UKH

youtube.com/watch?v=zKVuZ7JKMfE& 

Had no idea this was scheduled but Blue Origin are pretty secretive.  

One for the space nerds amongst us here. 

CT

Yeah, I spotted the TFR when I was stalking the other lot. Didn't realise quite what was going on though

It does look like something out of Barabarella, though... or Flesh Gordon. I mean, you can't deny it has a certain phallic look...

Well, that was.... meh. Would have seemed like a miracle 8 years ago, but....
Anyway, possible SLS hot fire this weekend too

Jeff Bezos as Ming the Merciless.  

😂

Pretty cheeky of Dodd to wear a “Nominal” baseball cap.  A clear SpaceX/Insprucker reference if ever there was one...

One the subject of “new space” leaders with allusions...

One of the casualties of the pandemic is Bigelow Aerospace.  There in lie some tales.  I spent a night in the pub with a retired senior leader from the SDI program and then NASA a few years ago.  By far the most surreal part of the conversation was when I asked them what it was like to visit Bigelow’s base.

It didn’t take Sierra Nevada long to show off an inflatable habitat after the patents Bigelow licensed from NASA expired. 

Yeah, my feelings exactly. Are there still any reasons to be excited about Blue Origin when SpaceX seem to put them in the shade so often? They seem competent enough but they just don't seem to be breaking new ground at the rate of SpaceX. In a world without Musk, I'm sure they'd seem interesting and dynamic compared to Boeing so maybe I'm being horribly unfair.

Longer term, yes. Well, possibly. Their heavy lift concept will be worth watching if it comes good, but then by the time that happens spacex will have made another leap, so it's impossible to say. 

If you want a not-quite-affordable thrill ride for the masses to the edge of space then virgin and blue origin are the ones to watch. If you want to see moon landings and Mars rockets then SLS/Orion and starship are where it's at. For ten a penny satellites, maybe rocket lab. All of them (except SLS) are dividing the cost of spaceflight by about 10-100 but for different size things.

A lot is going to progress really fast really soon, and that will change things dramatically. It's a great time to be a nerd into this stuff. 10 year old me did not expect to ever say a rocket flying to the edge of space and landing on its feet is lame.

Blimey. I didn't realise a word describing a nominal situation could belong to one company...

Who has rights to 'copacetic'...?

I think there's been some autocorrect. The hat says "norminal", which is sort of an in joke.

Indeed - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MIHVPCj25Z0&feature=youtu.be&t=11m36s

Reaosns to be positive about BO:

• There is plenty of room for multiple giant rocket space flight firms.
• Their presence is another embarrassment for the pork barrel world of Senator Shelby and co.
• Multiple different engine and vehicle families is important to maintaining capability if (when) a catastrophic loss grounds one vehicle family.

I’m still gutted that Armadillo folded rather than going large.  It seems going large in funding and rockets makes a big difference.  Although Rutherford show small is also viable,

Oh, I may have given the wrong impression. I'm positive about what they're doing, I'm just not excited by it.