12.09.10
What the SpaceX Falcon 9 Launch Success Means to America
Yesterday morning, SpaceX successfully launched their Falcon 9 rocket and accompanying Dragon capsule into orbit, and safely brought Dragon back home. This was COTS Demonstration I, which means they are proving to NASA that they are capable of launching and maneuvering cargo (and eventually astronauts) into orbit and to the International Space Station.
This mission is paramount because the Space Shuttle program is being decommissioned and we’re going to have to rely on Russian Soyuz rockets to get astronauts and cargo to the ISS. America needs to act fast, and SpaceX is stepping up to the plate and has recently hit three home runs.
SpaceX's Falcon 9 Takes Off
I am very close to many people at SpaceX, as they were one of my primary customers in my old sales job. I am still friends with many of the employees, as they are a great group of guys. I am honest when I tell you that every time I stepped into that building, I was the dumbest person in the room. I can’t say enough good things about them, the missions they’ve accomplished, and how they do so much with so little.
SpaceX is founded by Elon Musk, who was the co-founder of PayPal and also runs Tesla Motors.
What the SpaceX Launch Means to Me… and America
Note: This is the way I see things. I follow space, but not so closely that this is how it all went down
Over the past decade, we have had two American government administrations that have done nothing but balloon the size of the government with basically zero productive results. There has been nothing but bureaucratic waste, failure, and endless “wars”.
Our Space Shuttle program has been ailing, as was evident by the 2003 Columbia disaster. Our shuttles are no longer certifiably safe, and they need to be put to noble rest. So Congress commissioned NASA to create the Constellation program, a new human space transport program. Sounds cool, we can keep up with Russia and China, right?
Wrong.
As many expected, NASA shit the bed with Constellation. They were so covered in shit that they were unable to even provide a reasonable estimation for how much the program would even cost!! Talk about flying blind! (Original 2004 NASA estimates were that it’d cost $230 Billion to get to the moon)
So much win.
So he created the COTS program, designating $6 Billion to fund commercial technology companies to get it done. SpaceX and Orbital Sciences won the bids, with behemoths Lockheed Martin and Boeing left licking their wounds.
What you see in the video above is somewhere south of $600 million worth of investment. That is less than the amount of “cost threats” NASA calculated as being risky endeavors for the Constellation program. While this bloated program was busy making mistakes (yet keepin’ them cushy jobs!), SpaceX got busy flying rockets – and making profit.
I know that it’s not so clear cut, and SpaceX still needed a LOT of NASA help to communicate out there, but let me continue.
Okay… But why should I care about any of this?
Dragon Capsule Comes Home
The first part of the answer is that if the shit hits the fan, we may need manned missions that we can operate. Even with SpaceX, the US still has a gap where we cannot fly manned missions ourselves after Atlantis is decommissioned. We will have no safe shuttle!!!! SpaceX doesn’t think it can officially bring an astronaut to space for 3 more years, which probably means 4.
Sure, we have companies like Lockheed, Boeing, and SpaceX that can bring your satellite into space. But if we need to do spacewalks to fix things, do we really want to rely on the Russians and Chinese? It’s not a good situation if relations go downhill, which isn’t out of the realm of possibility. I for one don’t completely trust anyone but Americans with my precious cargo and communications systems.
The second part of the answer is this: While NASA is less than 1% of our budget, it’s a microcosm for everything that is going wrong with this country.
You can spend billions upon billions of good peoples’ money by pushing paper around, or you can let a bunch of smart people attack the problem with the incentive of that forsaken word, PROFIT.
So my question back to you is, if a company of 1200 employees can accomplish at a fraction of a price what a huge government organization of 18,000+ people cannot do… where else can this country save money and put power back into the hands of the people?
It’s not rocket science, people. Well, except it is, and privatization STILL worked. Why not try it in places where it’s a bit easier than building space ships?
So congrats once again to SpaceX and all of my friends and past associates.
Yesterday was a great day for America and our founding principles.
Elon is 39, and today I turned 29. I have exactly ten years to be as fucking cool as that guy.
Related posts:
Larry Salbira said,
12.11.10 at 9:06 am
Well said Mike. 10 years. Let’s do it.
Alison Lowndes said,
12.12.10 at 12:15 pm
Love this article and love SpaceX – “Put a bunch of geniuses in a room with a solid vision, a fiscal goal to achieve, and an inspirational leader, and this is what you get… a wheel of cheese in space!!!”
Chad Vordemesche said,
02.07.11 at 6:23 pm
Great article Mike. I didn’t know you were a great writer too!
automated captcha said,
07.28.12 at 8:00 pm
Useful info. Lucky me I found your web site unintentionally, and I am stunned why this
coincidence didn’t took place earlier! I bookmarked it.
real estate said,
10.02.12 at 2:59 pm
Fastidious respond in return of this issue with real arguments and telling all on the topic of that.
school conversion said,
01.02.13 at 7:21 am
Hey there! I just wanted to ask if you ever have any trouble with hackers?
My last blog (wordpress) was hacked and I ended up losing a
few months of hard work due to no backup. Do you have any methods to prevent hackers?
bitly said,
01.05.13 at 5:12 am
Hi there! I’m at work browsing your blog from my new iphone 4! Just wanted to say I love reading your blog and look forward to all your posts! Keep up the superb work!
farm said,
01.08.13 at 9:03 pm
Good way of describing, and pleasant post to get information on
the topic of my presentation subject, which i am going to convey in school.
Umar Kothari said,
01.14.13 at 3:03 pm
You truly outdid yourself with this post. I hope this keeps up
servicii seo said,
02.28.13 at 8:19 pm
We are a group of volunteers and opening a brand new scheme
in our community. Your web site provided us with valuable information
to work on. You have done an impressive process and our entire community can be thankful to you.
inchirieri apartamente 2 camere bacau said,
03.02.13 at 11:36 pm
I believe that is among the such a lot important information for me.
And i’m glad reading your article. But want to commentary on some general issues, The website style is wonderful, the articles is truly nice : D. Just right task, cheers
vanzari apartamente 3 camere bacau said,
03.03.13 at 2:57 pm
You ought to be a part of a contest for one of the finest websites
on the web. I’m going to highly recommend this website!
vanzari apartamente bacau said,
03.03.13 at 7:56 pm
Spot on with this write-up, I really believe that this amazing
site needs a great deal more attention. I’ll probably be returning to see more, thanks for the advice!
lotteryaudit.tripod.com said,
03.08.13 at 3:55 am
Thankfulness to my father who told me about this blog, this
blog is in fact awesome.
hh1.in said,
03.25.13 at 6:37 pm
Hi, I do believe this is a great web site. I stumbledupon it ;) I am going to come
back yet again since I saved as a favorite it.
Money and freedom is the best way to change, may you be rich
and continue to guide other people.
w$p1erajmy said,
04.09.13 at 8:12 pm
fantastic points altogether, you simply gained a brand new reader.
What may you suggest about your publish that you made some days in the past?
Any certain?
Kathy Ireland said,
04.19.13 at 5:54 am
Hi, just wanted to tell you, I liked this article.
It was helpful. Keep on posting!
fellatio guide said,
04.25.13 at 6:45 am
Greetings from Colorado! I’m bored to tears at work so I decided to check out your website on my iphone during lunch break. I love the knowledge you present here and can’t wait to
take a look when I get home. I’m amazed at how fast your blog loaded on my phone .. I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .
. Anyhow, good site!
Amie said,
04.27.13 at 12:33 am
These are truly enormous ideas in concerning blogging. You have touched some fastidious things here. Any way keep up wrinting.
Rhea said,
04.27.13 at 12:58 am
Wow, this article is fastidious, my younger sister is analyzing such things, so I am going to tell her.
Lourdes said,
04.27.13 at 3:16 pm
Everything is very open with a very clear clarification of the issues. It was truly informative. Your website is extremely helpful. Thank you for sharing!
Clarice said,
04.28.13 at 9:53 am
Since the admin of this site is working, no question very rapidly it will be well-known, due to its feature contents.
Kit said,
04.28.13 at 10:17 am
Excellent post. Keep writing such kind of information on your page. Im really impressed by it.
Hi there, You’ve performed a great job. I’ll certainly digg it and individually suggest to my friends. I am sure they’ll be benefited from this web site.
Cecil said,
04.28.13 at 10:46 am
Outstanding post however , I was wondering if you could write a litte more on this topic? I’d be very grateful if you could elaborate a little bit further. Thank you!
Rene said,
04.28.13 at 4:18 pm
I am regular reader, how are you everybody? This paragraph posted at this site is in fact pleasant.
Krystal said,
04.28.13 at 5:05 pm
I’m curious to find out what blog platform you have been utilizing? I’m experiencing some small security problems with my latest site and I’d like to find something more risk-free. Do you have any recommendations?
Molly said,
04.28.13 at 5:14 pm
Very energetic article, I liked that bit. Will there be a part 2?
Keenan said,
04.29.13 at 2:03 pm
Awesome! Its truly amazing post, I have got much clear idea about from this paragraph.
Luisa said,
05.01.13 at 8:51 am
Just wish to say your article is as surprising. The clearness in your post is simply cool and i could assume you are an expert on this subject. Fine with your permission let me to grab your RSS feed to keep up to date with forthcoming post. Thanks a million and please keep up the gratifying work.
Nathaniel said,
05.02.13 at 3:54 am
whoah this weblog is fantastic i really like studying your articles. Keep up the good work! You realize, lots of individuals are hunting around for this information, you could aid them greatly.
mouth Piece Snoring said,
05.02.13 at 3:37 pm
A fact about snoring that a lot of people do not know is that
it can lead to serious well being troubles.
It has been linked to improved threat of diabetes,
stroke, high blood pressure and heart disease.
Sleep apnea can also be a result of snoring.
Bradley Kakar said,
05.03.13 at 8:04 pm
An entrepreneur is an economic agent who unites all means of production- land of one, the labour of another and the capital of yet another and thus produces a product. By selling the product in the market he pays rent of land, wages to labour, interest on capital and what remains is his profit. He shifts economic resources out of an area of lower and into an area of higher productivity and greater yield.^’
Take a look at all of the best and newest piece of writing on our personal internet page
<http://www.caramoanpackage.com/
Carolyn said,
05.14.13 at 2:51 am
There’s definately a great deal to learn about this topic. I really like all the points you have made.
Voucher codes said,
05.16.13 at 1:30 am
Thank you a lot for sharing this with all of us you
really recognise what you are speaking approximately!
Bookmarked. Kindly additionally discuss with my web site =).
We can have a link change agreement among us