20 thoughts on “The Bird 9”

1. You sure SpaceX did that? because it looks an awful lot like XKCD.

   1. Actually, it turns out it’s neither, if you follow the link. But it’s XKCD style.

2. Yep, it’s not nearly as good as xkcd’s original “upgoer 5”.

3. I was going to say that it looks like it was drawn by the XKCD guy.

4. Very similar to (but slightly different from):
   http://xkcd.com/1133/

   I’m curious about the provenance of the image. Image and joke stealing is so rife on the internet I doubt Mr. Simberg was aware of it though…

   1. That’s a much better drawing, too.

   2. Maybe it was a homage?

5. Wait. “Legs” is not among the 1000 most common words?

6. I’m surprised that “waffle” is one of the most common English words.

   1. But what is a waffle fry?

7. Newspeak returns.

8. Hrmmm. That bit on the grid fins got me to thinking… maybe SpaceX is up to something that’s right under our noses, but no one has figured it out yet. Perhaps we’re just assuming that those grid fins are for steering?

   Think it through…. what’s likely to happen once the F9 lands on the barge? A big celebratory breakfast, that’s what! And what do you need for such a breakfast? Waffles. I therefor postulate that those grid fins are simply what they appear; hypersonically-preheated waffle makers.

   I can smell a new patent filing coming from Blue Origin any minute now….

9. For the people who voted for Obama-twice, and Richard Shelby.

10. For the people who voted for Obama-twice, and Richard Shelby.

    1. In that case, they probably used 500 words too many.

11. “This is full of the stuff they burned in lights before houses had power”

    Gotta love that whale oil/LOX technology.

    1. So long, and thanks for all the krill?

    2. You mean carbide?

       (Verbiage goes here to avoid the “too short comment error.”)

12. This is why SpaceX has an inexpensive and successful program:

    “Rocket made it to drone spaceport ship, but landed hard. Close, but no cigar this time,” Elon Musk, founder and chief executive of SpaceX, as the company is called, said on Twitter.

    “Bodes well for the future,” he added.
    …
    Engineers will look to work out what went wrong by studying data relayed during the descent, as well as pieces of the rocket itself, he added.

    “Ship itself is fine. Some of the support equipment on the deck will need to be replaced,” said Musk, who prior to the launch had put the odds of a successful touchdown on the first attempt at just 50 percent.
    

    Such a failure by NASA would be followed by handwringing. Contractor/Vendors pointing at each other and careerist civil servants sensing blood in the water pointing at each other. A small set back (really not that, because this is a step forward, just not a completed step forward) would become spun into a major disaster. A disaster then becomes an opportunity for the rodents to feast, while leaving a carcass of space program. The important thing isn’t advancing space, but GS levels and the next contract rebid.

    Sure, that wasn’t the case in the 1960’s NASA, but that’s only because enough money was poured into the program that the rodent feasting wasn’t as noticeable.

    1. Sure, that wasn’t the case in the 1960’s NASA

       It also wasn’t the case in the 60s NASA because that agency had a serious job.

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