# I don't know how to think of SpaceX anymore **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 12, 2024, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-how-to-think-of-spacex-anymore/1010167 "2024-11-12T21:01:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2024, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-how-to-think-of-spacex-anymore/1010167/21 "2024-11-13T11:11:20Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > I honestly can’t find it within me to believe that Musk does have the kind of competence and foresight necessary for that. But as far as exploiting an opportunity for all it’s worth and then some, this has to be a masterpiece. [As I’ve said previously](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-elon-musk-has-bought-twitter-now-the-pit-edition-part-1/963442/97), Elon Musk is a troll. He’s not a strategist or a long term thinker with original ideas even if he has convinced people that he is, buit he sure knows how to push buttons and exploit people. In that way, he is very much like his buddy, Vladimir Putin. I would like to imagine the two of them sharing a drink together…out of a bucket of dank water deep in the bowels of some prison-dungeon, answering for their crimes against humanity, but I think we all know how unlikely that is because regardless of how you believe the “arc of justice bends”, it usually misses the worst offenders. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Eric1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3bc359/32.png) [@Eric1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eric1)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2024, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-how-to-think-of-spacex-anymore/1010167/22 "2024-11-13T14:07:07Z")
My eleven year old nephew was doing a report about SpaceX. His comment was “SpaceX is difficult ‘cause the jiz gets all over the spaceship.” My sister of course got a startled phone call from the teacher. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2024, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-how-to-think-of-spacex-anymore/1010167/23 "2024-11-13T14:28:38Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The best I can figure is that he used to be a business genius, and put actual control of SpaceX and Tesla in the hands of highly-competent people who are responsible for those companies’ continued success, and then suffered some form of brain damage that took away that gift, and so now he’s a crazy man with crazy ideas who’s destroying everything new he touches. This is what i believe. I think some combination of being too rich to care and using drugs has addled his brain. But i also think his gamble on Twitter paid off. (Even if he stumbled into it.) He’s going to rake it in during this administration he helped to create. > [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > What he is good at is being a hype man to can bring in investors and stoke his legions of devoted followers. That’s a real and valuable skill. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2024, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-how-to-think-of-spacex-anymore/1010167/24 "2024-11-13T14:44:58Z")
There is a thread about Space X and related stuff, and some members of this board have shown to my surprise they are real Musk fans. To go any deeper this thread would have to be in the Pit. Suffice to say that I can’t see neither a bright nor a long future for Mr. Musk, but he has proven me wrong before. It may be me who lacks imagination. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2024, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-how-to-think-of-spacex-anymore/1010167/25 "2024-11-13T14:54:56Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > That’s a real and valuable skill. It is also usually an anti-social skill that funnels wealth and power up to a few people who do not do anything like the work commensurate with their “reward,” which is more like “plunder” than a justified reward. It is a bit like having Elon Musk at the end of the fire bucket brigade: dozens fill and pass on the bucket, but through chance he’s the one who throws the water on the fire, and then takes all the credit for extinguishing the blaze. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2024, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-how-to-think-of-spacex-anymore/1010167/26 "2024-11-13T15:01:18Z")
There’s going to be another launch tonight at 8:20pm PST from Vandenberg. It feels like an earthquake when it goes overhead in Santa Barbara. You can barely see some of the launches and some put on a beautiful show. Elon is in a fight with the Coastal Commission over the number of launches allowed per year. Obviously he wants more. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2024, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-how-to-think-of-spacex-anymore/1010167/27 "2024-11-13T15:07:18Z")
At least this launch won’t have the booster flying back for a landing at Vandenberg like the one last week. Those are the flights with the really obnoxious sonic booms. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2024, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-how-to-think-of-spacex-anymore/1010167/28 "2024-11-13T15:15:25Z")
I was driving by Rincon when the last one happened. I saw it but didn’t hear it. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2024, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-how-to-think-of-spacex-anymore/1010167/29 "2024-11-13T15:17:55Z")
> [@Kropotkin](#): > > It is a bit like having Elon Musk at the end of the fire bucket brigade: dozens fill and pass on the bucket, but through chance he’s the one who throws the water on the fire, and then takes all the credit for extinguishing the blaze. Which is why he was so furious when his plan to rescue the children trapped in the cave was shown to be unworkable that he called the diver who actually saved them a pedophile. He didn’t get to be the “hero”. God, I can’t believe that was only six years ago. I’ve been seeing a ton of pro-Musk posts all over Facebook over the past year (which is largely why I’ve stopped using that service). I figure his PR team is working overtime to rehabilitate his image. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2024, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-how-to-think-of-spacex-anymore/1010167/30 "2024-11-13T15:21:19Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > regardless of how you believe the “arc of justice bends” These days, I believe it bends before the toilet. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2024, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-how-to-think-of-spacex-anymore/1010167/31 "2024-11-13T15:38:30Z")
> [@Eric1](#): > > His comment was “SpaceX is difficult ‘cause the jiz gets all over the spaceship.” My sister of course got a startled phone call from the teacher. Indeed, the reacher should be startled; the correct term is ‘spooge’. > [@puzzlegal](#): > > That’s a real and valuable skill. Well it’s a real skill, anyway; I am ambivalent about how “valuable” it is given how many incredibly stupid [programs I’ve seen over the years funded almost purely on ‘hype’, including essentially the entire Strategic Defense Initiative](https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/ahf/history/strategic-defense-initiative-sdi/) and its [suspect legacy](https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/attach/2016/07/Shielded-from-Oversight-full-report.pdf),mwhile valuable science, education, and infrastructure initiatives struggle to get funding for lack of effective ‘hype’. > [@Pork\_Rind](#): > > At least this launch won’t have the booster flying back for a landing at Vandenberg like the one last week. Those are the flights with the really obnoxious sonic booms. Get used to it; Vandenberg as limited those flights due to noise pollution, range safety, and overflight concerns but I virtually guarantee that 30SWS is going to get overruled on those issues, at least as long as Musk continues to curry favor. > [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > These days, I believe it bends before the toilet. Along with my hopes and dreams, such as they still remain at present. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2024, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-how-to-think-of-spacex-anymore/1010167/32 "2024-11-13T15:41:08Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > > [@puzzlegal](#): > > > > That’s a real and valuable skill. > > Well it’s a real skill, anyway; I am ambivalent about how “valuable” Well, it’s valuable for getting stuff done, for good or for ill. Maybe valuable is the wrong word. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2024, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-how-to-think-of-spacex-anymore/1010167/33 "2024-11-13T15:47:52Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Get used to it; Vandenberg as limited those flights due to noise pollution, range safety, and overflight concerns but I virtually guarantee that 30SWS is going to get overruled on those issues, at least as long as Musk continues to curry favor. Fortunately, as a guy with a tendency to like loud things, this is the least of my concerns about what’s coming. Also helps that unlike the Nextdoor crowd, I immediately recognize the sound for what it is, instead of assuming an east side - west side gang war involving large bombs and IEDs. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2024, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-how-to-think-of-spacex-anymore/1010167/34 "2024-11-13T15:50:58Z")
Yeah, get ready for eight simultaneous posts on the SB subreddit asking about an earthquake ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2024, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-how-to-think-of-spacex-anymore/1010167/35 "2024-11-13T15:51:23Z")
If SpaceX’s Starship works out– and it’s gone from a pipe dream to a serious possibility– it will drop the cost of launch even over Falcon 9 as much as Falcon 9 did over previous rockets. Even if round trips to the Moon/Mars never materialize it will revolutionize space flight. I don’t know what technical challenges orbital refueling faces but we’ve known since forever that it’s a technology that must be mastered if humanity is to ever do anything really significant in space; we can’t launch everything in complete packages from Earth. I think if it can be done SpaceX will figure out how to do it; at this point they have resources and expertise comparable to a national space program, I don’t think anyone else could do better. Seeking to colonize Mars is audacious, but someone needs to try. Sustaining people indefinitely in artificial closed environments is doubtless a huge challenge and one we have very little experience in, but the advantage of Mars is that it does have externals to work with: sources of water ice, an atmosphere that can be processed to obtain oxygen. The Mars settlers by design would not be relying 100% on canned air, water brought from Earth. Not easy at all and I could see the first base camp attempt having to be abandoned after unknown unknowns turn up. But someone ought to try. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2024, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-how-to-think-of-spacex-anymore/1010167/36 "2024-11-13T15:57:29Z")
> [@CorpusNeptune](#): > > So he used to be competent, but lost that after buying into woke mind virus bullshit and trying in vain attempts to look cool and “hip”? > [@Babale](#): > > According to Sam Harris, who apparently knew Musk personally, that brain damage was a crippling addiction to Twitter. It’s the drugs. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2024, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-how-to-think-of-spacex-anymore/1010167/37 "2024-11-13T16:08:35Z")
No, quite a few people in quite a few areas are brilliant innovators in their youth but become hidebound or eccentric in their old age. I think neurological decay in old age is quite prevalent even in people who aren’t not obviously senile. Many people lose as much as half of their mental capacity and retreat into coping strategies. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2024, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-how-to-think-of-spacex-anymore/1010167/38 "2024-11-13T16:26:53Z")
> [@CorpusNeptune](#): > > It should be left to someone who is actually qualified for the job, not some rich transphobic techbro who inherited mommy and daddy’s money and has been riding that high ever since. I don’t think Musk has much influence on how the company is run, anyway. He seems to be especially preoccupied now with manipulating Donald Trump. Musk is effectively a Bond villain now, a man with so much money and power that he’s trying to replace representative government, a man who, for the good of humanity, needs to be stopped. His little influence on SpaceX should be the least of anyone’s concerns. > [@Babale](#): > > According to Sam Harris, who apparently knew Musk personally, that brain damage was a crippling addiction to Twitter. Twitter sure can wreck a brain. Mostly younger brains, but Musk was already emotionally stunted. I met him at a house party at Queen’s University. It was… 1991? 1992? Something like that, he and I are the same age. Might have talked to him for three minutes. He seemed like a dickhead even then, but I guess I should have befriended him. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2024, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-how-to-think-of-spacex-anymore/1010167/39 "2024-11-13T17:10:29Z")
> [@Dorjan](#): > > It’s not that hard of a circle to square. Hitler effectively founded Volkswagen, and Henry Ford was a rabid anti-semite who was awarded the Grand Cross of the German Eagle in 1938 by the Nazi regime. The VW and Ford automobiles remained fine products. Elon isn’t nearly as involved in the engineering behind Space-X as he likes people to think he is. The problem is that those of us who love technology and space travel want SpaceX to succeed from that perspective, but its success also makes Elmo richer and more dangerous than ever. It’s an uncomfortable dichotomy, which is the basis of the OP’s complaint. > [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Fast Internet anywhere could be accomplished with a massive number of towers. And I bet do it cheaper than the satellite constellation. Well, of course we already have that. Relatively fast, low-latency internet is available wherever there is cellular service. > [@dtilque](#): > > Out in the ocean? Antarctica? Don’t think so. Ships have internet access, and so do research stations in Antarctica. Those types of satellite channels do suffer from high latency, but for most applications it’s either a minor inconvenience or, more often, totally doesn’t matter. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2024, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-how-to-think-of-spacex-anymore/1010167/40 "2024-11-13T17:21:08Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Seeking to colonize Mars is audacious, but someone needs to try. I really liked _[A City on Mars](https://www.acityonmars.com/)_ by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith for an in-depth look at just how implausible settling Mars, or any habitat in space, is given current and foreseeable technology. It just isn’t an option at this point. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-how-to-think-of-spacex-anymore/1010167.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-know-how-to-think-of-spacex-anymore/1010167.md?page=3)