4 ms·

Are you trolling? Most rocket platforms have had a rate of failure. The ESA's Ariane 5 (predecessor of the VEGA rocket) had launch failures as well. SpaceX has

by zizee 12y ago

Are you trolling? Most rocket platforms have had a rate of failure. The ESA's Ariane 5 (predecessor of the VEGA rocket) had launch failures as well. SpaceX has had an amazing run in comparison to most other platforms. >But concretely, what's the point of it? NASA worked fairly well if well founded... NASA doesn't build rockets. They have always outsourced the job to aerospace companies. > Now for political reasons they prefer to give money to SpaceX I think you'll find that political reasons are keeping NASA from buying more launches from SpaceX. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/04/25/spacex-sues-to-block-contract-award/8157667/ http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/04/25/spacex-... EDIT - changed my wording from "very checkered history" to "had launch failures as well" - in my rush to respond, I went from memory and checking the facts found my words too strong.

kome 12y ago
> The ESA's Ariane 5 (predecessor of the VEGA rocket) had a very checkered history. Ariane 5 is not the predecessor of Vega. They are two very different project, for different payloads. And look at the table of success and failure rate of the Ariane 5 itself http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arianne_5 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arianne_5 > SpaceX has had an amazing run in comparison to most other platforms. Clearly that's not the case. > I think you'll find that political reasons are keeping NASA from buying more launches from SpaceX. From that interview: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/tesla-and-spacex-elon-musks-industrial-empire/ http://www.cbsnews.com/news/tesla-and-spacex-elon-musks-indu... Elon Musk: NASA called and told us that we'd won a $1.5 billion contract. And I couldn't even hold the phone, I just blurted out, "I love you guys." Scott Pelley: They saved you. Elon Musk: Yeah, they did.
- zizee 12y ago
  > Ariane 5 is not the predecessor of Vega. I stand corrected. The point is that the ESA's rocket program is far from flawless as your "3 from 3" post above suggests. >> SpaceX has had an amazing run in comparison to most other platforms. > Clearly that's not the case. From the article, this was a TEST flight. Exploding rockets is an expected part of the development process.
- rpedela 12y ago
  In that context, NASA was the customer. They didn't bail them out. It wasn't charity.

by zizee 12y ago

kome 12y ago

> The ESA's Ariane 5 (predecessor of the VEGA rocket) had a very checkered history. Ariane 5 is not the predecessor of Vega. They are two very different project, for different payloads. And look at the table of success and failure rate of the Ariane 5 itself http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arianne_5 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arianne_5 > SpaceX has had an amazing run in comparison to most other platforms. Clearly that's not the case. > I think you'll find that political reasons are keeping NASA from buying more launches from SpaceX. From that interview: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/tesla-and-spacex-elon-musks-industrial-empire/ http://www.cbsnews.com/news/tesla-and-spacex-elon-musks-indu... Elon Musk: NASA called and told us that we'd won a $1.5 billion contract. And I couldn't even hold the phone, I just blurted out, "I love you guys." Scott Pelley: They saved you. Elon Musk: Yeah, they did.

zizee 12y ago
> Ariane 5 is not the predecessor of Vega. I stand corrected. The point is that the ESA's rocket program is far from flawless as your "3 from 3" post above suggests. >> SpaceX has had an amazing run in comparison to most other platforms. > Clearly that's not the case. From the article, this was a TEST flight. Exploding rockets is an expected part of the development process.
rpedela 12y ago
In that context, NASA was the customer. They didn't bail them out. It wasn't charity.