I think that Peggy Fossett - Steve's wife, would rather know what has happened to him, for better or for worse. So I prefer looking for Steve than looking for Galaxies that nobody else really cares about...
Re:The winds were NOT very high this morning....
on
Steve Fossett Missing
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· Score: 2, Interesting
Also hope they find Steve...
Steve also often wears a Breitling 'Emergency' watch that transmits on an emergency waveband when you pull the crown out. That obviously requires him to be conscious enough to do it.
It's particularly amazing that something like this can happen to Steve, given his unbelievable amount of experience under extreme avaiation conditions including several emergencies.
Steve is the most thorough, and conscientious of flyers who leaves nothing to chance, and is actually very risk-averse.
Richard Branson was just on the news pointing out the irony of an accident when just out flying, as opposed to being on some huge feat of endeavour.
What if you could download an album... if you liked it and want to keep it in your collection, pay a few extra bucks and they send you the CD? Total cost: the cost of a CD!
That way, you get to try it out and get all the instant access of download, but none of the risk of buying a hyped album that turns out to be a bunch of cack!
Fair view on life!.. and so I guess by your definition Burt must be a REAL master of hype.
Also, you can't be familiar with the Virgin group too much if you think that Burt is the hype master.
... however, this is a Virgin project that's not hype; even though half of slashdor seems to think it's a hoax! Only one way to find out.. and I'll bet even money that most of those who think it's a hoax still put their name down on the site!
Yes, fair point, they don't mention that other non government funded people have sent stuff into space; but this a very recent phenomenon. The site you sent through only made it into space this year; however, as you say, there are lots of civilians (probably) who have managed to put enough rocket booster into a tube and keep it stable enough to get 62 miles up... that's not really the point though.
Anything that was capable of doing anything sensible, such as satellite launching, carrying people, etc. has historically had the support of the government. Whether that's direct or military. Even solely commercial ventures have been launched using the craft or technology developed by governments.
I don't know the precise event that ended this monopoloy absolutely, but in terms of being able to carry people into space, I believe Burt Rutan ended that government monopoly on June 21st 2004.
The cost per seat is the other interesting thing. In the history of space travel there have been about 500 astronauts (people who have gone into space - not pilots). The typical cost per astronaut is something like $50million.
Why's that interesting or relevant to this thread? Well, when you get governments doing stuff,.. it's expensive. When you keep it simple and give it to private enterprise, it's relatively cheap and gives good value for money.
So far.. space travel has been expensive because it was run by governments. Now that private enterprise has their hands on it, things like space tourism through Virgin Galactic (and others) and satellite launching through the likes of Canadian Arrow, become 'affordable'. Not to you and me maybe,.. but to go from $50m per seat to $200k is a step in the right direction.
Last point,... interestingly NASA classify space as starting 50 miles up... but the X-Prize and others classify it as 62 miles... perhaps they really do want us mere mortals to get there without them!
There haven't been any truly commercial spaceflights before these ones. All previous spaceflights have had government funding, even if their purpose was commercial e.g. putting a satellite into orbit.
SS1's 21 june flight was the first 'private' manned space flight. i.e. no gov't funding, and certainly the first non-government trained (note I didn't say 'civilian') astronaut.
They do say,... your life is never the same again after you see the earth from up there (buzz aldrin amongst others).
Anyway, after the novelty has worn off for the few thousand Americans who get to go, there's always the other 559 and a half million to try it out on. Oh, and the rest of the world...
High speed intercontinental flights won't go into space though... not really anyway. They'll skip across the top of the atmosphere like a stone on a pond.
You'd get black sky and all that, but no weightlessness and not the same view!
You might as well teleport!... wait a minute, there's a useful invention...
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I think that Peggy Fossett - Steve's wife, would rather know what has happened to him, for better or for worse. So I prefer looking for Steve than looking for Galaxies that nobody else really cares about...
Also hope they find Steve...
Steve also often wears a Breitling 'Emergency' watch that transmits on an emergency waveband when you pull the crown out. That obviously requires him to be conscious enough to do it.
It's particularly amazing that something like this can happen to Steve, given his unbelievable amount of experience under extreme avaiation conditions including several emergencies.
Steve is the most thorough, and conscientious of flyers who leaves nothing to chance, and is actually very risk-averse.
Richard Branson was just on the news pointing out the irony of an accident when just out flying, as opposed to being on some huge feat of endeavour.
Actually NASA call 'space' 50 miles up. The X-Prize foundation though classify it as 62 miles up (100km)
What if you could download an album... if you liked it and want to keep it in your collection, pay a few extra bucks and they send you the CD? Total cost: the cost of a CD!
That way, you get to try it out and get all the instant access of download, but none of the risk of buying a hyped album that turns out to be a bunch of cack!
Would anyone do that?
:-)
... however, this is a Virgin project that's not hype; even though half of slashdor seems to think it's a hoax! Only one way to find out.. and I'll bet even money that most of those who think it's a hoax still put their name down on the site!
Fair view on life!.. and so I guess by your definition Burt must be a REAL master of hype.
Also, you can't be familiar with the Virgin group too much if you think that Burt is the hype master.
Yes, fair point, they don't mention that other non government funded people have sent stuff into space; but this a very recent phenomenon. The site you sent through only made it into space this year; however, as you say, there are lots of civilians (probably) who have managed to put enough rocket booster into a tube and keep it stable enough to get 62 miles up... that's not really the point though.
:)
Anything that was capable of doing anything sensible, such as satellite launching, carrying people, etc. has historically had the support of the government. Whether that's direct or military. Even solely commercial ventures have been launched using the craft or technology developed by governments.
I don't know the precise event that ended this monopoloy absolutely, but in terms of being able to carry people into space, I believe Burt Rutan ended that government monopoly on June 21st 2004.
The cost per seat is the other interesting thing. In the history of space travel there have been about 500 astronauts (people who have gone into space - not pilots). The typical cost per astronaut is something like $50million.
Why's that interesting or relevant to this thread? Well, when you get governments doing stuff,.. it's expensive. When you keep it simple and give it to private enterprise, it's relatively cheap and gives good value for money.
So far.. space travel has been expensive because it was run by governments. Now that private enterprise has their hands on it, things like space tourism through Virgin Galactic (and others) and satellite launching through the likes of Canadian Arrow, become 'affordable'. Not to you and me maybe,.. but to go from $50m per seat to $200k is a step in the right direction.
Last point,... interestingly NASA classify space as starting 50 miles up... but the X-Prize and others classify it as 62 miles... perhaps they really do want us mere mortals to get there without them!
What exactly is bullpuckey anyway?
There haven't been any truly commercial spaceflights before these ones. All previous spaceflights have had government funding, even if their purpose was commercial e.g. putting a satellite into orbit. SS1's 21 june flight was the first 'private' manned space flight. i.e. no gov't funding, and certainly the first non-government trained (note I didn't say 'civilian') astronaut.
They do say,... your life is never the same again after you see the earth from up there (buzz aldrin amongst others). Anyway, after the novelty has worn off for the few thousand Americans who get to go, there's always the other 559 and a half million to try it out on. Oh, and the rest of the world...
High speed intercontinental flights won't go into space though... not really anyway. They'll skip across the top of the atmosphere like a stone on a pond. You'd get black sky and all that, but no weightlessness and not the same view! You might as well teleport!... wait a minute, there's a useful invention...
How many of the 500 people who are currently called 'astronauts' actually piloted their rockets, and how many were simply strapped to them?!!
Apparently the trains were always on time under Mussolini...
I'm guessing they don't quietly bin something they've already spent millions on...