Billionaires in Space
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https://www.space.com/blue-origin-jeff-bezos-launch-follows-virgin-galactic-richard-branson-flight
But it's hard to imagine that Blue Origin and its chief weren't at least a little miffed that their thunder was stolen.
For example, Blue Origin recently reminded folks that New Shepard gets above the Kármán line, the 62-mile-high (100 kilometers) mark that is often regarded as the boundary of space — and that VSS Unity doesn't quite get there.
"From the beginning, New Shepard was designed to fly above the Kármán line so none of our astronauts have an asterisk next to their name. For 96% of the world’s population, space begins 100 km up at the internationally recognized Kármán line," Blue Origin wrote via Twitter on Friday (July 9).
"Only 4% of the world recognizes a lower limit of 80 km or 50 miles as the beginning of space. New Shepard flies above both boundaries. One of the many benefits of flying with Blue Origin," the company added in another tweet.
The Kármán line (or von Karman line) is an attempt to define a boundary between Earth's atmosphere and outer space set conceptually at the altitude at which the atmosphere becomes too thin to support aeronautical flight.[2][3] Any vehicle above this altitude moving at a suborbital velocity would not be able to use aerodynamic lift to support itself.[4]:84
While this conceptual definition enjoys widespread consensus, the term "Kármán line" is also commonly applied to various fixed approximations of the concept for which there are competing views. The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), an international record-keeping body for aeronautics, defines the Kármán line as the altitude of 100 kilometres (54 nautical miles; 62 miles; 330,000 feet) above Earth's mean sea level. Not all organizations recognize this definition. The U.S. Air Force define the boundary as 50 miles (80 km) above sea level.[5][6]
International law does not define the edge of space, or the limit of national airspace.[5][7] The boundary between the atmosphere and space is nonetheless important for legal and regulatory purposes: aircraft and spacecraft fall under different jurisdictions and are subject to different treaties.
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On the positive side, the more time these guys spend worrying about this nonsense, the less time they've got to spend grinding the faces of the poor into the dirt.
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The liberals are going nuts about how this money and fossil fuel could be wasted in times like this. I just about threw up.
Guess what, a massive amount of innovation is going on and space used to be awesome as long as NASA was running it.
But most importantly the species has an imperative to survive and getting off this planet in time is a prerequisite.
@loki said in Billionaires in Space:
the species has an imperative to survive and getting off this planet in time is a prerequisite.
Why? So we can fuck up exactly the same way someplace else?
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@loki said in Billionaires in Space:
the species has an imperative to survive and getting off this planet in time is a prerequisite.
Why? So we can fuck up exactly the same way someplace else?
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Unity’s trip meant that, for a few minutes, there were a record 16 people in space, including its crew and those on board the International Space Station and China’s Tiangong capsule.
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@copper said in Billionaires in Space:
So we can get away from people with limited horizons.
Are there any other kinds of horizons?
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The Bezos boys are going up in about 20 minutes:
Link to video -
The liberals are going nuts about how this money and fossil fuel could be wasted in times like this. I just about threw up.
Guess what, a massive amount of innovation is going on and space used to be awesome as long as NASA was running it.
But most importantly the species has an imperative to survive and getting off this planet in time is a prerequisite.
@loki said in Billionaires in Space:
The liberals are going nuts about how this money and fossil fuel could be wasted in times like this. I just about threw up.
Guess what, a massive amount of innovation is going on and space used to be awesome as long as NASA was running it.
But most importantly the species has an imperative to survive and getting off this planet in time is a prerequisite.
Yes, and they give no consideration to the $3B Branson has pledged to causes that address climate change, not to mention the other pretty huge sums he gives away.
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@loki said in Billionaires in Space:
The liberals are going nuts about how this money and fossil fuel could be wasted in times like this.
If the liberals and their friends would get real productive jobs instead of whining about everything, we would have enough money to send everyone into space.
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Massive knob launches into space.
Also, the rocket looks a bit like a penis.
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It's kind of fun watching people trying to justify this as anything other than a "billionaire's joyride."
For that kind of money,
you can@jon-nyc could probably buy a lot more fun for a long longer than 5 minutes.Oh, wait, I said "longer than 5 minutes."
Never mind.
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Sending billionaires into space could save humanity from dying out, however it might be cheaper if we just cooked and ate the motherfuckers.
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Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), who is spearheading the effort, said rich space dilettantes should have to pay taxes for those flights, and noted special concern about the environmental impact of sending people into space on trips with no “scientific value.”
"Space exploration isn’t a tax-free holiday for the wealthy. Just as normal Americans pay taxes when they buy airline tickets, billionaires who fly into space to produce nothing of scientific value should do the same, and then some,” Blumenauer said.
