Virgin Galactic
Discussion
eharding said:
Beati Dogu said:
The word is that Elon Musk bought a ticket for a flight with Virgin Galactic.
Also, subtly flicking two fingers at Bezos. "Yeah, I've got an operational orbital human-rated launch system of my own, but that Virgin ride looks like a must-do absolute hoot"
Beati Dogu said:
They all laughed at Christopher Columbus
When he said the world was round
They all laughed when Edison recorded sound
They all laughed at Wilbur and his brother
When they said that man could fly
They told Marconi wireless was a phony, it's the same old cry
I don't think George was sticking strictly to history there. When he said the world was round
They all laughed when Edison recorded sound
They all laughed at Wilbur and his brother
When they said that man could fly
They told Marconi wireless was a phony, it's the same old cry
I think maybe some Bernie Taupin or Bowie would be more apropos.Mowges said:
Do you really think bezos cares about musk. Competing billionaires. At least bezos companies make money, unlike musk. I think the guy is unstable and you’d be mad to ride one of his birds
Amazon makes money. Absolutely hods of money, but Amazon isn't being run by Bezos any more. Blue Origin? What's their revenue stream looking like?As for being mad to ride a SpaceX vehicle - well, Musk was at least smart enough to recognise his own failings, and hire the brightest and best, and admittedly motivate them to willingly work themselves into the ground - but fundamentally change the economics of spaceflight in the process.
The ones Musk fired because they didn't get the job done? Bezos hired them. They're still not getting the job done, not really.
Your current options for getting yourself into orbit are SpaceX, the Russians and the Chinese. The Chinese aren't taking bookings, the Russians are starting to look like the Rolling Stones of the manned launch world - outstanding in the sixties, reliable rockers since then but really showing their age - so you can either fly Musk or wait for Boeing to sort out the Starliner - Boeing being like the Madonna of manned spaceflight - they were good at something, once, but now they're just embarrassing.
Does Bezos care about what Musk and Branson are doing? Deeply, I'd say - in different markets. The petulant lawsuits regarding the lunar landing contracts and the pissy little graphic they published just before Branson launched gives you a clue.
Beati Dogu said:
They all laughed at Christopher Columbus
When he said the world was round
They all laughed when Edison recorded sound
They all laughed at Wilbur and his brother
When they said that man could fly
They told Marconi wireless was a phony, it's the same old cry
They laughed at Columbus, becauseWhen he said the world was round
They all laughed when Edison recorded sound
They all laughed at Wilbur and his brother
When they said that man could fly
They told Marconi wireless was a phony, it's the same old cry
A, They knew the world was round.
B, He got his maths wrong and thought the Earth was smaller than it is as he was trying to get to India.
C, If America didn't exist, they would have died as they could not carry enough food for the journey.
D, He didn't discover it.
Hence why in southern Europe, he's known as "Columbus the idiot"
annodomini2 said:
Beati Dogu said:
They all laughed at Christopher Columbus
When he said the world was round
They all laughed when Edison recorded sound
They all laughed at Wilbur and his brother
When they said that man could fly
They told Marconi wireless was a phony, it's the same old cry
They laughed at Columbus, becauseWhen he said the world was round
They all laughed when Edison recorded sound
They all laughed at Wilbur and his brother
When they said that man could fly
They told Marconi wireless was a phony, it's the same old cry
A, They knew the world was round.
B, He got his maths wrong and thought the Earth was smaller than it is as he was trying to get to India.
C, If America didn't exist, they would have died as they could not carry enough food for the journey.
D, He didn't discover it.
Hence why in southern Europe, he's known as "Columbus the idiot"
eharding said:
...
Does Bezos care about what Musk and Branson are doing? Deeply, I'd say - in different markets. The petulant lawsuits regarding the lunar landing contracts and the pissy little graphic they published just before Branson launched gives you a clue.
I think this bit is the most telling. SpaceX just get on with it. Virgin just get on with it. Even RocketLab just get on with it. Blue Origin spend forever not getting very far and when others get ahead, they go straight to lawsuits and negative marketing.Does Bezos care about what Musk and Branson are doing? Deeply, I'd say - in different markets. The petulant lawsuits regarding the lunar landing contracts and the pissy little graphic they published just before Branson launched gives you a clue.
To me, that speaks of the corporate culture.
The consensus seems to be around £1M in ticket sales for each flight. A big chunk of each £1M is presumably going towards paying the bills for the last 15 years of development and 'valuable learning experiences'.
Does anyone know the rough direct cost of operating the flight? If we know what it costs just to gas it up and go that might be an indication of how much the price might eventually come down.
Does anyone know the rough direct cost of operating the flight? If we know what it costs just to gas it up and go that might be an indication of how much the price might eventually come down.
I have read $1M mentioned for Blue Origin, whilst the pitch seems to be $250k for Virgin Galactic.
Business Insider
Business Insider
jingars said:
I have read $1M mentioned for Blue Origin, whilst the pitch seems to be $250k for Virgin Galactic.
Business Insider
OP said ticket sales per flight. 4 seats, 250K per seat = 1 million per flight for Virgin. If Blue fill all six seats with customers (automatic, so no pilot ... no "cabin crew" either?) then presumably they could make 6 million per flight (well, revenue) if they were at the 1 million mark. Business Insider
It was all a bit of a non event, is anyone really impressed with this fairground ride? Just how long and how much money has it taken a private company to launch a rocket powered craft that hardly does what the craft of the 60’s did?
Even Musk and Bezos are just replicating on what has gone before building on and using existing knowledge, vertical landing boosters are only possible due to Modern day hardware otherwise this could have been done back in the 60’s.
It hardly benefits mankind, and for those who do eventually go in to deep space it’s going to be boring and very dull, more a prison sentence and loss of personal freedoms........Just saying.......
Even Musk and Bezos are just replicating on what has gone before building on and using existing knowledge, vertical landing boosters are only possible due to Modern day hardware otherwise this could have been done back in the 60’s.
It hardly benefits mankind, and for those who do eventually go in to deep space it’s going to be boring and very dull, more a prison sentence and loss of personal freedoms........Just saying.......
Flooble said:
jingars said:
I have read $1M mentioned for Blue Origin, whilst the pitch seems to be $250k for Virgin Galactic.
Business Insider
OP said ticket sales per flight. 4 seats, 250K per seat = 1 million per flight for Virgin. If Blue fill all six seats with customers (automatic, so no pilot ... no "cabin crew" either?) then presumably they could make 6 million per flight (well, revenue) if they were at the 1 million mark. Business Insider
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