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I was just thinking something along the same line! If you look at him early in his career he was much more of an introvert. He appears to play to the press to i

I was just thinking something along the same line! If you look at him early in his career he was much more of an introvert. He appears to play to the press to increase the exposure of his companies which have missions in which he truly believes. He's said something to the same effect. As someone who believes in the missions of the companies he's help found and run, I'll excuse this annoyance. But yes, agreed, enormous annoyance.

larrydag 12y ago
Reading more into the article Elon's SpaceX has a genuine argument. The US Administration specifically put certain Russian dignitaries (some of which are part of Russia's space program) on the sanctions list for Russia's involvement in Ukraine. SpaceX brought it up with the Federal courts which the US Administration should have already enforced. Now on the flip side it seems that SpaceX is putting their relationship with NASA as a priority. You would think they would want Russia as a client in the future as well but I think that will never happen now.
- djcapelis 12y ago
  Musk and Russia burnt bridges a long while back when they screwed him and made fun of him when he was trying to first start doing space. He got fed up and in sentiment along the lines of "fuck you, I'll do it myself" decided to go make his own rockets instead. I strongly doubt he is interested in being polite to Russian rocket industry.
  - toomuchtodo 12y ago
    Someone else posted the article link a few days ago on HN, but it went like so: Elon: I'm here for 3 ICBMs. The price is $21 million, correct? Russians: No, the price is now $21 million for 1 ICBM. You don't have that kind of money? You can't play with the big boys. Elon: on the plane ride home How hard can it be to build a rocket? The Russians also had a salvage tug off the Space Coast leading up to the CR3 resupply mission (it was the most powerful salvage tug in the world at its commissioning). Take that for what its worth.
- reuwsaat 12y ago
  Elon's priority is to keep SpaceX healthy as a business and lay the regulatory framework required so that human life can become multi-planetary. Simple as that.
- XorNot 12y ago
  Russia isn't going to be in a position to afford to launch it's own satellites for a good long while in the future, and no one not in Russia would want to help them given the way they're currently acting as a government. Plenty more money from pretty much anywhere else in the world to be had in terms of payloads, but in a practical sense I suspect it's a lot easier to launch US-based payloads then ones from overseas - shipping sensitive satellites around the world can't exactly be easy.
  - jon-wood 12y ago
    > Shipping sensitive satellites around the world can't exactly be easy. While I certainly don't disagree, we're talking about a company who's business is shipping sensitive satellites into orbit, so they're probably better positioned to know how to undertake shipping them round the world than most people!
  - moron4hire 12y ago
    It's a lot harder to fly a payload any meaningful distance than it is to launch an ICBM with the payload and a parachute on top. Well, maybe not on Earth, but definitely on Kerbin.
  - Mikeb85 12y ago
    How do you figure? Russia is flush with cash, and while their economy may contract, they're not exactly doing badly... Further, what makes you think Putin and his government is unpopular at home? (hint: they aren't)
    - vitno 12y ago
      not true at all. I JUST spent several weeks in Russia, people will go out of their way to bring up Putin and be unhappy about him (at least to foreigners).
      - Mikeb85 12y ago
        Compare this to the universal love and admiration for Obama in the US, and say, Stephen Harper in Canada... Because no one in the west is ever dissatisfied with anything politicians do.

larrydag 12y ago

Reading more into the article Elon's SpaceX has a genuine argument. The US Administration specifically put certain Russian dignitaries (some of which are part of Russia's space program) on the sanctions list for Russia's involvement in Ukraine. SpaceX brought it up with the Federal courts which the US Administration should have already enforced. Now on the flip side it seems that SpaceX is putting their relationship with NASA as a priority. You would think they would want Russia as a client in the future as well but I think that will never happen now.

djcapelis 12y ago
Musk and Russia burnt bridges a long while back when they screwed him and made fun of him when he was trying to first start doing space. He got fed up and in sentiment along the lines of "fuck you, I'll do it myself" decided to go make his own rockets instead. I strongly doubt he is interested in being polite to Russian rocket industry.
- toomuchtodo 12y ago
  Someone else posted the article link a few days ago on HN, but it went like so: Elon: I'm here for 3 ICBMs. The price is $21 million, correct? Russians: No, the price is now $21 million for 1 ICBM. You don't have that kind of money? You can't play with the big boys. Elon: on the plane ride home How hard can it be to build a rocket? The Russians also had a salvage tug off the Space Coast leading up to the CR3 resupply mission (it was the most powerful salvage tug in the world at its commissioning). Take that for what its worth.
reuwsaat 12y ago
Elon's priority is to keep SpaceX healthy as a business and lay the regulatory framework required so that human life can become multi-planetary. Simple as that.
XorNot 12y ago
Russia isn't going to be in a position to afford to launch it's own satellites for a good long while in the future, and no one not in Russia would want to help them given the way they're currently acting as a government. Plenty more money from pretty much anywhere else in the world to be had in terms of payloads, but in a practical sense I suspect it's a lot easier to launch US-based payloads then ones from overseas - shipping sensitive satellites around the world can't exactly be easy.
- jon-wood 12y ago
  > Shipping sensitive satellites around the world can't exactly be easy. While I certainly don't disagree, we're talking about a company who's business is shipping sensitive satellites into orbit, so they're probably better positioned to know how to undertake shipping them round the world than most people!
- moron4hire 12y ago
  It's a lot harder to fly a payload any meaningful distance than it is to launch an ICBM with the payload and a parachute on top. Well, maybe not on Earth, but definitely on Kerbin.
- Mikeb85 12y ago
  How do you figure? Russia is flush with cash, and while their economy may contract, they're not exactly doing badly... Further, what makes you think Putin and his government is unpopular at home? (hint: they aren't)
  - vitno 12y ago
    not true at all. I JUST spent several weeks in Russia, people will go out of their way to bring up Putin and be unhappy about him (at least to foreigners).
    - Mikeb85 12y ago
      Compare this to the universal love and admiration for Obama in the US, and say, Stephen Harper in Canada... Because no one in the west is ever dissatisfied with anything politicians do.