# Blue Origin launching people into space in July **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 5, 2021, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-origin-launching-people-into-space-in-july/941485 "2021-05-05T21:51:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2021, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-origin-launching-people-into-space-in-july/941485/41 "2021-07-20T16:44:45Z")
Press conference (they get their wings) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Kmpb7xJJ10I/maxresdefault.jpg "Replay - First Human Flight Post-Flight Press Conference") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kmpb7xJJ10I) starts about 16 minutes in Brian ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2021, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-origin-launching-people-into-space-in-july/941485/42 "2021-07-20T17:17:25Z")
Could have been given yes. Ironically the three female pilot astronauts, Collins, Kilrain and Melroy all were came through on waivers , none had required fast jet experience. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2021, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-origin-launching-people-into-space-in-july/941485/43 "2021-07-20T17:54:19Z")
So what new technology was tested today? ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2021, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-origin-launching-people-into-space-in-july/941485/44 "2021-07-20T19:16:55Z")
I’m guessing none – I mean I guess they tested that the crew capsule works with actual people in it, but don’t think any new tech was tested. Brian ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2021, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-origin-launching-people-into-space-in-july/941485/45 "2021-07-20T19:26:42Z")
I like Stephen Colbert’s take from last night. When Bezos pondered how going to space would change him, Colbert says he wishes it would change Bezos into a person who would pay income tax. ---
**Author:** ![Bootb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bootb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootb)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2021, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-origin-launching-people-into-space-in-july/941485/46 "2021-07-20T23:15:50Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > It’s not like NASA didn’t grant waivers - the Mercury 7 guys were all supposed to have college degrees but they waived that requirement for John Glenn. Alright to make an exception for Glenn, but for any woman, no matter how qualified? No way! The rules must be observed! It’s one thing to grant a waiver on a point that ultimately is meaningless. A college degree was fairly prestigious back then, but meaningless to what the astronauts were doing. On the other hand, being an astronaut back in the days when pretty much everything was untried to one degree or another was pretty dangerous. That’s why NASA liked test pilots so much. In other words, the military requirement actually meant something. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2021, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-origin-launching-people-into-space-in-july/941485/47 "2021-07-21T00:34:59Z")
Yes, it meant there wasn’t a chance in hell any woman would ever get a chance to be an astronaut. It was “protecting” women in a manner that made them second-class. Women performed as well or better than the men did on the pre-flight testing the astronaut candidates were subjected to. Given that women also (on average) weigh less and consume fewer resources - air, water, food - it actually made logical sense that women should be astronauts as well as men (or even instead of men). But male egos couldn’t handle that, so no women allowed no matter how qualified. And yes, usually men are seen as more appropriate to take risks - which leads me to ask why men are seen as expendable. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2021, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-origin-launching-people-into-space-in-july/941485/48 "2021-07-21T00:44:17Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > which leads me to ask why men are seen as expendable. That seems like an easy one. A village can rebound quickly if 90% of the men die in a war with a neighboring tribe. It takes much longer to rebound if 90% of the women die. Attitudes toward war and other risky activity has been pretty constant over time. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2021, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-origin-launching-people-into-space-in-july/941485/49 "2021-07-21T07:31:14Z")
> [@N9IWP](#): > > I’m guessing none – I mean I guess they tested that the crew capsule works with actual people in it, but don’t think any new tech was tested. Then what was the point? I’m a huge believer in advancement of the science of space travel, but what did Bezos do besides recycle 60-year-old technology? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2021, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-origin-launching-people-into-space-in-july/941485/50 "2021-07-21T07:39:50Z")
As a company, Blue Origin is working toward a reusable orbital rocket similar to what SpaceX has. To some extent, the current vehicle is a practice run for vertical takeoff and descent, engine design, life support systems, and general rocketry stuff. But it’s a very slow and inefficient way of gaining that expertise. Every rocket company has to learn the lessons of the 50s and 60s before doing anything new. Launching rockets successfully requires institutional knowledge and that’s not something you can just easily copy from others; you have to _do it_ first. So you shouldn’t begrudge an organization for starting with something that’s already been done before. Blue Origin deserves criticism for moving so damn slowly, but not for having limited innovation out of the gate. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2021, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-origin-launching-people-into-space-in-july/941485/51 "2021-07-21T08:14:55Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > > [@Broomstick](#): > > > > which leads me to ask why men are seen as expendable. > > That seems like an easy one. A village can rebound quickly if 90% of the men die in a war with a neighboring tribe. It takes much longer to rebound if 90% of the women die. Attitudes toward war and other risky activity has been pretty constant over time. We don’t live in villages anymore in a semi-constant state of cattle raids and other tribal warfare, and we aren’t in danger of dying out - quite the contrary. Attitudes should evolve along with our society. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2021, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-origin-launching-people-into-space-in-july/941485/52 "2021-07-21T08:19:13Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > > [@N9IWP](#): > > > > I’m guessing none – I mean I guess they tested that the crew capsule works with actual people in it, but don’t think any new tech was tested. > > Then what was the point? I’m a huge believer in advancement of the science of space travel, but what did Bezos do besides recycle 60-year-old technology? Consistency isn’t as sexy as new breakthroughs, but I keep saying that being able to launch and land successfully on a repeated basis is, in itself, a form of advancement. We don’t expect the airlines to demonstrate breakthrough technologies every flight, in fact we’re happiest when it’s routine or even a little boring. If spaceflight is ever to become routine and/or profitable then it, too, has to become so reliable as to be no longer noteworthy. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2021, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-origin-launching-people-into-space-in-july/941485/53 "2021-07-21T08:38:12Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > We don’t expect the airlines to demonstrate breakthrough technologies every flight, in fact we’re happiest when it’s routine or even a little boring. If spaceflight is ever to become routine and/or profitable then it, too, has to become so reliable as to be no longer noteworthy. But we’re not in the airline stage when it comes to space travel - we’re in the pre-WW1 biplane stage. We still have to develop something that’s _worth_ being consistent. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2021, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-origin-launching-people-into-space-in-july/941485/54 "2021-07-21T08:48:47Z")
And…? We wouldn’t have had airlines if he hadn’t had biplanes that could take off and land consistently. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2021, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-origin-launching-people-into-space-in-july/941485/55 "2021-07-21T09:02:43Z")
We also wouldn’t have airlines if they weren’t constantly making better planes. My point is, consistency is what you want when you’re making a production model. We’re not there yet. We should be making prototypes - and _only_ prototypes - until we make something good enough to produce. Until then, every rocket launched should be better than the previous one. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2021, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-origin-launching-people-into-space-in-july/941485/56 "2021-07-21T19:56:02Z")
We’re going to have to agree to disagree on that one. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2021, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-origin-launching-people-into-space-in-july/941485/57 "2021-07-26T12:03:41Z")
A bit of schadenfreude for those who think Bezos’ space flight was simply an example of an overprivileged billionaire taking an extremely expensive joyride— the FAA announced that Bezos doesn’t officially qualify as an astronaut. He got to the proper height off the ground, but the FAA stipulates that to be considered an astronaut you have to actually, like, do astronaut stuff, and the Blue Origin flight was totally autonomous, making Bezos a mere passenger. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2021, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-origin-launching-people-into-space-in-july/941485/58 "2021-07-26T22:40:10Z")
> [@solost](#): > > do astronaut stuff, So Bezos has the “Wrong Stuff”? ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-origin-launching-people-into-space-in-july/941485/59 "2021-07-27T03:41:01Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > So Bezos has the “Wrong Stuff”? He did fine. For cargo. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2022, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-origin-launching-people-into-space-in-july/941485/60 "2022-10-14T14:30:07Z")
Bumped. Shatner had a notably downbeat reaction: [https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/10/business/william-shatner-new-book-boldly-go-scn/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/10/business/william-shatner-new-book-boldly-go-scn/index.html) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-origin-launching-people-into-space-in-july/941485.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-origin-launching-people-into-space-in-july/941485.md?page=4)