SpaceX Unveils Dragon 2

[Spider]

[John Galt]

well the russians threatening to no longer ferry americans to space means there is all the more reason to get these operational as soon as possible. but really, russia realizes they are losing all their clout here and will be sidelined. they can't keep up and the only thing they had was their rockets from a bygone age that mattered the smallest of bits. now paypal is taking that from them. PAYPAL. how humiliating.

but...they printed the engine. they f**k printed it? that's probably the most amazing thing in that video

[The Dharma Bum]

If the Russians are the ones with the capability for spaceflight how are they the ones in danger of losing their clout and of being sidelined?

[The Dharma Bum]

I don't think private enterprise will ever be able to produce a viable space program

when spaceflight tech becomes commercially available they will be able to manufacture that kind of stuff but that is a long way off.

[Spider]

[Spider]

[John Galt]

yeah i was going to say about that. russia's one contribution these days is that they have the ability to ferry people to space, and NASA doesn't. and russia is bitching and moaning about how they are being unfairly punished for their annexation of crimea and are threatening to no longer do the one thing they are temporarily useful for

the only reason spaceX isn't ferrying people to space yet is because NASA changed the guidelines. they changed it so that there has to be a launch escape mechanism. the soyuz sure as shit doesn't have that

by decemeber 2015 spaceX will be ferrying people to the ISS meaning that the russian spaceprogram is worthless entirely. within a few years after that, they will have dragon 2 capsule ready for reusable launches. if all goes according to plan, then the reusable rocketry will make space travel comparatively (to before) dirt cheap. thus commercial enterprises take over and we can all play space engineers for real.

i mean...
THEY
PRINTED
THE
ENGINE

[The Dharma Bum]

[The Dharma Bum]

[Spider]