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On Fourth Launch Attempt, SpaceX Falcon 1 Reaches Orbit
xp65 writes with the just-announced success of Elon Musk's SpaceX's long efforts to reach orbit with a privately-developed launching craft: "T+0:08:21 Falcon 1 reached orbital velocity, 5200 m/s Nominal Second stage cut off (SECO) — Falcon 1 has made history as the first privately developed liquid fueled launch vehicle to achieve earth orbit!"
dbullard adds "This was a completely new vehicle — it's not using any previously developed hardware. All developed from scratch. No government supplied hardware, Russian engines, or old ICBM motors. My hat's off to the employees of Space X — all 550 of them. (Note — no 'cast of thousands,' just 550).
They've got video of the entire launch."
Just because there is a Wikipedia article about it, doesn't mean it will even become a reality.
If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
Falcon 1: $7 million/165kg = $42,424/kg
Russian Proton: $85 million/21,600kg = $4,302/kg
The retards saying that Falcon 1 is some revolution in price need to shut the fuck up and check their facts.
Falcon 9 might beat (well, equal) Proton for price/kg if, repeat IF, it ever flies. This joker has got the simplest possible liquid fueled rocket flying after blowing up three of them, it will at least take him a while to figure out how to cluster engines.
But after all this work he will only be able to equal the price of the old Russia stalwart, whats the fucking point? Nobody in their right mind will buy a launch from a billionaire with too much time on his hands when they can choose a far more proven launcher.
If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
It wouldn't be the first think NASA has thrown money at that didn't work out, would it?
And it would of course depend on Musk being able to make Falcon 9 work; far from certain.
If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
Why do you think either will make it?
If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
If you think having a go at people for being corporate fanboys is equivalent to racism, then you really are lost.
If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
The Chinese have spent about 20 times what Musk has (going on what my opponents say) and have come out with more than 20 times the value in terms of their results. You can't even compare three man capsules and spacewalks to launching microsatellites on the same playing field.
He hasn't changed the economics of launching. Dnepr is still cheaper per kg than Falcon 1, and Proton is still cheaper per kg than Falcon 9 - and his price estimates for the latter are an optimistic assessment based on the laughable premise that a guy who didn't know how much thrust his engine would produce in actual flight can somehow get a cluster of 9 engines flying right on the first shot.
China is a developing nation with a space programme that will, when the Shuttle retires, eclipse that of the most powerful nation on Earth. Musk is a billionaire with a useless toy. Totally different situations.
If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
They had the Merlin engine firing on a stand and flight 3 still fucked up, didn't it? Don't pretend to understand such things.
If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
If you are seriously asserting that banks in the United States have anything to do with "private companies" or "free markets", then you're either lying, confused, or uneducated.
-- The act of censorship is always worse than whatever is being censored. Always.
And let me add that the car was not invented in America.
-- Cheers!