Virgin Galactic Branson Flight

[Major Tom]

Mr. Branson's space plane and Mr. Bezos' pop-gun rocket are fun, but that other billionaire is sending humans to the ISS, recovering booster rockets to use again, and currently builds the most powerful rocket in use today. Branson and Bezos may wear the Big Hat, but Mr. Musk has the cattle.

+1

Musk understands the technologies he is using. The other two are primarily businessmen/strategists/figureheads. This is not a criticism of Branson and Bezos by any means. Their achievements are considerable but, as far as space goes, it is clear who is the true visionary.

As far as his personal behavior goes, Musk is a little cringeworthy at times, to the point of almost seeming unstable. I suppose that genius comes at a price!

 

[dak2018]

Snore. A suborbital flight that just barely touched "space". The net result is another toy for the wealthy to bat about.

Would probably be fun to go on, though...

 

[Nick12]

Snore. A suborbital flight that just barely touched "space". The net result is another toy for the wealthy to bat about.

Would probably be fun to go on, though...

Either Tom Cruise and or Justin Beiber when they go will probably shoot a reality video of their adventure.

 

[NW-Bound]

It so happens that yesterday I ran across a video by a YouTuber that I did not know about. It was a good essay about how society would get motivated by technological advances that held promises that turned out to be dubious if we closely examined them. They would not lead to a utopian future that supporters expected, but were rather intended for the elite few to enjoy.

I will not provide a link here, but interested people can find on YouTube easily enough by searching for "Fake Futurism".

An example the author pointed out was that the Tesla Cybertruck with its bullet proof body panels and glass windows would be desirable for protection against a murderous mass, in the manner of the Mad Max scenario. It's the preparation for a few for protection against many, in a bleak future similar to what depicted in The Blade Runner which had superior technological advances which were not affordable to the masses.

 

[tulak]

This would be an interesting brag for the BTD thread, but beyond that, suborbital flights aren't that interesting.

The press loves to play out the battle of the billionaires, but at this point, Musk is the only real player. Bezos has potential, but I've expected a lot more out of Blue Origin. It is great to see that there is private investment happening in this space (sorry). Hopefully Blue Origin can eventually catch-up to SpaceX.

Personally, I'm not interested in going to space until I can hang-out here:

 

[Chuckanut]

Either Tom Cruise and or Justin Beiber when they go will probably shoot a reality video of their adventure.

Soon, Virgin Galactic (a rather presumptuous name, IMO) will have a list of celebrity 'astronauts' that will rival the list of celebrities who have been featured in the AARP magazine. Prius Masarati tells her story of adventure contacting UFO space aliens in Outer Space!!!!! I can hardly wait.

Yes, I admit, if I had a spare $400,000 I might consider a flight.

 

[Car-Guy]

Soon, Virgin Galactic (a rather presumptuous name, IMO) will have a list of celebrity 'astronauts' that will rival the list of celebrities who have been featured in the AARP magazine. Prius Masarati tells her story of adventure contacting UFO space aliens in Outer Space!!!!! I can hardly wait.

Yes, I admit, if I had a spare $400,000 I might consider a flight.

I'd like to go too but not 400k worth.... Maybe 10k. So I may not be around here long enough to see those rates. Heck, I'd even take a coach seat to get a better rate, BUT only since the flight is less than an hour.

 

[Koogie]

The press loves to play out the battle of the billionaires, but at this point, Musk is the only real player. Bezos has potential, but I've expected a lot more out of Blue Origin. It is great to see that there is private investment happening in this space (sorry). Hopefully Blue Origin can eventually catch-up to SpaceX.

I think Peter Beck at Rocket Lab will be a genuine contender once they go public (he should be worth the best part of a billion). Like Musk he is the real deal, a self taught rocket engineer and not just a rich guy playing at rockets and ugly orbital planes (imho).

disclosure: i have a tiny position in VACQ/RKLB.

 

[cyber888]

So, if I hit a jackpot on my stocks .. should I splurge $250,000 on a space trip or buy a $250,000 Lambo ?

https://www.cnn.com/business/live-news/richard-branson-space-flight/index.html


Very cool... Just watched it live (on TV ) That was a quick flight up to about 55 miles. I always "thought" that space began at a higher altitude, but what do I know... Still very cool.

Maybe I should post this in the "Blow that Dough" thread....

 

[Car-Guy]

So, if I hit a jackpot on my stocks .. should I splurge $250,000 on a space trip or buy a $250,000 Lambo ?

I'd bank it.... Lambo's are expensive to maintain...

 

[Nick12]

So, if I hit a jackpot on my stocks .. should I splurge $250,000 on a space trip or buy a $250,000 Lambo ?

Roll the dice, lose your life on a space flight or lose your life driving in the wrong side of town with a new Lambo.

 

[cyber888]

Roll the dice, lose your life on a space flight or lose your life driving in the wrong side of town with a new Lambo.

And if you're just going around town without the space fight or lambo, you could die from Covid or some gun nut. I'll take my chances

 

[audreyh1]

Personally, I'm not interested in going to space until I can hang-out here:

Yeah, I’m still interested in the 2001 A Space Odyssey orbital station.

 

[Chuckanut]

+1

Musk understands the technologies he is using. The other two are primarily businessmen/strategists/figureheads. This is not a criticism of Branson and Bezos by any means. Their achievements are considerable but, as far as space goes, it is clear who is the true visionary.

As far as his personal behavior goes, Musk is a little cringe worthy at times, to the point of almost seeming unstable. I suppose that genius comes at a price!

I was listening to two local newscast talking heads comment on the three billionaires who are into spaceflight. They seemed to think that Branson and Bezos are playing in the same league as Musk. Yea. Right. That's like saying microwaving a frozen store bought turkey pot pie is the same as preparing a Thanksgiving Feast from scratch. I don't criticize B and B. Space travel is hard. Very hard. They deserve a big pat on the back.

 

[Car-Guy]

I was listening to two local newscast talking heads comment on the three billionaires who are into spaceflight. They seemed to think that Branson and Bezos are playing in the same league as Musk. Yea. Right. That's like saying microwaving a frozen store bought turkey pot pie is the same as preparing a Thanksgiving Feast from scratch. I don't criticize B and B. Space travel is hard. Very hard. They deserve a big pat on the back.

Well in Branson's defense, he is only worth about 6 billion... Musk has about 170 to 180 billion so "his "bundle" is bigger" . Not sure what Bezos excuse is... Maybe he's still working through his divorce settlement or maybe as a new retiree he hasn't run FIRECalc yet. Looks to me like he has been "pulling his hair out" worrying about his spend rate.

 

[audreyh1]

They each have their own goals. Branson was fixed on Space Tourism, and he definitely met an important goal there. And to keep at it for 17 years and give that kind of show. Something that is obviously repeatable. Impressive!

Musk has ultimately been focused interplanetary space travel. What's very cool about him is his ability to make intermediate steps commercially viable, develop tons of infrastructure, provide a bunch of launching services at way lower cost, and leverage his own technology (like into Starlink, etc.). And doing a bunch of other stuff at the same time like all the solar technology, battery technology, etc.

Bezos net worth is supposedly the highest at over $200B. I'm not sure where Bezos is or what his goal is. He's been pretty low profile about it. To "develop reusable launch vehicles for civilian and defense purposes" is something SpaceX has already been providing commercially since 2010!!

 

[eytonxav]

I enjoy seeing the private sector pull off stuff like this, although I am still more impressed with Musk's efforts.

 

[Markola]

We’re a “space family” in that my uncle was chief engineer on the Space Shuttle program, so we’ve been immersed and fascinated forever. I enjoy following the billionaires’ achievements but can’t help but wonder, is anyone calculating the pollution and space junk generated by the commercial space age?

 

[ERD50]

For some perspective, the first US spaceflight was Alan Shepard in "Freedom 7" in 1961. It was also sub-orbital, and reached a max altitude of 615,120 feet.

Virgin Galactic maxed out at ~ 282,000 feet altitude.

I'm not inferring anything one way or the other, just a point of comparison.

This is a pretty cool engineering achievement, that took a lot of smart work. Beyond that, well, up to the individual I guess.

-ERD50

 

[audreyh1]

I think the point was for space tourism - get high enough to see the black sky beyond the atmosphere, see the curvature of the earth, and enjoy 4 minutes of weightlessness.

How you “improve” on the overall experience by going higher, who knows. Seems subjective.

 

[Car-Guy]

Very cool... Just watched it live (on TV ) That was a quick flight up to about 55 miles. I always "thought" that space began at a higher altitude, but what do I know... Still very cool.

For some perspective, the first US spaceflight was Alan Shepard in "Freedom 7" in 1961. It was also sub-orbital, and reached a max altitude of 615,120 feet.

That helps me understand why I always thought space "technically" began at a higher altitude... I can remember watching Shepard's sub-orbital flight back in the day and I can recall them saying he reached an altitude of over 100 miles (116.5 miles or 615,120 ft to be a bit more exact)... Somehow, the 100 mile mark stuck in my mind all these years. Now is seems most "authorities" (not all) claim that space begins at 100km (62 miles up)... AKA the Kármán line.

 

[tulak]

And the first man in space went up 327km (204 miles). Sputnik made it to 939km (583 miles).

I wonder what would have been said if they only went to 53 miles (85km)?

I’m guessing there would have been vigorous discussion about who made it to space first. Best to blow through the number to leave no doubt. [emoji2]

The Karman line seems like a reasonable boundary for space, since you have to pick a number. But as with many things, opinions on this will differ.

 

[NW-Bound]

We’re a “space family” in that my uncle was chief engineer on the Space Shuttle program, so we’ve been immersed and fascinated forever. I enjoy following the billionaires’ achievements but can’t help but wonder, is anyone calculating the pollution and space junk generated by the commercial space age?

Pollution and fuel burned? Who cares?

Wait till they let tourists pay for the ride using bitcoins mined with electricity generated by burning coal in Mongolia and Kazakhstan.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

For some perspective, the first US spaceflight was Alan Shepard in "Freedom 7" in 1961. It was also sub-orbital, and reached a max altitude of 615,120 feet.

Virgin Galactic maxed out at ~ 282,000 feet altitude.

I'm not inferring anything one way or the other, just a point of comparison.

This is a pretty cool engineering achievement, that took a lot of smart work. Beyond that, well, up to the individual I guess.

-ERD50

The history books are FULL of "*"s. This will be another example.

 

[CardsFan]

Pollution and fuel burned? Who cares?

Wait till they let tourists pay for the ride using bitcoins mined with electricity generated by burning coal in Mongolia and Kazakhstan.

After all, these people are "special".

I have no problem with what they are doing. I think it will be a benefit to mankind. But don't lecture me on emissions while you are having fun partying in space.