Went down and watched it from the waterfront. Unless it's a real time live feed, what you see on TV is delayed for a minute or so. We were watching the feed and the wife remembered last time the feed was delayed. Sure enough.....watching the feed on the cell phone showed the countdown and the SpaceX still sitting there but you look down towards the Cape and you see the rocket going thru the sky. Probably 2-3 minutes after the SpaceX disappeared from our sight, the rumble worked it's way up the coast. Pretty cool. The rockets landing back was real cool to see. I never seen that before except for TV shows like Lost In Space. We did a Kennedy Space Center tour a couple of weeks ago. It was alot better than I thought it would be. Last time I did a tour was back in the early 70's. Here is a vid I did. After you watch a movie in a small room, you are escorted to doorway with a holographic image that opens up to what you see in the vid. Young kids (and old ones) would love this.
Talked to a retired aeronautical engineer last summer. He said the private sector will accomplish so much more than NASA can. NASA has become too stuck in their old ways and have lost their ability think creatively like they did years ago. Too much government attitude there. Tighten a bolt and then do three hours of paper work on what you did. One of my cousins husband worked on the space shuttle orbiters years ago and that’s what he said. Too much time documenting everything you do.
I took the kids to Cape Canaveral. They had fun and enjoyed it. The climate change theme during the IMAX 3D presentation sucked the fun out of it for me.
Pretty incredible moment in American history where we really see what the private sector can do!! Inspiring to hear the team cheering in the room as the ricer prepared to launch, and with each milestone in its journey. When that shell came off the rocket and exposed the Tesla with its spacesuit driver... just wow!
2 out of 3 ain't bad! This entire thing was pretty amazing considering it was done with private funding. Altogether a testament to how great America is!
This part may have been done with private funding, but he has received nearly $5 Billion in government subsidies.
From the link:
"Elon Musk, the master salesman of our times, has found the perfect implement for making science sexy and evocative to everyone: a Tesla Roadster. Without a human element, even the fiery eruptions of a rocket launch can start to feel repetitive, especially in our present age of instant access to the spectacular and otherworldly. So Musk is saying, how about a glossy red electric supercar to reignite imaginations?
And not just that, the entire thing was streamed live in a high-quality 1080p YouTube feed, from multiple angles, and with fun touches like a “Made on Earth by Humans” printed on a circuitboard and a “Don’t Panic” message on the dashboard. The spacesuit-wearing dummy with its left arm nonchalantly draped over the car door with David Bowie blasting on the speakers was the perfect finishing touch. "
