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Man, Elon Musk is awesome. Just putting the fact that I just downloaded a user manual for a multi planetary spacecraft in PDF format into historical context, if

Man, Elon Musk is awesome. Just putting the fact that I just downloaded a user manual for a multi planetary spacecraft in PDF format into historical context, if you think about how thus all came together it really is amazing. We went from "this guy is nuts" to "oh yeah this is probably going to happen." When Tesla first came into public view, the idea that a car entirely electric powered that drives itself developed by a brand new car company was ridiculous to most people. This guy just said it matter of factly and everyone just kinda said OK dude. Then it happened. Then he said that there was going to be a rocket that lands itself, run privately. Then he says that they are going to build a human settlement on mars. Then worldwide high speed satellite internet. Now you can actually get it in some places. Now, they're going to high altitude test this giant rocket that will be able to carry 100 people tomorrow morning. 100 people. That's insane. Everything this guy says he's going to do is insane, the timelines are insane, but now everyone is kind of like "yeah, sounds about right" as if the world has always been like this. In 20 years this guy and all the engineers he hired have done absolutely incredible things that we take for granted. Tomorrow they're going to perform a high altitude test of a rocket designed to take 100 people to mars. I just read a user manual for an interplanetary spacecraft with the capacity of a small commercial airliner. I'm glad to be alive in this age.

dflock 6y ago
100 people was for the 12m diameter ITS version - Starship is 9m diameter and the internal volume is more like ISS sized. Still amazeballs though!
- betwixthewires 6y ago
  The just released "user guide" says 100 people.
  - BHSPitMonkey 6y ago
    Where is the just-released version? (The one linked in the submission is the original one from March)
- simonh 6y ago
  The 100 people figure is for a pure passenger version for short journeys, fitted out like an airliner.
adventured 6y ago
Here are a few more past SpaceX user guides: Falcon 1 Launch Vehicle Payload User's Guide (Revision 7, May 2008): https://web.archive.org/web/20110617025305/http://www.spacex.com/Falcon1UsersGuide.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20110617025305/http://www.spacex... Falcon 9 User's Guide (August 2020): https://www.spacex.com/media/Falcon_Users_Guide_082020.pdf https://www.spacex.com/media/Falcon_Users_Guide_082020.pdf Starship User's Guide Revision 1.0 (March 2020): https://web.archive.org/web/20200404100917/https://www.spacex.com/sites/spacex/files/starship_users_guide_v1.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20200404100917/https://www.space...
grifball 6y ago
But he still hasn't been able to build a subway system in LA.
- njarboe 6y ago
  Yea, politics are hard to avoid. This is one reason he wants to create a city on Mars. Having a frontier again where some people can build up society from scratch could be great for humanity. Time will tell.
- simonh 6y ago
  With Starship all he only has to contend with the laws of Physics. With the subway system he has to contend with government regulations.
_pmf_ 6y ago
> that I just downloaded a user manual for a multi planetary spacecraft in PDF You didn't.
numlock86 6y ago
What really stands out is the impact of this guy, too. Imagine he just wouldn't have done those things. Imagine no PayPal, no Tesla, no SpaceX ... it's easy to say "Yeah, someone else would have probably done it then." but that's just not right. Otherwise we'd see a lot more of those things by now. Sure, there are some now, but most if not all are the result of him setting the bar in the first place.
- Ajedi32 6y ago
  "People are mistaken when they think that technology just automatically improves. It does not automatically improve. It only improves if a lot of people work very hard to make it better" - Elon Musk, at Ted 2017
  - dougmwne 6y ago
    This really nails it. The world does not build itself. We build the world. Nothing is preordained, except in retrospect.
- jfengel 6y ago
  Tesla and SpaceX were definitely years or decades ahead of their time, but PayPal would have happened without Musk. There are lots of competitors. PayPal was the one that hit the right features in the right place at the right time (with the right lawyers to talk to the right regulators), but it was far from unqiue.
randomsearch 6y ago
I realise that Musk has flaws and has received criticism for the spat with the cave diver, ignoring COVID, and labour issues. Want to add that caveat. But beyond that, I feel like in terms of what he's doing Musk is some sort of time traveller, back from the future to boost humanity's progress. Why is he such an outlier? What can we as individuals learn from him? And more importantly, how do we make more Elon Musks?
- spzb 6y ago
  > And more importantly, how do we make more Elon Musks? Cloning. Which he's probably already working on.
- ritchiea 6y ago
  What has Elon Musk done for humanity? He got extremely wealthy from a payment processing website. Now he runs a company that makes luxury cars and another one that is or aims to be a global military arms logistical network [0]. If I had to pick amongst the exorbitantly wealth, without any serious research I'd say we need more people like Bill Gates. 0. https://futurism.com/the-byte/spacex-building-military-rocket-to-ship-weapons-anywhere-world https://futurism.com/the-byte/spacex-building-military-rocke...
  - adolph 6y ago
    Wait, did that "payment processing website" not do something for humanity already? Maybe you are a young person without an appreciation for how that "website" changed the world and enabled new worlds of human activity stifled by the previously available payment options. https://fin.plaid.com/articles/the-past-present-and-future-of-paypal/ https://fin.plaid.com/articles/the-past-present-and-future-o...
  - pharke 6y ago
    I guess you missed the decades before Bill went big on philanthropy and was much reviled as an anti-social workaholic, tyrannical CEO, and rabid monopolist.
    - 6y ago
onion2k 6y ago
Just putting the fact that I just downloaded a user manual for a multi planetary spacecraft in PDF format... SpaceX is an amazing company made up of some incredibly talented people, and that includes the sales and marketing department.
andyjohnson0 6y ago
> Just putting the fact that I just downloaded a user manual for a multi planetary spacecraft in PDF format into historical context Its not really a user guide though. More like a brief, very high-level technical spec. Marketing material.
- angry-tempest 6y ago
  It's ridiculous people are buying this shit.
  - imglorp 6y ago
    I don't understand the hate. F9, dragon, crew, etc all work. Why won't this?
- siliconmountain 6y ago
  More marketing material than tech spec. A user manual is hundreds of pages, not five pages and a nice cover.

dflock 6y ago

100 people was for the 12m diameter ITS version - Starship is 9m diameter and the internal volume is more like ISS sized. Still amazeballs though!

betwixthewires 6y ago
The just released "user guide" says 100 people.
- BHSPitMonkey 6y ago
  Where is the just-released version? (The one linked in the submission is the original one from March)
simonh 6y ago
The 100 people figure is for a pure passenger version for short journeys, fitted out like an airliner.

adventured 6y ago

Here are a few more past SpaceX user guides: Falcon 1 Launch Vehicle Payload User's Guide (Revision 7, May 2008): https://web.archive.org/web/20110617025305/http://www.spacex.com/Falcon1UsersGuide.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20110617025305/http://www.spacex... Falcon 9 User's Guide (August 2020): https://www.spacex.com/media/Falcon_Users_Guide_082020.pdf https://www.spacex.com/media/Falcon_Users_Guide_082020.pdf Starship User's Guide Revision 1.0 (March 2020): https://web.archive.org/web/20200404100917/https://www.spacex.com/sites/spacex/files/starship_users_guide_v1.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20200404100917/https://www.space...

grifball 6y ago

But he still hasn't been able to build a subway system in LA.

njarboe 6y ago
Yea, politics are hard to avoid. This is one reason he wants to create a city on Mars. Having a frontier again where some people can build up society from scratch could be great for humanity. Time will tell.
simonh 6y ago
With Starship all he only has to contend with the laws of Physics. With the subway system he has to contend with government regulations.

_pmf_ 6y ago

> that I just downloaded a user manual for a multi planetary spacecraft in PDF You didn't.

numlock86 6y ago

What really stands out is the impact of this guy, too. Imagine he just wouldn't have done those things. Imagine no PayPal, no Tesla, no SpaceX ... it's easy to say "Yeah, someone else would have probably done it then." but that's just not right. Otherwise we'd see a lot more of those things by now. Sure, there are some now, but most if not all are the result of him setting the bar in the first place.

Ajedi32 6y ago
"People are mistaken when they think that technology just automatically improves. It does not automatically improve. It only improves if a lot of people work very hard to make it better" - Elon Musk, at Ted 2017
- dougmwne 6y ago
  This really nails it. The world does not build itself. We build the world. Nothing is preordained, except in retrospect.
jfengel 6y ago
Tesla and SpaceX were definitely years or decades ahead of their time, but PayPal would have happened without Musk. There are lots of competitors. PayPal was the one that hit the right features in the right place at the right time (with the right lawyers to talk to the right regulators), but it was far from unqiue.

randomsearch 6y ago

I realise that Musk has flaws and has received criticism for the spat with the cave diver, ignoring COVID, and labour issues. Want to add that caveat. But beyond that, I feel like in terms of what he's doing Musk is some sort of time traveller, back from the future to boost humanity's progress. Why is he such an outlier? What can we as individuals learn from him? And more importantly, how do we make more Elon Musks?

spzb 6y ago
> And more importantly, how do we make more Elon Musks? Cloning. Which he's probably already working on.
ritchiea 6y ago
What has Elon Musk done for humanity? He got extremely wealthy from a payment processing website. Now he runs a company that makes luxury cars and another one that is or aims to be a global military arms logistical network [0]. If I had to pick amongst the exorbitantly wealth, without any serious research I'd say we need more people like Bill Gates. 0. https://futurism.com/the-byte/spacex-building-military-rocket-to-ship-weapons-anywhere-world https://futurism.com/the-byte/spacex-building-military-rocke...
- adolph 6y ago
  Wait, did that "payment processing website" not do something for humanity already? Maybe you are a young person without an appreciation for how that "website" changed the world and enabled new worlds of human activity stifled by the previously available payment options. https://fin.plaid.com/articles/the-past-present-and-future-of-paypal/ https://fin.plaid.com/articles/the-past-present-and-future-o...
- pharke 6y ago
  I guess you missed the decades before Bill went big on philanthropy and was much reviled as an anti-social workaholic, tyrannical CEO, and rabid monopolist.
  - 6y ago

onion2k 6y ago

Just putting the fact that I just downloaded a user manual for a multi planetary spacecraft in PDF format... SpaceX is an amazing company made up of some incredibly talented people, and that includes the sales and marketing department.

andyjohnson0 6y ago

> Just putting the fact that I just downloaded a user manual for a multi planetary spacecraft in PDF format into historical context Its not really a user guide though. More like a brief, very high-level technical spec. Marketing material.

angry-tempest 6y ago
It's ridiculous people are buying this shit.
- imglorp 6y ago
  I don't understand the hate. F9, dragon, crew, etc all work. Why won't this?
siliconmountain 6y ago
More marketing material than tech spec. A user manual is hundreds of pages, not five pages and a nice cover.