Maiflower
@maiflower.bsky.social
Terrapunk. We were all born to inherit the stars, except maybe Elon.
Not quite true. NASA only refocused its human spaceflight program on the Moon in the late 2010s. Before that it had been focused on low Earth orbit since the last Apollo mission.
October 14, 2025 at 2:34 AM
Not quite true. NASA only refocused its human spaceflight program on the Moon in the late 2010s. Before that it had been focused on low Earth orbit since the last Apollo mission.
well sure, not because it’s impossible, but because manned spaceflight efforts were focused on LEO post-Apollo. Skylab in the ‘70s, Shuttle in the ‘80s, and the ISS in the ‘90s and 2000s. Now the ISS is complete and NASA is focusing on crewed missions to the Moon and Mars.
January 18, 2025 at 6:04 AM
well sure, not because it’s impossible, but because manned spaceflight efforts were focused on LEO post-Apollo. Skylab in the ‘70s, Shuttle in the ‘80s, and the ISS in the ‘90s and 2000s. Now the ISS is complete and NASA is focusing on crewed missions to the Moon and Mars.
we’ve sent plenty of unmanned craft out of Earth’s orbit.
January 17, 2025 at 10:28 PM
we’ve sent plenty of unmanned craft out of Earth’s orbit.
The STS program's record was launching nine times a year. Falcon carries a similar amount of mass to LEO, but launches a hundred times a year. Falcon 9 has lost two vehicles from 2015. Just about the lowest failure rate in the industry.
January 17, 2025 at 1:08 PM
The STS program's record was launching nine times a year. Falcon carries a similar amount of mass to LEO, but launches a hundred times a year. Falcon 9 has lost two vehicles from 2015. Just about the lowest failure rate in the industry.
still, stainless steel and wiring isn't exactly toxic. I certainly wouldn't want to run into what's left of the batteries though!
January 17, 2025 at 11:02 AM
still, stainless steel and wiring isn't exactly toxic. I certainly wouldn't want to run into what's left of the batteries though!
A launch counts both the Superheavy booster, which carries 33 Raptor engines, and the Starship spacecraft, which carries only 6. The Starship was lost this flight. The Superheavy, not so much!
a rocket is being launched with the words " its uncanny how easy it is 7 " at the top
ALT: a rocket is being launched with the words " its uncanny how easy it is 7 " at the top
media.tenor.com
January 17, 2025 at 10:59 AM
A launch counts both the Superheavy booster, which carries 33 Raptor engines, and the Starship spacecraft, which carries only 6. The Starship was lost this flight. The Superheavy, not so much!
it's pretty illiberal to be both crass and homophobic. I think Musk is a nutjob politically but that doesn't mean SpaceX doesn't do good things for the world or that space exploration is an important thing to do.
January 17, 2025 at 10:56 AM
it's pretty illiberal to be both crass and homophobic. I think Musk is a nutjob politically but that doesn't mean SpaceX doesn't do good things for the world or that space exploration is an important thing to do.
Did you read anything by actual scientists or just ‘A City On Mars’?
January 17, 2025 at 4:37 AM
Did you read anything by actual scientists or just ‘A City On Mars’?
Oxygen can be pretty readily extracted from the Martian atmosphere. It’s already been demonstrated on a small scale.
January 17, 2025 at 4:35 AM
Oxygen can be pretty readily extracted from the Martian atmosphere. It’s already been demonstrated on a small scale.
There was a hazard zone established long before launch. The FAA knew about it and would’ve notified the pilots when they lodged their flight plan.
January 17, 2025 at 4:29 AM
There was a hazard zone established long before launch. The FAA knew about it and would’ve notified the pilots when they lodged their flight plan.
Frequency of launches, returning crewed launch to the US, lowering the cost of access to space?
January 17, 2025 at 4:26 AM
Frequency of launches, returning crewed launch to the US, lowering the cost of access to space?
It’s pretty much just stainless steel, it’d probably become a nice artificial reef.
January 17, 2025 at 4:25 AM
It’s pretty much just stainless steel, it’d probably become a nice artificial reef.
are you unaware men travelled to the Moon over half a century ago?
January 17, 2025 at 4:21 AM
are you unaware men travelled to the Moon over half a century ago?
There’s been some protests about the effect of launches on migrating and nesting seabirds, but no vehicle debris has hit the Texan surface since the ‘hop’ tests almost four years ago.
January 17, 2025 at 4:21 AM
There’s been some protests about the effect of launches on migrating and nesting seabirds, but no vehicle debris has hit the Texan surface since the ‘hop’ tests almost four years ago.
different media teams in the same industry tend to use the same terms.
January 17, 2025 at 3:55 AM
different media teams in the same industry tend to use the same terms.
Launching it eastwards over the ocean and more than a few explosive charges.
January 17, 2025 at 3:49 AM
Launching it eastwards over the ocean and more than a few explosive charges.
No, you can attribute it to NASA. That’s how the Columbia breakup was described as well.
January 17, 2025 at 3:49 AM
No, you can attribute it to NASA. That’s how the Columbia breakup was described as well.
Kerosene-burning Falcon 9 and methane-burning Starship both only exhaust carbon dioxide and water. It’s the solid boosters like on the space shuttle or SLS that are a bit dicey and the Chinese hypergolics that are really toxic.
January 17, 2025 at 3:48 AM
Kerosene-burning Falcon 9 and methane-burning Starship both only exhaust carbon dioxide and water. It’s the solid boosters like on the space shuttle or SLS that are a bit dicey and the Chinese hypergolics that are really toxic.
Eh, Falcon 9 is flying to orbit a few times a week and SpaceX is nearly a hundred launches ahead in the big moneymaker, LEO Internet. New Glenn is more powerful than Falcon 9, sure, but Falcon Heavy is more powerful than New Glenn.
January 17, 2025 at 3:45 AM
Eh, Falcon 9 is flying to orbit a few times a week and SpaceX is nearly a hundred launches ahead in the big moneymaker, LEO Internet. New Glenn is more powerful than Falcon 9, sure, but Falcon Heavy is more powerful than New Glenn.
It was a pre-submitted hazard zone. The FAA knew this was a possibility and would’ve informed the pilots beforehand.
January 17, 2025 at 3:40 AM
It was a pre-submitted hazard zone. The FAA knew this was a possibility and would’ve informed the pilots beforehand.
where are you getting that cost? Raptor engines only cost $1 million each back in 2019, before mass production began.
January 17, 2025 at 3:36 AM
where are you getting that cost? Raptor engines only cost $1 million each back in 2019, before mass production began.
Yes, but because of the thin atmosphere heat would be almost entirely trapped within a habitat.
January 2, 2025 at 2:36 AM
Yes, but because of the thin atmosphere heat would be almost entirely trapped within a habitat.
It’s a tangent, but marking an entire continent off-limits was a Cold War suppression strategy by the imperialist powers. The global south deserves access to those resources.
January 2, 2025 at 2:35 AM
It’s a tangent, but marking an entire continent off-limits was a Cold War suppression strategy by the imperialist powers. The global south deserves access to those resources.
Soil, certainly, but the atmosphere is very thin. The waste heat from machinery and biology would probably be enough to keep a base warm.
January 2, 2025 at 2:34 AM
Soil, certainly, but the atmosphere is very thin. The waste heat from machinery and biology would probably be enough to keep a base warm.
It’d take hundreds of millions of years for the solar wind to strip away a thickened atmosphere.
January 2, 2025 at 2:33 AM
It’d take hundreds of millions of years for the solar wind to strip away a thickened atmosphere.