4 ms·

What I've been surprised about is that Elon isn't going on either this mission or just one of his own seeing as SpaceX could presumably have two commercial flig

by dotBen 5y ago

What I've been surprised about is that Elon isn't going on either this mission or just one of his own seeing as SpaceX could presumably have two commercial flights. Given the 'length comparison games' that Branson and Bezos have been up to with their 'near space' escapades it's a massive F U for Elon to do a trip like this which will actually be one of the furthest distances humans have gone from Earth since the moon landings (the orbit is higher than low-earth orbit where the ISS and Chinese space stations are). There's no question these people will become fully fledged astronauts. I was wondering if shareholder issues and risk could be the problem - but it's not like Elon seems to care about that and Elon is already saying he's going on Virgin Galactic anyway. Elon, Grimes and two friends going up on a Dragon X capsule for 3 days would be a hoot.

belter 5y ago
No, he is keeping himself for another demo. He will be tied up and launched on a Tesla cross country with FSD...
tenpies 5y ago
> it's a massive F U for Elon Is it? Seems to be the only billionaire that doesn't trust his own system enough to fly in it, so I think that's a huge blow and shows a complete lack of confidence / psychopathy. Should not be surprising from the person willing to have untold hundreds die while "training" a "beta" "self-driving" system on public roads. And in usual Elon fashion if he can't win "it didn't matter anyway".
tw04 5y ago
I'm not sure he cares to be honest. Why would he? His goal is to have humans populating the universe, strapping himself to a rocket for an ego trip would be a rather pointless risk. I'd say the fact that his company has absolutely destroyed both competitors to date wins any dick waving contest around "but I personally went to space first". I'm not even an Elon fan, and I think he's got a million character flaws, but he seems to be sticking true to the purpose of space-x and tesla and neither one is about bragging to his rich friends with a "LOOK AT ME!".
- dotBen 5y ago
  He might care because he wants to go to Mars and so presumably it's totally reasonable to assume he might have the opportunity to go to space more than once. He might want to do a 3 day tour of the Earth as the beginning of that. He might just because he's the kind of guy who pretty much makes loads of his decision 'because he can'. Plaid? Model's S 3 X Y (sexy)? acceleration speeds that are almost unsafe for normal drivers to be handling? A lot of his decisions are outside the norm, which is why (some of us) love him.
  - yupper32 5y ago
    You can argue that turning down a 3 day trip orbiting the Earth is also outside the norm!
takeda 5y ago
Unlike Blue Origin or Virgin Atlantic SpaceX is not an amusement ride. He doesn't need to prove anything, because he isn't looking for passengers that would pay $250k for a 10 minute ride.
- joakleaf 5y ago
  No, but at 200 million for 3 days (1440 minutes) it is still $139000/minute, or almost $1.4 million for 10 minutes.
  - takeda 5y ago
    The difference is that this is a test before actual mission, similarly why there's plan to go to the Moon before going to Mars. People there are not paying for the attraction and they are also aware with associated risks.
  - ben_w 5y ago
    The millions are for the opportunity to say you were first. Musk’s target price is getting to Mars for what Virgin Galactic is listing for suborbital.
  - trsohmers 5y ago
    You are off by a factor of 3... it is $46k a minute, there are 4320 minutes in 3 days.
    - joakleaf 5y ago
      You are right, sorry... Still not cheap though.
      - trsohmers 5y ago
        and since there are 4 people, it ends up being only $11.5k per minute per person.... cheaper per minute than Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic's amusement park rides
inglor_cz 5y ago
I think the explanation is simple. Musk is a notorious workaholic and does not want to leave Boca Chica at this stage of Starship development. The activity at Starbase is frantic right now and will likely be frantic for some months to come.
- bdamm 5y ago
  This is exactly right. He could not imagine delaying the development of Starship for the ~week it would take him to train for, orient on, and fly the mission. It would be a huge distraction for him and everyone in the company. Once the Starship trips are normal, operational, and for sale, my bet is he'll take a jog around orbit.
  - Denvercoder9 5y ago
    Flying on Dragon takes a lot more training than a few days. The Inspiration4 crew has been training for months.

by dotBen 5y ago

belter 5y ago

No, he is keeping himself for another demo. He will be tied up and launched on a Tesla cross country with FSD...

tenpies 5y ago

> it's a massive F U for Elon Is it? Seems to be the only billionaire that doesn't trust his own system enough to fly in it, so I think that's a huge blow and shows a complete lack of confidence / psychopathy. Should not be surprising from the person willing to have untold hundreds die while "training" a "beta" "self-driving" system on public roads. And in usual Elon fashion if he can't win "it didn't matter anyway".

tw04 5y ago

I'm not sure he cares to be honest. Why would he? His goal is to have humans populating the universe, strapping himself to a rocket for an ego trip would be a rather pointless risk. I'd say the fact that his company has absolutely destroyed both competitors to date wins any dick waving contest around "but I personally went to space first". I'm not even an Elon fan, and I think he's got a million character flaws, but he seems to be sticking true to the purpose of space-x and tesla and neither one is about bragging to his rich friends with a "LOOK AT ME!".

dotBen 5y ago
He might care because he wants to go to Mars and so presumably it's totally reasonable to assume he might have the opportunity to go to space more than once. He might want to do a 3 day tour of the Earth as the beginning of that. He might just because he's the kind of guy who pretty much makes loads of his decision 'because he can'. Plaid? Model's S 3 X Y (sexy)? acceleration speeds that are almost unsafe for normal drivers to be handling? A lot of his decisions are outside the norm, which is why (some of us) love him.
- yupper32 5y ago
  You can argue that turning down a 3 day trip orbiting the Earth is also outside the norm!

takeda 5y ago

Unlike Blue Origin or Virgin Atlantic SpaceX is not an amusement ride. He doesn't need to prove anything, because he isn't looking for passengers that would pay $250k for a 10 minute ride.

joakleaf 5y ago
No, but at 200 million for 3 days (1440 minutes) it is still $139000/minute, or almost $1.4 million for 10 minutes.
- takeda 5y ago
  The difference is that this is a test before actual mission, similarly why there's plan to go to the Moon before going to Mars. People there are not paying for the attraction and they are also aware with associated risks.
- ben_w 5y ago
  The millions are for the opportunity to say you were first. Musk’s target price is getting to Mars for what Virgin Galactic is listing for suborbital.
- trsohmers 5y ago
  You are off by a factor of 3... it is $46k a minute, there are 4320 minutes in 3 days.
  - joakleaf 5y ago
    You are right, sorry... Still not cheap though.
    - trsohmers 5y ago
      and since there are 4 people, it ends up being only $11.5k per minute per person.... cheaper per minute than Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic's amusement park rides

inglor_cz 5y ago

I think the explanation is simple. Musk is a notorious workaholic and does not want to leave Boca Chica at this stage of Starship development. The activity at Starbase is frantic right now and will likely be frantic for some months to come.

bdamm 5y ago
This is exactly right. He could not imagine delaying the development of Starship for the ~week it would take him to train for, orient on, and fly the mission. It would be a huge distraction for him and everyone in the company. Once the Starship trips are normal, operational, and for sale, my bet is he'll take a jog around orbit.
- Denvercoder9 5y ago
  Flying on Dragon takes a lot more training than a few days. The Inspiration4 crew has been training for months.