I love space. Growing up, I read every astronomy book I could find, plus a lot of science fiction novels. My dream was always growing up in a world where we can travel to extraterrestrial destinations and maybe even live on other planets or stat systems.
I am watching the Virgin Galactic livestream right now. Their ship, Unity, is currently at 40,000 feet and climbing to launch height. If you step back and look at the big picture, it is pretty cool since it is something new: space tourism. However, as you listen to the livecast, it is very disappointing. Basically they keep talking about astronauts and access to space and the beginning of a new era. This is PR at its worst. Sure it is new and cool, but this is not space. I believe they had to redefine “space” as 80 km, whereas traditionally space was defined as 100 km up. This is nothing more than a glorified amusement ride. You go up in a parabolic flight path, glide at 80 km for a few minutes, and come back to land. Again, pretty cool, but nowhere meeting the expectations set by the extravagant advertising copy.
I include Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin in this too. Instead of working more on real access to space (New Glenn, BE-4 engine), they are also doing this space tourism bullshit. Again, nothing against space tourism. It is really cool but it is a thrill ride for rich people. If you cannot get to orbit or escape velocity, you are not doing anything to help space travel or exploration. Seriously, you cannot call it space “travel” if you are not going anywhere. It is like me taking a commercial flight from SNA to LAX (~50 miles). That is not travel.
Ugh. 90% hype, 10% engineering. So disappointing.
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Now they are talking about re-entry and heat shields. VG’s ship top speed is about Mach 3. A SR-71’s top speed is Mach 3.2 at a much lower altitude so denser air (more friction).
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Double ugh.
“Remember where you are today!”
“something something leaving the Earth”
I have moved from disappointed to disgusted.
Life with chronic diseases 