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Richard Branson and Burt Rutan Form Spacecraft Building Company
Space.comn ^ | July 27, 2005 | Leonard David

Posted on 07/27/2005 1:32:13 PM PDT by Young Werther

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To: r9etb
More than a few more bucks -- more like several hundred million, and probably more than a billion. There's a huge difference between suborbital skyrockets and reusable orbital vehicles.

I disagree. You are thinking in terms of government spending.

21 posted on 07/27/2005 3:13:16 PM PDT by ElkGroveDan (I'm sick and tired of being sicked and tired!)
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To: ElkGroveDan
You are thinking in terms of government spending.

About the cheapest launchers that can carry astronauts are made in China, with the Russians not far behind. About $20 million for the throw-away kind. The Space Shuttle is still the only kind that is remotely considered reusable, but the cost per launch is about 20 times what it was supposed to be. $10 per pound is not a bad goal.

22 posted on 07/27/2005 3:30:45 PM PDT by RightWhale (Substance is essentially the relationship of accidents to itself)
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To: Phsstpok

I see.... and what exactly do you DO in your job with NASA?


23 posted on 07/27/2005 4:05:48 PM PDT by ElkGroveDan (I'm sick and tired of being sicked and tired!)
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To: RightWhale
>About the cheapest launchers that can carry astronauts are made in China, with the Russians not far behind. About $20 million for the throw-away kind. The Space Shuttle is still the only kind that is remotely considered reusable, but

"American Antigravity was founded in 2002 to identify and develop key Antigravity technologies, and has rapidly evolved into a collaborative project involving hundreds of scientists, engineers, and inventors located around the globe. Our goal is to provide networking, educational, and funding resources to benefit the community... "

24 posted on 07/27/2005 4:13:33 PM PDT by theFIRMbss
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To: ElkGroveDan; Admin Moderator
I see.... and what exactly do you DO in your job with NASA?

Ooooooo, pithy and 100% accurate and on point.

You devastatingly dealt with the inconvenient facts of the pieces falling off of Voyager. I stand corrected. Nothing ever falls off of a Rutan craft. Rutan's own statements to the contrary must therefore be total lies.

Your detailed response to my assertion that machines of all types have pieces fall off is equally devastating. I stand corrected. No machine (other than one built by NASA) has ever failed in the history of human endeavor, let along flight or (God forbid) experimental or test aircraft. The thousands of test pilots (both government and private) who have lost their lives teaching humanity to fly and reach beyond the atmosphere are mere figments of my imagination.

And your scathing, detailed and logical response to my observations about reality not being perfect are right on. There has never been anything happen, to anyone, ever, that was not the fault of some NASA cretin.

And you are also correct in implying that I must, in fact, be a NASA employee dispatched to FreeRepublic in order to fend off any criticism of that institution.

I am the public affairs officer in charge of dealing with ...

In defference to the Admin Mods I will reserve the final part of my official title. It would get me banned.

Feel free to speculate amongst yourselves.

25 posted on 07/27/2005 4:15:33 PM PDT by Phsstpok (There are lies, damned lies, statistics and presentation graphics, in descending order of truth)
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To: ElkGroveDan

I sat next to his son on a cross country commercial flight and had one heck of a good time learning about Mr. Burt Rutan.


26 posted on 07/27/2005 4:19:13 PM PDT by onyx ((Vicksburg, MS)) Pope John Paul II - May 18, 1920 - April 2, 2005 = SANTO SUBITO!)
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To: Phsstpok
You devastatingly dealt with the inconvenient facts of the pieces falling off of Voyager. I stand corrected. Nothing ever falls off of a Rutan craft.

I'm sure things do fall off Rutan's craft, but it doesn't cost taxpayers a dime when that happens.

27 posted on 07/27/2005 4:19:21 PM PDT by ElkGroveDan (I'm sick and tired of being sicked and tired!)
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To: Phsstpok
>And you are also correct in implying that I must, in fact, be a NASA employee dispatched to FreeRepublic . . .

Cool! Say, hey, is this
a real picture of that face
on Mars NASA made?!

28 posted on 07/27/2005 4:19:48 PM PDT by theFIRMbss
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To: theFIRMbss

I would vote for ascending gracefully into orbit without the volcanic excitement of not know if the whole thing will come apart in a firebasll any instant.


29 posted on 07/27/2005 4:20:24 PM PDT by RightWhale (Substance is essentially the relationship of accidents to itself)
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To: theFIRMbss

>And you are also correct in implying that I must, in fact, be a NASA employee dispatched to FreeRepublic . . .

I can see that there are going to be LONG ramifacations of my (so far unchallenged) sarcastic response.

I do have the honor of having been a correspondent with several senior NASA people in years past, including senior program managers and one of the youngest gentleman who accompanied Von Braun from Peenemuende to NASA. I've even been privelaged to meet two of the men who have walked on the Moon and see six of the others who have traveled there.

I am not, however, a NASA employee, regardless of my previous comic statement. I wish to dissuade anyone from thinking that was a serious comment.

That skull, on the other hand, is bitchin'.

They've been lying to us all along, haven't they? Cynthia McKinney (or whatever liberal dim whack job it was) was right about us already having landed on Mars?

I knew I'd been duped. Where are my Von Daniken books?


30 posted on 07/27/2005 4:27:58 PM PDT by Phsstpok (There are lies, damned lies, statistics and presentation graphics, in descending order of truth)
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To: Young Werther; shadowman99; theFIRMbss; Mr. Lucky; Kevin OMalley; demlosers; Irish_Thatcherite; ...

Check it out. A NASA PR hack has jumped in to this thread to trash Burt Rutan and free enterprise in space.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1451791/posts?page=25#25


31 posted on 07/27/2005 4:28:11 PM PDT by ElkGroveDan (I'm sick and tired of being sicked and tired!)
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To: RightWhale
>I would vote for ascending gracefully into orbit without the volcanic excitement


Cavorite, baby!
The British really have it.
It's true. They're OUT THERE

bouncing back and forth
through the solar system and
we play rocket games . . .

32 posted on 07/27/2005 4:28:22 PM PDT by theFIRMbss
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To: theFIRMbss

"three thousand stadia from the earth to the moon . . . Marvel not, my comrades, if I appear talking to you on super-terrestrial and aerial topics. The long and the short of the matter is that I am running over the order of a Journey I have lately made."
--LUCIEN'S Icaromenippus.

H. G. Wells


33 posted on 07/27/2005 4:35:42 PM PDT by RightWhale (Substance is essentially the relationship of accidents to itself)
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To: Phsstpok
>I am not, however, a NASA employee...


Oh, damn. Well, are you
someone else that is cool? Are
you Jim Morrison?!

34 posted on 07/27/2005 4:35:42 PM PDT by theFIRMbss
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To: Phsstpok
A. Nobody cares.

B. Probably an innappropriate time and place for a government employee to cop too smarmy an attitude.

35 posted on 07/27/2005 4:36:35 PM PDT by Mr. Lucky
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To: Phsstpok
Re: Stuff happens. Get over it. Perfection isn't possible.

You do. You find flaws. You fix them. You do again. If you're smart enough and persistent enough you succeed.

How come NASA and George Bush have to be perfect in all that they do, but the "great society" can have a 40 year record of 100% failure and it just sails happily along?

We will go. We will succeed. We will lose more on the way. It is the price of being alive.

You took the words right out of my mouth...

Gad! Had we started acted this "Oh my God, it crashed!" way just after the Wright Brothers took off, we'd still be waiting for the first bi-plane to fly from LA to Sana Monica!

36 posted on 07/27/2005 4:40:14 PM PDT by sonofatpatcher2 (Texas, Love & a .45-- What more could you want, campers? };^)
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To: sonofatpatcher2
>Had we started acted this "Oh my God, it crashed!" way just after the Wright Brothers took off

Orville and Wilbur
paid their own way. But there was
a government team

working on a plane.
It never flew. Big surprise.
Private enterprise . . .

37 posted on 07/27/2005 4:46:04 PM PDT by theFIRMbss
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To: VA_Gentleman

" Ridiculous yachts and private planes and big limousines won’t make people enjoy life more, and it sends out terrible messages to the people who work for them. It would be so much better if that money was spent in Africa – and it’s about getting a balance. "

Richard Branson - Life - Philanthropy - Money -


38 posted on 07/27/2005 4:47:42 PM PDT by sushiman
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To: Mr. Lucky
B. Probably an innappropriate time and place for a government employee to cop too smarmy an attitude.

ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding

We have the CLUELESS award winner of the night.

Re-read the posts. Eventually, you'll catch on. Honestly. No one can be that clueless and still function as a living organism.

39 posted on 07/27/2005 4:52:38 PM PDT by Phsstpok (There are lies, damned lies, statistics and presentation graphics, in descending order of truth)
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To: sushiman
>"Ridiculous yachts and private planes and big limousines won’t make people enjoy life more...


That's true. But I bet
I could enjoy life more on
a sensible yacht . . .

40 posted on 07/27/2005 4:54:02 PM PDT by theFIRMbss
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