Business Beats Government AGAIN
Elon Musk, SpaceX and Why They're Getting Things Done When NASA Can't
SpaceX launched Starship for the third time yesterday. Although it was only considered to be a test launch, things went amazingly well for most of the flight. Starship reached orbit following a successful separation of its first stage. which went flawlessly. The landing ending up being problematic for both halves of the spacecraft, with the booster making a much harder than preferred splashdown and the primary part of Starship reportedly undergoing “rapid, unscheduled disassembly” as it approached its own splashdown point.
While everything didn’t go perfectly, this is a huge technical achievement. Elon Musk and his team have accomplished something no one else has: They have put the world's largest spaceship in orbit. They have made parts of it work, to include a fuel transfer in space and opening the cargo bay doors in space, which will be important for future missions. It was overall a good day, especially since SpaceX accepts that things will go wrong and intentionally pushes their test craft until they fail.
Contrast this with NASA’s Space Launch System, which is bragging about painting logos on their boosters.
Seriously. Musk who, though rich beyond dreams of avarice, doesn’t have anywhere near the resources of the United States Government, has managed to put Starship in orbit three times while NASA has attempted a single test launch. And yes, SpaceX has received both tax subsidies from the US government and direct orders for launches from both American and foreign governments, but calling Musk’s operation a “government” operation is a joke. And the fact is that in a comparison of progress made, SpaceX leaves NASA not just beaten, but embarrassed.
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