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1 day 21 hours ago SpaceX did not deliver on its

SpaceX did not deliver on its original schedule. They had technical issues, launch failures, and overruns just like everyone else. There is nothing magical about SpaceX. There is certainly nothing magical about Elon Musk - he is not Tony Stark, despite his awkward cameo in Iron Man 2.



At the core, they are still just launching chemical rockets not significantly different from those of the 1960s.



Their main innovation is a cost reduction of a factor of 2-3, but that's precisely the goal they've yet to prove, because they have yet to start launching paying customers at anything close to the rate their cost projections assume. They also have not demonstrated the reusability that is supposedly a key aspect of their low-cos approach.



They have a great chance to be a successful business. They've already had some impressive technical accomplishments. But to say they've "smashed the old business model" is pure propaganda, because they've yet to do anything of the sort. I hope they succeed, but this is still a very very early step in that process.



Lockheed, Boeing, and big NASA rockets will still be with us for the next couple decades at a minimum. That's the most likely reality, even though it's not the preferred one for us space geeks.

1 day 22 hours ago Again though, being the

Again though, being the vanguard of space exploration doesn't pay the bills. Private industry has the technical ability to send people to the moon and beyond, but using the funding for a publicly traded company to do it without a clear business goal would be fiduciary irresponsibility of the highest order.



In order to make space flight routine, which Elon claims as his goal, you need to make it a business. Going places for the sake of going there is cool, but there's a reason Steve Jobs meant more to the world than Steve Fossett.

1 day 22 hours ago It's not a left vs right

It's not a left vs right thing. It's an entrenched interests thing - congressional members with former shuttle assets in their districts (both democrat and republican) are strongly opposed to anything that might threaten continued employment for those shuttle employees, even if that means a less effective space program with fewer total jobs.



Pork is non-partisan.

1 day 23 hours ago But keep up in what way? The

But keep up in what way? The question isn't whether SpaceX is winning the PR battle with the public (they clearly are). The question is whether that battle is worth fighting in the first place. Because the reality is that the public can't buy what SpaceX sells.



I do think there is some value in PR in that it may put pressure on NASA to support commercial space flight. But it will be very very tough to supplant the entrenched interests of the former shuttle suppliers who currently have their congress critters shoving the SLS down NASA's throat.

2 days 24 min ago SpaceX has made some great

SpaceX has made some great technical strides. But before we start touting the death of the "old" business model, we should wait a few years. After all, SpaceX has only delivered one "operational" mission to orbit, and this launch is only the second flight of the Falcon 9 with a functional payload.



SpaceX is advertising a low price for their launchers - but actually turning maintainable profit margin at that price will require reusability and a high launch rate. These are significant hurdles that SpaceX has yet to meet. Not saying they won't just that gloating is premature.



It's also worth noting that launch costs are only a small part of space mission cost. Generally, the satellites on top of a rocket are worth much more than the rocket, so saving a few tens of millions on the launcher may not be the customer's biggest concern.



The shuttle was supposed to be really cheap. Pegasus (the first privately developed space launcher) was supposed to be really cheap. Both rose significantly in cost because the launch rate was lower than predicted and it turned out that customers wanted a lot more mission assurance and unique engineering on each vehicle, and that costs a.lot of money. Elon is not the first guy to think he was smarter than everyone else in the industry. So I wish him luck, but some patience and humility is still in order.

2 days 42 min ago At least until Elon gets

At least until Elon gets bored of it like Tesla... I kid (I think?) ;)
2 days 45 min ago Elon has a PR machine aimed

Elon has a PR machine aimed at the general public, which is a novel strategy. The reason nobody else has done it is because the general public doesn't buy space launch services - generally it makes more sense to advertise to your potential customers. Time will tell if it pays off, but such a strategy would probably be a tough sell at a publicly traded company. Make of that what you will.

2 days 55 min ago Well space x is on contract

Well space x is on contract to make this same vehicle carry people. And it also supplies people on the ISS, so it actually has a great deal to do with manned space flight.

5 days 18 hours ago The idea that players are the

The idea that players are the only ones whose happiness matters is silly. At a minimum, the other students ought to matter, and since the fans and alums support the program, they ought to have a say too. Anyway as cool as travel is, a semifinal in front of a half-empty nfl stadium crowd is pretty lame compared to a game at the Big House, and I suspect that that is equally true for both the athletes and the fans.
5 days 18 hours ago #LongstreetWasRight

#LongstreetWasRight
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