SpaceX gets a rocket into orbit

[mattbell]

There are a lot of internet startups... there are a good number of hardware and biotech startups... there are even a lot of alternative energy startups these days. 

However, the domain of space is usually left to enormous companies and governments.  Single missions cost anywhere between hundreds of millions to billions of dollars. 

The closest thing I have to a religion involves celebrating intelligence and wanting it to spread across the universe, and our current situation of having all known intelligence stuck on a single planet that could get toasted by an asteroid or by the stupidity of a few people in power is unsettling.  As a result, I'm very interested in making access to space cheap.

To that end, a small number of well-off individuals have been starting companies that try to apply modern technology to make the process of getting into space much simpler, cheaper, and more reliable.  I was thrilled to hear today that SpaceX, one of those startups, finally got a rocket into orbit. 

This isn't the internet.  This IS rocket science.

Comments

[ferrouswheel.livejournal.com]

"The company's previous test flight, which lost contact with mission controllers after launch on Aug. 2, carried real satellites for NASA and the Department of Defense, along with a portion of the cremated remains of some 200 people, including Mercury Seven astronaut Gordon Cooper and Star Trek's James Doohan, who played engineer Montgomery Scott"

eek, I wonder if losing two satellites and a bunch of dead people annoyed anyone?

Good on them for managing to do another test flight though. Probably a good plan to use fake payloads to begin with!

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking that from the perspective of a company that wants a satellite in orbit, the cost of building a second satellite may be cheaper than paying for a more reliable launch vehicle. (I assume they get their launch costs refunded if the rocket crashes)

[ferrouswheel.livejournal.com]

That makes sense. I think the dead peoples ashes may be slightly emotionally charged though.

I guess they at least got shot up really high, even if they can't confirm their orbit.

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

Actually, it's only a small fraction of their ashes due to the high cost of launching a significant mass, so they could always send up their ashes *again*.