See wide (but shallow) media coverage. Nearly certain that the schedule will slip, but dang, so early in Falcon Heavy development cycle. Two tourists. No pilot or 'minder' on board. I can't quite see it.
I'm protected by poverty.....but hey? Why not???? It would be an interesting way to bolster confidence for the self driving car thing that Elon's other company is tinkering with......................................or not?
Uh, no interest. Cages of lab critters would work just as well. Dogs, the puppies would be wonderful. Even cats. Bob Wilson
they can't afford it. these folks want to go. i say, have at it. if i could afford it, i'd find more interesting ways to spend the money.
I wouldn't do it without an experienced crew on board. Apollo 13 comes to mind. Ground crews may come up with solutions but it takes a knowledgeable, cool-headed astronaut on board to physically implement them.
Astronauts don't get paid enough to be space tourists.....even with the Tang and Corvette sponsorships. Besides.....how many experienced lunar astronauts are there that aren't octogenarians?? This isn't science.....or even exploration. It's a sightseeing trip. I'm thinking that there will be one or two SpaceX crew on board at first. Musk's thing is economic. He wants to push the cost of slipping the surly bonds DOWN to the point that it is reachable by humans, and not nation states. If you look at aeronautics, most of the initial development is caused by conflict. Two world wars and a cold war took us from an awkward barely powered, barely controlled 120 foot flight all the way to footprints on the Moon in less than 70 years. BUT....... The reason that almost anybody now can buy a very inexpensive ticket to fly from one side of the globe to the other in about a half a day......is that somebody took the technology and made it profitable. We're not there yet.....but reaching the Moon, or even Mars isn't a national priority anymore because people stopped worrying about things like throw-weight and missile gaps decades ago, and Musk HAS proven that a commercial enterprise pretty much started by one person CAN be profitable at doing the space thing. That's fairly remarkable all by itself, and Musk also has a chance of doing something even more challenging which is to make a new car company out of whole cloth......something that heretofore was even more Sci-Fi than getting footprints all over the Red (Not Russian!) Planet. I personally think that the Lorbit schedule will slip. A lot. However (comma!!!) the landscape is littered with the broken reputations of people who said that "Musk can't do that!!" so I wouldn't bet the Prius on him not getting the job done.....eventually. Besides......what better advertising platform for your car company????
"The reason that almost anybody now can buy a very inexpensive ticket to fly from one side of the globe to the other in about a half a day......is that somebody took the technology and made it profitable." That may be true but with all that innovation they still haven't eliminated the flight crew.
"SpaceX crew on board at first" @6. This is not current plan, although it could change (and sensibly should). Two tourists, having paid for the entire flight, alone six days in a can with windows. Very few buttons to touch, except for communications and environmental systems.
Well, I guess I would just say best of luck. I don't know exactly how I feel about the concept of two private individuals paying to go into space, in totally automated vehicle san's any trained crew. While on first glance it seems somewhat shocking, the idea that a destination as distant and hostile as "space" would be reached by two people evidently relying entirely on an automated system, the more I think about it, the more plausible and perhaps even logical it seems. This isn't the 1960's and 1970's. People that would fit the parameters of being a "Trained Astronaut", familiar with the equipment and process simply really do not exist. Even when "Astronauts" existed, these were very unique individuals, given very specific and unique training, and put in a historically unique situation. I think we tend to apply the psychological concept of abandonment. Two people...untrained..alone in space. But the truth is most large commuter planes, while flying with Pilots, are highly automated. Most of your flight is computer controlled. While this may not be the early space program, it is similarly ground breaking. So I think I need to approach this with new thinking. Again, I'm not sure. It seems nearly the purely emotional human side of me, that seems "worried" about the idea of their NOT being a human representative or pilot. When I logically think it out? The whole project comes with risk. I think everyone, including the paying tourists understand this. I'm honestly just not sure how to quantify that risk in relationship to the benefit or need of a "pilot". I tend to think failure at this level, most often would result in failure that wouldn't really be affected by the presence of an official "pilot". This does mean putting a lot of faith in the equipment, on all levels. But my feeling is also that we've come a long way in that regard from the 1970's and "Apollo 13". Ultimately? Private company, private paying "tourists"...how they execute the operation becomes "private". However, The risks are not hidden. I would expect that part of the "value" of being part of this, IS being a pioneer. Pioneering journeys always come with risk. If they decide and launch this journey? I wish them the best of outcomes. Whether the two tourists are accompanied by a "Astronaut or Pilot" or whether the physical journey is an entirely computer controlled exercise.
Well, I tend to have some faith in SpaceX...a lot of people, money in the project. I'd be more nervous if it was "Uncle Jethro's Rockety Trips to Space Inc". But it does beg the question what standards are applied and what agency applies them and checks?
A week in a very private hotel room, albeit sparsely equipped, with a literally out-of-this-world view, and bragging rights to the moon-high club....what's not to like?
His hybrid is a military tank. It's powered by both diesel and his minions pushing it when they can't get fuel.
