Elon Musk's SpaceX Offers Low-Cost Rockets

HobbySpacer writes "The cover article of the latest issue of Aviation Week looks at SpaceX and how its Falcon line of rockets threatens to shake up the space launch industry. Founded by Elon Musk, who also started PayPal, SpaceX is developing the Falcon I (first flight this summer) and Falcon V (first flight in 2005) that will cost as little as 20-30% of what competitors like Orbital Sciences and Boeing charge for comparable vehicles."

Comments

When does the price drop enough for tourists?

[Anonymous Coward]

'cause then.. we can have the ultimate motivation for human endeavour.. profit!

Re:Intense Specs

[Kaa]

Previously mentoned on /. about how some gears were in backwards yet never broke is an example of how tough the specs are.

Mmm... no. That's not about specs, it's an example of how NOT to design mechanical parts.

These gears could be put in two ways, the right way was non-obvious, and when put in the wrong way, the gears more-or-less work (so the problem doesn't show up during testing) until the time of unusual stress.

This really should be a textbook case of how not to do things.