Replies

I just watched “Return to Space” on Netflix (I know…). It’s a fantastic look at Spacex and the Demo 2 mission that returned Americans to space on an American vehicle. It also provides some great behind the scenes candid views of Elon Musk and the stress he went through as they worked toward manned flight. There are many poignant moments, but number one is when he speaks about how hurt he was by famous NASA astronauts like Armstrong and Cernan speaking against relying upon private space companies during a congressional hearing. He was close to tears, and said it really hurt because those guys were his heroes. He said he just hoped that they would come down and see what Spacex was doing. It was incredibly touching.

The biggest takeaway I got from the program is that Musk is 100% driven by a sincere belief in what he is doing, and that money is secondary. I think he views his fortune as just a resource that allows him to pursue what he truly believes is important. I know some don’t care for him, but I’ve really come to admire him. Aside from Trump, he might be the only other influential, completely sincere person out there right now.

“...he views his fortune as just a resource that allows him to pursue what he truly believes is important.”

Absolutely without a doubt. Can you imagine having the resource to do anything you want, the vision to dream big, and the tenacity to make big things happen? There’s been nobody like him since Edison and Bell.

As long as Musk sticks to LEO missions, he’s not a threat. However, when it comes to missions and tech beyond LEO like the StarShip, its a different story. StarShip has not flown in over 8 months, nor has there been any updates.

Both NASA and Bezos’ Blue Horizons have vested interests in stopping and bankrupting SpaceX. NASA, because of the billions invested in the as-yet-unproven SLS and Artemis projects. Bezos, because he needs the money his also unproven tech would bring, as well as bragging rights over someone (Musk) committed to free speech.

There is also a hint that the Feds and the Intel agencies see Musk as a potential threat to national security for advocating free speech and his bid on Twit exposing the free government backbone that makes it work - built during the 0bama years (”Former Obama era intelligence officials, those who helped construct, organize and assemble the public-private partnership between intelligence data networks and supported social media companies.”) [https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4056753/posts]