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Sir Branson has some B*lls...


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These are great times - yes, i admit it, i´m a huge SciFi Buff. This time it´s been a five minute hop into space. Next it´s going to be a full orbit? This could be a door-opener for many things. I remember a lot of people, especially here in Germany, that criticized and ridiculed him when he made his plans public, he proved them wrong.

Good job, Mr. Branson!

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21 minutes ago, AndreG. said:

These are great times - yes, i admit it, i´m a huge SciFi Buff. This time it´s been a five minute hop into space. Next it´s going to be a full orbit? This could be a door-opener for many things. I remember a lot of people, especially here in Germany, that criticized and ridiculed him when he made his plans public, he proved them wrong.

Good job, Mr. Branson!

next... hypersonic global flights. I am sure they wont be this platform, but going to europe in an hour would be an eye opener.

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5 hours ago, codewritinfool said:

I feel that Bezos is taking a substantially greater risk on his upcoming flight.

Isn’t it the first crewed Blue Origin flight?

…and he is taking his brother too?

Wow.


No irony then that he just stepped down from CEO. 
I wonder what a Amazon Prime member pays for a Blue Origin flight? And I’m paid in full, sooo —

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8 hours ago, babadono said:

Is that one a dem green new deal electric powered gizmos?

Blue Origin claims it is "greener" than VG, that it's exhaust is water vapor. VG only goes to 50 miles (80 km) which the FAA and NASA consider "space", the international standard for "space" is the Karman line (100 km).

 

I have a business acquaintance here in Austin that paid to go to the ISS about 12 years ago (only person to have gone to space, both poles, and the deepest part of the ocean, Marianas Trench). I think he was about the 6th self-funded space tourist, and was about the last until just these upcoming paid flights. Now it has all moved from Star City to West Texas and Las Cruces, New Mexico, which is a good thing. 

 

It's like Hertz and Avis of old, except . . . bigger and faster. 

 

"Light this candle!"

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Some observations.  First, WOW, that really is space.  The sky is black, you can see not only the curvature of the Earth, you can see the thin blue blanket of air that keeps us alive and protected to some extent from solar radiation and some cosmic rays.  Also, "Why is the sky blue?"  Well, it's because air is blue.  All that stuff about Rayleigh scattering and all is overthinking it, like saying "that car is red because its paint absorbs all other colours".  Sure, but for everyday practical purposes, it's red because it's painted red.  Air is such a pale blue that it only becomes noticeable when you can look through a great thickness/distance of it.  It's obvious to see in this video.

 

Second, that's a really roomy spaceship.  I thought it might be like the economy section of an airliner, but it's roomier than First Class, the better to float around in.  Nice!

 

Third, that's the dirtiest-burning rocket I've ever seen!  Is it running on plastic bottles and old tires?  The NASA rockets run on hydrogen and oxygen and produce only water as steam for their exhaust.  Could that have been too complicated or expensive to use on a small spaceship?  Will the actual Enterprise, assuming one is eventually built, have shuttles with rockets that burn as dirty as that?

 

Finally, it was great to see the sheer delight in Richard Branson's face!  He really was The Man at that time.  He made that whole trip possible, by vision, determination, and lots of money, of course.  The world needs people like him, the one in a million, or maybe even one in a billion, who sees what can be done, and does it, even after hearing over and over that it's impossible.

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