4 ms·

Webcast team wiping away tears as the camera cuts back to them. Awesome.

dakrisht 14y ago
So amazing to see this and experience the launch with them. You can tell how much energy, passion and personal sacrifice these people and their leader, Elon, put into this. It's absolutely beautiful to see. Real innovation, a true testament of our capabilities as human beings. Not a company with 800+ million users that can't even figure out the ad business. :) Congrats guys!
- mkramlich 14y ago
  It is kind of sad that Facebook has a $100B valuation considering what SpaceX is doing, and plans on doing. One is just one particular web-profiles-and-chat service, not that hard or original. The other is frickin rocket science.
  - mehulkar 14y ago
    SpaceX is a revolution, not a business (yet). In our world, Facebook's data is more valuable than a revolution. But hey, we might not be dealing with just our world any more :)
    - mkr-hn 14y ago
      SpaceX is a business. You can pay for one of their rockets if you have something to put in orbit.
      - ithkuil 14y ago
        wonder if some kind of permissions would be necessary(and whom to ask) to put something in orbit. Can I put my arduino based spy satellite in orbit?
        mkr-hn 14y ago
        It would depend on the laws of the country you launch from.
      - thebigshane 14y ago
        I'd like to see someone donate money and cover the costs for these guys to put their "free internet" into space: http://shackspace.de/wiki/doku.php?id=project:hgg:faq#what_is_your_immediate_goal http://shackspace.de/wiki/doku.php?id=project:hgg:faq#what_i...
    - deleted 14y ago
      [deleted]
    - pavs 14y ago
      eh? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX#Contracts http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX#Contracts
      - mehulkar 14y ago
        Never will I post, on HN or anywhere else, anything that I cannot support with evidence. Thank you for correcting me. My point isn't entirely moot though. I still think knowing things about almost a billion people, namely what & when they do things, has more proof of value today than these contracts. The cool factor doesn't necessarily mean money. (What 'money' itself means and how it represents value is a totally different discussion)
    - InclinedPlane 14y ago
      SpaceX is selling launches on its rockets to commercial companies right now: http://www.spacex.com/launch_manifest.php http://www.spacex.com/launch_manifest.php Moreover, this Falcon 9 launch was part of a commercial contract with NASA to provide supplies to ISS over the next few years (12 additional flights in addition to this demo). When someone signs a contract with you and gives you money in exchange for goods and services we call that business.
- rytis 14y ago
  Unfortunately the majority sees it in other light - "ah yeah, another space ship, whatever, let me check what stupid photos my mates uploaded recently...". It's basically the society that's rotting, and FB just takes the profit. Really reminds me the Idiocracy movie...
  - jiggy2011 14y ago
    Thing is that facebook provides something of immediate utility. As exciting as this is there is not a lot we can do with it beyond go "ah! cool!"
    - stcredzero 14y ago
      A launch platform for mining asteroids?

So amazing to see this and experience the launch with them. You can tell how much energy, passion and personal sacrifice these people and their leader, Elon, put into this. It's absolutely beautiful to see. Real innovation, a true testament of our capabilities as human beings. Not a company with 800+ million users that can't even figure out the ad business. :) Congrats guys!

mkramlich 14y ago
It is kind of sad that Facebook has a $100B valuation considering what SpaceX is doing, and plans on doing. One is just one particular web-profiles-and-chat service, not that hard or original. The other is frickin rocket science.
- mehulkar 14y ago
  SpaceX is a revolution, not a business (yet). In our world, Facebook's data is more valuable than a revolution. But hey, we might not be dealing with just our world any more :)
  - mkr-hn 14y ago
    SpaceX is a business. You can pay for one of their rockets if you have something to put in orbit.
    - ithkuil 14y ago
      wonder if some kind of permissions would be necessary(and whom to ask) to put something in orbit. Can I put my arduino based spy satellite in orbit?
      - mkr-hn 14y ago
        It would depend on the laws of the country you launch from.
    - thebigshane 14y ago
      I'd like to see someone donate money and cover the costs for these guys to put their "free internet" into space: http://shackspace.de/wiki/doku.php?id=project:hgg:faq#what_is_your_immediate_goal http://shackspace.de/wiki/doku.php?id=project:hgg:faq#what_i...
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
  - pavs 14y ago
    eh? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX#Contracts http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX#Contracts
    - mehulkar 14y ago
      Never will I post, on HN or anywhere else, anything that I cannot support with evidence. Thank you for correcting me. My point isn't entirely moot though. I still think knowing things about almost a billion people, namely what & when they do things, has more proof of value today than these contracts. The cool factor doesn't necessarily mean money. (What 'money' itself means and how it represents value is a totally different discussion)
  - InclinedPlane 14y ago
    SpaceX is selling launches on its rockets to commercial companies right now: http://www.spacex.com/launch_manifest.php http://www.spacex.com/launch_manifest.php Moreover, this Falcon 9 launch was part of a commercial contract with NASA to provide supplies to ISS over the next few years (12 additional flights in addition to this demo). When someone signs a contract with you and gives you money in exchange for goods and services we call that business.
rytis 14y ago
Unfortunately the majority sees it in other light - "ah yeah, another space ship, whatever, let me check what stupid photos my mates uploaded recently...". It's basically the society that's rotting, and FB just takes the profit. Really reminds me the Idiocracy movie...
- jiggy2011 14y ago
  Thing is that facebook provides something of immediate utility. As exciting as this is there is not a lot we can do with it beyond go "ah! cool!"
  - stcredzero 14y ago
    A launch platform for mining asteroids?