Quote:
Originally Posted by vb993
Great News: Yuri Gagarin first human to journey into outer space in his capsule, Vostok 1 completed one orbit of Earth on 12 April 1961. It's great that American private enterprise has been able to advance to be able to send rockets with humans into space. But, the technology has been available since before 1961. So what is all the nonstop hoopla about sending a lesser journey 60 years later? Seems like these these Billionaires are mostly interested in shooting a rocket into space shaped like a phalanx to boost their self esteem. What are they compensating for with these huge displays?
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Well, yes, and there were computers in 1961, what's the big deal about laptops?
There are a LOT of things to be excited about. Cost per lb of payload is plummeting. Safety of the flight is getting constantly better.
Here is a list of what happened in 1961:
First 1 January
Last 22 December
Total 50
Successes 28
Failures 20
Partial failures 2
So a little better than 50% success rate. I expect not even silly billionaires would pay to ride on one of those.
SpaceX has 1,500 satellites in orbit in just a couple years - now the largest satellite fleet in space, larger than any country. In a few more years they will have 14,000 satellites in space.
SpaceX is a big part of the countries plan to permanently return to the moon with a base, and then to Mars with another permanent base.
Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic are going to be participating in those activities.
SpaceX has had over 100 successful launches, 15 so far this year with 9 in the last 3 weeks.
So, I could say, what's the big deal, Wright Brothers flew in 1903, why all the excitement about Airlines?
The phallic resemblance is funny.
That has been said about every rocket since the V2. Neckties have been a symbol of make dominance for a LONG time and were compares to phallic symbols. Seriously, even the make forefinger has been used by children since before I was a child as a symbol of a *****. Is this really a comment on a senior forum today? I expect the symbology has more to do with the prople seeing it that Musk or Bezos spending billions to build one.