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What SpaceX is accomplishing is certainly impressive, but this seems like a weird comparison. Isn't the ranking implied by the title basically a tie between nea

What SpaceX is accomplishing is certainly impressive, but this seems like a weird comparison. Isn't the ranking implied by the title basically a tie between nearly everything humanity has ever launched at "1", and the space shuttles (minus Challenger) all up at "dozens"? It also fails to mention that it surpassed Challenger in successful landings with its tenth, which seems pretty relevant in the story they're trying to tell. And I may have missed it, but I don't think the article mentioned anything else that had ever been launched more than once.

messe 5y ago
> It also fails to mention that it surpassed Challenger in successful landings with its tenth I think hailing that as an accomplishment might be in bad taste.
- chrishas35 5y ago
  But that's exactly what the article did without actually mentioning Challenger. A very strange article. "It trails only these four shuttle orbiters (we're not going to mention the fifth)"
  - jwhitlark 5y ago
    I agree. The way it's worded leaves out important information. They could have said "It trails only four of the five shuttles", because the fact that it outlasted one of them is an important data point.
- 1123581321 5y ago
  It is unpleasant to contemplate the deaths from Challenger and Columbia. However, we should be excited about being able to do more in space with vehicles and operational procedures that are safer and cheaper than the shuttle program.
andrewtbham 5y ago
the odd thing to me is that the space shuttle underwent so much refurbishment that it doesn't seem comparable.
- btilly 5y ago
  When you compare with inflation, the cost of building this rocket and launching it 10x is less than the cost of any single launch of the Space Shuttle. Also this rocket they intend to test to destruction. Nobody knows if it has 1, 10 or 100 more launches in it.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

messe 5y ago

> It also fails to mention that it surpassed Challenger in successful landings with its tenth I think hailing that as an accomplishment might be in bad taste.

chrishas35 5y ago
But that's exactly what the article did without actually mentioning Challenger. A very strange article. "It trails only these four shuttle orbiters (we're not going to mention the fifth)"
- jwhitlark 5y ago
  I agree. The way it's worded leaves out important information. They could have said "It trails only four of the five shuttles", because the fact that it outlasted one of them is an important data point.
1123581321 5y ago
It is unpleasant to contemplate the deaths from Challenger and Columbia. However, we should be excited about being able to do more in space with vehicles and operational procedures that are safer and cheaper than the shuttle program.

andrewtbham 5y ago

the odd thing to me is that the space shuttle underwent so much refurbishment that it doesn't seem comparable.

btilly 5y ago
When you compare with inflation, the cost of building this rocket and launching it 10x is less than the cost of any single launch of the Space Shuttle. Also this rocket they intend to test to destruction. Nobody knows if it has 1, 10 or 100 more launches in it.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]