• ubergeek@lemmy.today
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    4 days ago

    All of that was paid for my tax dollars, and costs far more than what NASA would have paid to do it.

    Do you think SpaceX operates an R&D division of astrophysicists to figure out how space travel even works?

    • apemint@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      All of that was paid for my tax dollar

      Except it wasn’t.

      From wikipedia: “SpaceX developed Falcon 9 with private capital as well, but did have pre-arranged commitments by NASA to purchase several operational flights once specific capabilities were demonstrated.”

      NASA payed them to transport cargo to the ISS. Both Falcon1 and Falcon9 were privately funded.

      and costs far more than what NASA would have paid to do it.

      You mean the NASA that’s known for budget overruns? That estimated the shuttle program would cost $54M per flight that turned out to cost $409 million? (inflation adjusted)
      The NASA that couldn’t come up with a new launch system for 14 years after the shuttle program was cancelled?

      Do you think SpaceX operates an R&D division of astrophysicists to figure out how space travel even works?

      Do you think astrophysicists is the science of spaceflight? Well, it shows you have no idea what you’re talking about.

      • ubergeek@lemmy.today
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        4 days ago

        but did have pre-arranged commitments by NASA to purchase several operational flights once specific capabilities were demonstrated.”

        You understand that’s a form of extended credit, right?

        Which had the R&D cost built in.

        You mean the NASA that’s known for budget overruns?

        Yes, because with NASA, safety is first. Not so much with SpaceX, where they can grab a PS4 controller, and call it the “Flight control subsystem”.

        Do you think astrophysicists is the science of spaceflight? Well, it shows you have no idea what you’re talking about.

        Yes, the physics of how objects move in space, relational to other objects, is basically the cornerstone of space flight. Let me guess? You think to travel somewhere, you just point in the direction, and turn on “thrust to 100%” huh? And you believe that 60 seconds is 60 seconds to a remote observer regardless of location in a gravity well, and velocity?