Jeff Bezos Rocket Ship

[monogroover]

I am a massive space nerd, and compulsively interested in all things extraterrestrial. Statement of interest duly made, I see clear water between the Bezos/Branson stuff and SpaceX, which appears to be a genuinely useful and commercially viable system for keeping the ISS stocked with bodies and bog-roll. Beardy and Geoff appear to be building thrill rides for their own amusement and the technical difference between their small ballistic up-and-down hops and SpaceX's accurate and repeatable orbital rendezvous is colossal. So mentally I file the endeavours separately; and on the basis that he's freeing up NASA to do some fun lunar-mission stuff, I welcome Elon Musk's contribution to spacefaring in general.

I must say, though: I am sad that we can't hear what the Original Shepard would've thought of all this kerfuffle; at least his sub-orbital flight was the gateway to something more, rather than ticket sales for the hilariously wealthy and terminally bored.

I'm sure you're aware of this but for the benefit of those who may not be, Blue Origin is not primarily a space tourism company. It competes with SpaceX for satellite launches, potential Moon missions and so on.

[Christian]

Anyone see this?

https://www.newscientist.com/article...-new-us-rules/

Seems entirely appropriate. Always thought it was odd how these space passengers like Branson and Bezos were being called astronauts. If they are astronauts, then I'd say all holidaymakers on the back of a Ryanair plane can call themselves aircrew.

[Saint-Just]

Anyone see this?

https://www.newscientist.com/article...-new-us-rules/

Seems entirely appropriate. Always thought it was odd how these space passengers like Branson and Bezos were being called astronauts. If they are astronauts, then I'd say all holidaymakers on the back of a Ryanair plane can call themselves aircrew.

Seems fair enough, but since that was not the case when they flew, should it apply retrospectively?

[rodia77]

Branson's been demoted fast -- here's what my search engine pulls from its index:



And here's what you get when you click the link and go to the actual wiki entry:



As to what to call them instead of astronauts, we're dramatically limited by the fact this thread is in G&D rather than BP.

[Filterlab]

Good catch.

He's a pompous knob isn't he?

[sish101]

You couldn't make it up

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[monogroover]

Good catch.

He's a pompous knob isn't he?

I don't think so. The text in the first example would have been pulled from Wikipedia, and I doubt he entered it himself.