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SpaceX successfully flies Mars prototype rocket for the first time
CNBC ^ | 7/26/19 | Michael Sheetz

Posted on 07/26/2019 6:01:42 AM PDT by Moonman62

SpaceX launched and landed its Starhopper rocket in its first flight, a short test that saw the company take a giant leap forward in its development of a next-generation rocket that it hopes will take people to the moon and Mars.

The rocket is the prototype for SpaceX’s vehicle called Starship. The company is building the enormous rocket to achieve its goal of transporting up to 100 people in the space flights.

“Starhopper flight successful,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said in a tweet.

Musk posted a video SpaceX took of Thursday’s flight test from a flying drone nearby. The flight took place at SpaceX’s facility in Boca Chica Beach, Texas.

(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: elonmusk; falcon9; falconheavy; mars; musk; spacex
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After many years this means the most advanced rocket engine in the world is made in the USA, not Russia. The Starhopper uses SpaceX's Raptor engine.
1 posted on 07/26/2019 6:01:42 AM PDT by Moonman62
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To: Moonman62

Musk is pushing our lame bureaucracy at NASA to actually DO something since 50 years ago we made it to the moon. We should have kept up the manned exploration outside of low earth orbit.
Bezos and Branson are playing with toys, Lockheed is a decade behind, and SpaceX is showing them that if they tried to push harder, they would make real progress.
NASA needs to accept that they are a bloated problem.


2 posted on 07/26/2019 6:14:40 AM PDT by King_Corey (Buy American - https://madeinamericastore.com/)
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To: King_Corey

SpaceX is driven by results.

NASA is driven by politicians who desire to buy votes with the money they approve for space exploration.


3 posted on 07/26/2019 6:31:47 AM PDT by Moonman62 (Charity comes from wealth.)
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To: SunkenCiv

*ping*


4 posted on 07/26/2019 6:42:17 AM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (Who will think of the gerbils ? Just say no to Buttgiggity !)
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To: Moonman62

Soon there’s going to be a million people here droning away about public welfare sucking Elon, blah, blah, blah.

And he DOES profit from gummint largesse, he really does.

Ya know, as far as FAT goes, I’d say Elon is really creating jobs and pushing America ahead.

As far as the fat chopping block goes I’d say Elon’s neck should be at the verrrry end of the line.


5 posted on 07/26/2019 6:58:46 AM PDT by gaijin
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To: King_Corey

Yup!

NASA is the post office, Elon is FedEx.


6 posted on 07/26/2019 6:59:47 AM PDT by gaijin
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To: gaijin

They won’t say a word about the billions that Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) has already wasted on SLS.


7 posted on 07/26/2019 7:02:57 AM PDT by Moonman62 (Charity comes from wealth.)
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To: Moonman62
Too bad it looks like a flying garbage can.
I guess not all spaceships have to look sleek, sexy and aerodynamic.
But I'm happy every time they launch something without Russian lettering.

8 posted on 07/26/2019 7:14:25 AM PDT by BitWielder1 (I'd rather have Unequal Wealth than Equal Poverty.)
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To: gaijin

Well, here’s the thing. I am rooting for private space exploration. I want Space X to succeed.

But I am very skeptical of anything Elon Musk is connected with.


9 posted on 07/26/2019 7:24:17 AM PDT by jdsteel (Americans are Dreamers too!!!)
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To: BitWielder1

Too bad it looks like a flying garbage can.

...

It’s a test rocket done at low cost that will not fly more than a few thousand feet. The bad look is a good thing. The engine and the ability to takeoff, maneuver, and land are the real stars. It was put together in a few months. Compare that to a government project.


10 posted on 07/26/2019 7:48:15 AM PDT by Moonman62 (Charity comes from wealth.)
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To: jdsteel

I’m interested in WHY.
I see the TESLA cars on the road every day. Still being build, and sold.
I see rockets fired into space, like YESTERDAY. And more testing and innovation.
I see holes actually being bored in the ground.
I see flamethrowers have been sold and delivered.

Is he right on everything? Hell no, but is he trying to do something more than a stupid hedge fund, YES.

I give the guy credit, he fails, but it doesn’t keep him down. That our government gives him money because he is doing stuff, making big changes, trying, I can’t fault the guy.

Give me any other name, ANY, just one, who you think is doing as much as Elon Musk to advance multiple courses of science that takes zero federal or tax dollars. I’ll wait.


11 posted on 07/26/2019 7:50:15 AM PDT by King_Corey (Buy American - https://madeinamericastore.com/)
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To: jdsteel

The one where even I would agree with you was the:

“Hyper tunnel”

There were all these people ooh’ing and aaah’ing. Cameras and flash-bulbs, sexy chicks and music. It was other-wordly.

OVER A FREAKING TUNNEL.

It was so ordinary they had to doll it up with glowing neon lights, to give it that “tech” feel.

I couldn’t believe it. It was clearly a run-of-the-mill tunnel, meh, I’d say maybe a bit more precise, even the car inside footage did still reveal a pretty good amount of shake.

The rockets and Tesla stuff I totally love, but.....that TUNNEL stuff with credulous people having orgasms....that gave me the chills.

I made one in the snow when I was 6 years old but no one threw money at me.


12 posted on 07/26/2019 7:50:17 AM PDT by gaijin
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To: jdsteel

Are you skeptical of the media that almost always portrays Musk in the most negative way like they do with President Trump?


13 posted on 07/26/2019 7:52:44 AM PDT by Moonman62 (Charity comes from wealth.)
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To: gaijin

I made one in the snow when I was 6 years old but no one threw money at me.

...

Why don’t you compete with your own tunnel company that doesn’t do any promotion?

Musk and Trump are big promoters and very successful. Maybe they’ve figured out how to win in a capitalist system.


14 posted on 07/26/2019 7:56:36 AM PDT by Moonman62 (Charity comes from wealth.)
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To: King_Corey

I give the guy credit, he fails, but it doesn’t keep him down.

...

A book by Scott Adams:

How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life

https://www.amazon.com/How-Fail-Almost-Everything-Still-ebook/dp/B00COOFBA4


15 posted on 07/26/2019 8:04:12 AM PDT by Moonman62 (Charity comes from wealth.)
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To: King_Corey

“I’m interested in WHY.”

If you are truly interested I’ll tell you.

Tesla, as a company, hasn’t ever made a dollar profit on an annual basis since it started. Musk has over promised and under delivered over and over and over again.

I know people who own Teslas. One guy had his car in need of “repair” (all software issues) 3 times. The first 2 times they trailered it to another state (pulled by an F350). The 3rd time they flew a tech guy out from CA to PA. What kind of money they lost on that I’ll never know.

Don’t get into an accident if you buy one. Replacement body parts can take months. It’s all on the owners forums, too.

Don’t get me started on the battery...or the stock.

Enough?


16 posted on 07/26/2019 8:13:20 PM PDT by jdsteel (Americans are Dreamers too!!!)
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To: jdsteel

Elon Musk didn’t actually start Tesla—engineers Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning were the originators in 2003. Elon Musk, J. B. Straubel and Ian Wright invested some money a year later, with majority investor Musk selected as Chairman.


17 posted on 07/27/2019 12:33:15 AM PDT by Ozark Tom
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To: Ozark Tom

Your point?


18 posted on 07/27/2019 3:40:03 PM PDT by jdsteel (Americans are Dreamers too!!!)
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To: jdsteel

So yeah, it seems pretty shallow IMHO. (Not you but the analysis)
Your people who own them, okay, don’t buy one. You want a profit? Okay, don’t buy his stock. TESLA is publicly traded, so not an issue if you don’t want to participate it sound a lot like you are hunting for reasons to not like him or his companies.

Full disclosure, I think electric cars are a stupid idea, the batteries are toxic garbage that have no life span.
I don’t own and won’t own TESLA stock. I work in the power/electric/grid industry and think windmills and electric cars are junk messing up the system.

I think the power wall is garbage as well as they will end up burning people’s homes down.

But for the most part the guy is trying to innovate. Unlike 99% of the wealthy in the world who sit on their ass and do nothing. Bill Gates went and did ONE thing Microsoft, then purchased everything with the windfall.
That idiot Mark Cuban has a big mouth, but only invests in other people’s ideas because he doesn’t have an original thought in his head. Jeff Bezos is the same, kinda wants to be innovative, but really just hit an idea, but someone is going to knock him off soon too. Same for Branson, wants to be something in aerospace and a follower like a bunch of others. They are not on the front line trying to do something. I admire that in MUSK, even if they are wrong.

So yeah, I’d say you have low opinions of others, and my second question still stands.

If you don’t like Elon Musk, who is it out there doing the hard work with their billions and trying to make a change? I’d like a name or two. Really serious, not harsh or dismissive, just want to know who I should be following that I may have missed.


19 posted on 07/29/2019 4:48:06 AM PDT by King_Corey (Buy American - https://madeinamericastore.com/)
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To: King_Corey

So you’re looking for a hero?

The real ones are the folks you never hear about. From the team of folks who made cell phones a reality to the dude that came up with the idea for Velcro. Or Viagra.

I don’t hate Musk. I just realize he’s a modern day P.T. Barnum..


20 posted on 07/29/2019 5:46:35 AM PDT by jdsteel (Americans are Dreamers too!!!)
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