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There is a vast gulf of time between the 1970s and SpaceX. The space shuttle alone, fully NASA-run, was a (beautiful-looking) failure long before SpaceX came al
by robertlagrant 2y ago
There is a vast gulf of time between the 1970s and SpaceX. The space shuttle alone, fully NASA-run, was a (beautiful-looking) failure long before SpaceX came along. And it was fully government-designed and government-run. It was also astonishingly expensive.
Good things can happen in the private sector or the public sector. SpaceX is a good thing happening in the private sector. No one's brain has to go running to Republican-bashing and history compression to counterbalance that to avoid thinking new thoughts.
- ta1243 2y agoThe space shuttle had government specified requirements (a single vehicle to do everything including capturing soviet satellites and ferrying people into orbit)
- pfdietz 2y agoIt had to do everything because the business case for it (that it would have sufficient ROI) required it. Even then, the business case was basically fraudulent, and the reality was even worse than the critics like Mondale were saying.