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I know, I know... SpaceX has the reusable rocket that launches and lands on it's landing gear like all the old Sci Fi movies.
It's just... NASA was 'hopping' experimental rockets in the 1970s. The technology was just out of reach then but more money and for research and development might have ushered in the reusable rocket decades sooner.
I'm not knocking the great work the engineers at SpaceX have done, I'm busting Musk's reckless approach to rocketry. Look, I get it. Sometimes you have to fail to find out what you need to know but that's what wind tunnels and other advanced tools help you do before you light up your enormous firecracker.
Yesterday, the Super Heavy launched Starship. Lots of research got done, tons of data collected, the Super Heavy landed in the water and promptly exploded turning about 35 million dollars into scrap metal.
He got cheers and applause. If NASA had done that there would be Congressional hearings and heads would roll. "A waste of taxpayer money!"
*clears throat* Elon is getting tax payer money.
The unfortunate tact is NASA has become a giant job center for special interests. Yeah, we still got some cool science done but it seems that doing science and launching rockets has taken a back seat to providing jobs for Boeing, SpaceX and other companies in certain congressional districts.
Can we bring back the nerds and geeks so we can have launches that *don't* explode?
It's just... NASA was 'hopping' experimental rockets in the 1970s. The technology was just out of reach then but more money and for research and development might have ushered in the reusable rocket decades sooner.
I'm not knocking the great work the engineers at SpaceX have done, I'm busting Musk's reckless approach to rocketry. Look, I get it. Sometimes you have to fail to find out what you need to know but that's what wind tunnels and other advanced tools help you do before you light up your enormous firecracker.
Yesterday, the Super Heavy launched Starship. Lots of research got done, tons of data collected, the Super Heavy landed in the water and promptly exploded turning about 35 million dollars into scrap metal.
He got cheers and applause. If NASA had done that there would be Congressional hearings and heads would roll. "A waste of taxpayer money!"
*clears throat* Elon is getting tax payer money.
The unfortunate tact is NASA has become a giant job center for special interests. Yeah, we still got some cool science done but it seems that doing science and launching rockets has taken a back seat to providing jobs for Boeing, SpaceX and other companies in certain congressional districts.
Can we bring back the nerds and geeks so we can have launches that *don't* explode?
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