Blue Origin

[Eric Mc]

Einion Yrth said:

If the tourists are expected to pull the thick end of 12G on the way down, I doubt there'll be many tickets sold.

And also on the way up. The Redstone gave the occupant a bit of a rough ride.

I was thinking more of the capability of the rocket regarding where it could take its occupants rather than how comfortable the experience might be.

I would like to see Blue Origin actually start this service and then get a move on with its genuine space projects. They still haven't flown any sort of orbital mission.

[Eric Mc]

It looked a bit dicey at the end, I have to say. I expect it was battling some sort of crosswind.

[Eric Mc]

Another launch shortly -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xYMvWEE3Fg

[Eric Mc]

Those chutes come out awfully late.

[Eric Mc]

Very little of this money is to buy the ticket. Most is going to charity. It was actually a charity auction - not for the purchase of a ticket.

[Eric Mc]

I’ve got her biography which I have yet to read. There was no woman in space programme as such - so it wasn’t cancelled. However, Dr Lovelace, who had run the medical tests on the Mercury astronauts was curious to see how women pilots would fare in the same tests.

Lovelace organised the tests and some of the ladies involved performed very well - better than the men in some cases. However, there was no formal “programme” even though there were some attempts to lobby the US government to try to get some of these ladies onto the programme.

[Eric Mc]

That's what I was thinking. Having lost out a bit on being the first pure commercial ride into space to Virgin, Bezos has garnered some media interest because of the people who are making up the first passenger list.

[Eric Mc]

Donations by wealthy individuals to scientific and educational institutions is a long established thing. Diplodocus Carnergii isn't called that for no reason.

I suppose Carnegie was slagged off too back in the 1800s.

[Eric Mc]

hyphen said:

But everyone just calls it a Diplodocus. What an idiot, should have asked for it to be the first name

Against the rules.

[Eric Mc]

Live coverage here -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMHhXzpwupU

[Eric Mc]

It's a rocket.

However, they launched and recovered it 15 previous times (unmanned).

[Eric Mc]

Out of the hold already. Rockets and "holds" go together.

[Eric Mc]

Sitting on top of a fully fuelled rocket is still a scary thing to do.

[Eric Mc]

I always hold my breath until those chutes fully open.

[Eric Mc]

I'd be happy to try either.

[Eric Mc]

The flip manoeuver is specific to Starship because of the requirement of entering a planet's atmosphere at speeds up to 25,000 mph.

The Falcon 9 first stage doesn't use the flip manoeuver either.

[Eric Mc]

Stussy said:

fiatpower said:

The blue origin method of landing looks a lot less risky without the flip procedure.

Agreed, but still impressive

See my comment above. The flip manoeuver is not done for fun.

[Eric Mc]

I'm sure some in capsule footage will be forthcoming soon.

[Eric Mc]

saaby93 said:

you can understand why the first space flights had to do an orbit

Please explain.

[Eric Mc]

Live TV from spacecraft launches has been around for a long time. On the whole, NASA did not do it. The only live TV I've seen from a NASA launch was from the Apollo capsule in the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz mission.
They never showed live broadcasts from their Shuttle launches.
In contrast, the Russians have shown live footage from their Soyuz launches for decades.

The first American space mission which featured live TV from orbit was Apollo 7, in October 1968.