As an institution, the United States Pentagon has come to be known for many things over the years — its transparency, its generosity, its cunning. Consistency is not one of them. In the wake of SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's disastrous Starship explosion — the company's third in a row — some are pining for the good old days of tax-payer funded space research under NASA. "Weren't we NOT blowing up rockets, like, 50 years ago," asked Sarah Jeong, features editor at The Verge on Bluesky. "Also weren't we l
(Insert usual caveat about how my respect for SpaceX’s accomplishments is strictly for the actual scientists and engineers and technicians actually doing the work, and not for the know-nothing dipshit who owns most of the shares.)
In fairness they are trying to develop an entirely new type of spacecraft that’s never been tried before by anyone, an upper stage that’s actually reusable without refurbishment. My hope is that the Chinese space agency sees what works and what doesn’t with Starship, and applies those lessons to their R&D program.