Stewart Money says that Dragon had introduced a new era of exploration. And space development.
Category Archives: Space
The Space Property Rights Discussion Continues
Eric Dawson has responded to my response, and I have updated it at Open Market for the next round.
Fending Off A Space-Alien Invasion
Does the U.S. have the needed weaponry?
Obviously, it depends on the nature of their technology, but I’d say no.
As long as we avoid becoming a spacefaring civilization (as we have been for decades, de facto, with our insane space policy) we will always be on the defense. We need to be able to take the offensive against a space-borne attack, and we don’t even have proper picket lines up in the solar system, which means that there’s a good chance that by the time we find out about them, they’ll be at our front door, and it will be too late.
I do think that we’re good against zombies, though, at least in the U.S.
[Update late Monday afternoon]
Welcome, Instapundit readers! Just a reminder that as long as we obsess about safety in space, we won’t have a chance against an invasion. We’re over halfway to the fundraising goal, with a little less than half the time remaining.
An Interview With Elon Musk
A transcript, from Miles O’Brien.
Entrepreneurs
More Space Property Rights Discussion
Over at Open Market, I respond to criticism from Eric Dawson.
America Has Returned To Space
My thoughts on the implications of Dragon’s successful flight, over at PJMedia.
The Space-Policy Cavalry To The Rescue
Well, OK, not the cavalry, but the teddy bears (or dogs, or whatever the heck they are), have decided to forgive me and help out with fundraising for the Kickstarter project, which has raised only a third of the needed funds. Go to the link to click on the video (on the image of the ISS).
Enter The Dragon
This is one my pedantic pet peeves. The vehicle is has never entered before, so it’s not true that this is a “re” entry. If SpaceX uses it for another mission (unlikely — I’ll bet it goes to the Smithsonian), then it would be a reentry.
Anyway, either way, it should be down within the hour, and if it is, that will be pretty much a perfect flight (with the exception of the LIDAR issue with Kibo during final approach).
[9:09 PDT update]
Dragon has landed, according to SpaceX. Well, splashed down, anyway. Not sure that “landed” is the right term here.
[Update after reading email]
I only glanced at the subject. In the body of the email, it says “Dragon has (splash) landed.”
Falcon First-Stage Recovery
OK, back in the office after over a week of travel to DC and the Bay area.
Over in this comment thread, the question arises of the disposition of the first-stage from last week’s launch. I was wondering too, so at the gala banquet at the Air and Space Museum on Friday night to honor John Glenn and Scott Carpenter, I asked Stephanie Badnarek, director of government relations for SpaceX. As I suspected, she told me that they’re not worrying about recovery of the first stage right now, and probably won’t until they start to attempt to fly it back, pending results of the Grasshopper flights. That wouldn’t surprise me — I don’t think they’ve come even close to an intact entry, and the recovery systems are just parasitic weight at this point.
[Update a couple minutes later]
Clark Lindsey has some notes from the SpaceX press conference on the mission so far, and plans for Dragon entry tomorrow.