the space shuttle 20 years ago.
      - valuearb 6y ago
        Which is what made it seem impossible.
- skybrian 6y ago
  Why do you say that? It's a much harder challenge.
ogre_codes 6y ago
Elon Musk is a jerk, no seriously... the shit he does is often crazy stupid. But he's also awesome and moved some seriously overdue technologies forward when others have faltered. This is amazing and I'm so glad to see launches back in the hands of people who are working to push space travel forward.
- ALittleLight 6y ago
  I don't think it's fair to call him a jerk. If you had everything you've ever tweeted or said scrutinized by large numbers of antagonists you may find that critics fixate on a few of your not-quite-best moments too.
  - gonzo41 6y ago
    Do you not remember his cave diver / submarine attacks on twitter? https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50667553 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50667553
    - dntbnmpls 6y ago
      > Do you not remember his cave diver / submarine attacks on twitter? A jury sided with Musk over the "pedo guy"... https://www.reuters.com/article/us-musk-lawsuit-idUSKBN1YA13U https://www.reuters.com/article/us-musk-lawsuit-idUSKBN1YA13... And most sane people would side with Musk over some pathetic old guy who goes to thailand to exploit the poor people there. Don't you agree?
    - ALittleLight 6y ago
      He insulted a guy who insulted him. It's not a good thing, but hardly justifies judging an entire person. Have you ever said an inappropriate thing about someone you were arguing with who got on your nerves?
      - jml7c5 6y ago
        The combination of "Thailand (sus)", and "bet ya a signed dollar it's true" makes it clear he was accusing the guy of pedophilia. That's way beyond just an insult.
fma 6y ago
I've always found it ironic that in our climate of anti-immigration (including legal immigration) that the person to save our industry of so much American pride, the manned space program, is an African immigrant. Many people I talk to (I know, anecdote) don't know he moved to the US to pursue the American dream. I fear what what happens to the US when the next Elon Musk stays put, because the American Dream doesn't want them. Congratulations to Musk, and best wishes to the 2 astronauts that will make history.
- itsoktocry 6y ago
  >is an African immigrant. He came from privilege and wealth from colonial South Africa to Canada. Bit of a stretch to paint his story as an "African immigrant moving to the US to pursue the American Dream."
  - chrischattin 6y ago
    How is that a stretch? That's literally what he is. Sounds like you're hung up on some other issue.
    - dogma1138 6y ago
      Well he did technically immigrate to the US from Canada. Musk emigrated to Canada while Apartheid was still in place in South Africa, while calling him an African immigrant isn’t completely technically incorrect it is quite far from what circumstances most people would imagine that phrasing to mean.
      - fma 6y ago
        Not sure who "most people" are but the circumstances of all immigrants have only 1 thing in common. Their original citizenship is not the USA. If others have a perceived stereotype, then they should check that at the door. It really can't get any more black and white than that. The fact of the matter is, in an atmosphere of reduced enrollment by foreign students, we would have less chances of an Elon Musk type person. Whilst before 2016 it was growing, since 2016 enrollment by international students in universities has been declined. I'm sure you know Musk came to the US for college. Trump administration of course blames "higher costs"...funny given the global economic boom, everyone has more money and the survey says about 50% of Chinese and Indians cites the political climate "would prevent them from applying to a U.S. business school." https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2019/11/18/international-enrollments-declined-undergraduate-graduate-and https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2019/11/18...

99 points by jonas21 6y ago

Simulacra 6y ago

Mars must not be that far off ... Godspeed.

jp42 6y ago
not long ago Musk's Mars plans were seen as unrealistic by many and now they are started appearing to be possible...looking at the breakneck speed of development at Boca Chica..you right my friend, Mars is not far off. :-)
- ISL 6y ago
  Only 160,206,027 km, according to https://theskylive.com/mars-info https://theskylive.com/mars-info
  - PopeDotNinja 6y ago
    And only 54.6 million kilometers at the closest approach! You can actually get to Mars in way less than 9 months if you don't mind crashing into the surface at a bajillion km/sec.
- hliyan 6y ago
  I'm reminded of the 4-minute mile. All it takes for something once thought technically impossible to be achieved repeatedly, is for someone to do it once. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-minute_mile https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-minute_mile
  - ctdonath 6y ago
    In other news, Starman is at his orbit's apogee now (past Mars). https://www.whereisroadster.com https://www.whereisroadster.com
    - hliyan 6y ago
      Do we have a video link? Never actually seen proper video streamed at interplanetary distances (only photos). Maybe that's another thing SpaceX could try to solve: an interplanetary inter-network protocol. TCP/IP is not going to work because of the minute-range latencies and the heavy packet losses.
      - ctdonath 6y ago
        No data link. There is an “interplanetary Internet”, look into it.
  - chrischattin 6y ago
    This is such a great example of human psychology and our ability to adapt to new paradigms. The amazing thing about the four minute mile, is once someone broke the previously thought impossible barrier, we had high school kids routinely running four minute miles within a few years. I think it also says something about how hard it is to truly do something unique and break new trail. But, it opens things up for the rest of humanity. It takes a special person.
    - AtlasBarfed 6y ago
      And then in America, a drought of high schoolers running 4 minute miles for what seemed to be two decades. Whoa, it was actually over 30 years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_high_school_students_who_have_run_a_four-minute_mile https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_high_school_s...
  - jml7c5 6y ago
    >The claim that a four-minute mile was once thought to be impossible by "informed" observers was and is a widely propagated myth created by sportswriters and debunked by Bannister himself in his memoir, The Four Minute Mile (1955). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Bannister#Sub-4-minute_mile https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Bannister#Sub-4-minute_m...
- starpilot 6y ago
  I'm still blown away by reusable rockets. If you had asked anyone involved in rockets (possibly even Musk himself) 20 years ago if we would be landing rockets today, I doubt you'd get a single "yes." That's just not where the industry looked headed and unlike anything up until today.
  - NikolaeVarius 6y ago
    We had the space shuttle 20 years ago.
    - valuearb 6y ago
      Which is what made it seem impossible.
skybrian 6y ago
Why do you say that? It's a much harder challenge.

ogre_codes 6y ago

Elon Musk is a jerk, no seriously... the shit he does is often crazy stupid. But he's also awesome and moved some seriously overdue technologies forward when others have faltered. This is amazing and I'm so glad to see launches back in the hands of people who are working to push space travel forward.

ALittleLight 6y ago
I don't think it's fair to call him a jerk. If you had everything you've ever tweeted or said scrutinized by large numbers of antagonists you may find that critics fixate on a few of your not-quite-best moments too.
- gonzo41 6y ago
  Do you not remember his cave diver / submarine attacks on twitter? https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50667553 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50667553
  - dntbnmpls 6y ago
    > Do you not remember his cave diver / submarine attacks on twitter? A jury sided with Musk over the "pedo guy"... https://www.reuters.com/article/us-musk-lawsuit-idUSKBN1YA13U https://www.reuters.com/article/us-musk-lawsuit-idUSKBN1YA13... And most sane people would side with Musk over some pathetic old guy who goes to thailand to exploit the poor people there. Don't you agree?
  - ALittleLight 6y ago
    He insulted a guy who insulted him. It's not a good thing, but hardly justifies judging an entire person. Have you ever said an inappropriate thing about someone you were arguing with who got on your nerves?
    - jml7c5 6y ago
      The combination of "Thailand (sus)", and "bet ya a signed dollar it's true" makes it clear he was accusing the guy of pedophilia. That's way beyond just an insult.

fma 6y ago

I've always found it ironic that in our climate of anti-immigration (including legal immigration) that the person to save our industry of so much American pride, the manned space program, is an African immigrant. Many people I talk to (I know, anecdote) don't know he moved to the US to pursue the American dream. I fear what what happens to the US when the next Elon Musk stays put, because the American Dream doesn't want them. Congratulations to Musk, and best wishes to the 2 astronauts that will make history.

itsoktocry 6y ago
>is an African immigrant. He came from privilege and wealth from colonial South Africa to Canada. Bit of a stretch to paint his story as an "African immigrant moving to the US to pursue the American Dream."
- chrischattin 6y ago
  How is that a stretch? That's literally what he is. Sounds like you're hung up on some other issue.
  - dogma1138 6y ago
    Well he did technically immigrate to the US from Canada. Musk emigrated to Canada while Apartheid was still in place in South Africa, while calling him an African immigrant isn’t completely technically incorrect it is quite far from what circumstances most people would imagine that phrasing to mean.
    - fma 6y ago
      Not sure who "most people" are but the circumstances of all immigrants have only 1 thing in common. Their original citizenship is not the USA. If others have a perceived stereotype, then they should check that at the door. It really can't get any more black and white than that. The fact of the matter is, in an atmosphere of reduced enrollment by foreign students, we would have less chances of an Elon Musk type person. Whilst before 2016 it was growing, since 2016 enrollment by international students in universities has been declined. I'm sure you know Musk came to the US for college. Trump administration of course blames "higher costs"...funny given the global economic boom, everyone has more money and the survey says about 50% of Chinese and Indians cites the political climate "would prevent them from applying to a U.S. business school." https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2019/11/18/international-enrollments-declined-undergraduate-graduate-and https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2019/11/18...