5 thoughts on “Hard To Believe It’s Been Four Years”
…and the SLS hasn’t launched while Starman has had at least one orbit
Is Falcon Heavy a technological dead end like the Concorde? In 4 years, it’s had only three launches, including its first test launch with Starman.
Ultimately, but it has at least three launches scheduled for this year. It is a transition between Falcon 9 and Starship.
It might be a transitional technology, but it made an impression on the public – especially the younger public – that is hard to overestimate.
My younger son is a software engineer, but he never showed much interest in any aspect of space, including launch. But when the two Falcon Heavy boosters came back and landed simultaneously, he texted me 30 seconds later to exclaim how amazing it was. I had no idea until then that he was watching it. (The teeth-gnashing we at FAA/AST went through to license that landing is, in retrospect, laughable.)
Inspiration 4 was the most inspiring, yet understated, space flight since Alan Shepard’s flight. Elon continues to rack up historic, inspirational firsts for private spaceflight. His early triumphs will be surpassed by subsequent improvements (you’d be amazed at how much the Falcon 9 has morphed over its lifetime). Some will be enormous improvements. Starship will be so big that we won’t be able to predict or describe how big of an advance it is.
Without SpaceX successfully cutting their teeth on lighting 27 engines on Falcon Heavy, I believe lighting 29 or more on Starship would have been seen as unlikely to work.
…and the SLS hasn’t launched while Starman has had at least one orbit
Is Falcon Heavy a technological dead end like the Concorde? In 4 years, it’s had only three launches, including its first test launch with Starman.
Ultimately, but it has at least three launches scheduled for this year. It is a transition between Falcon 9 and Starship.
It might be a transitional technology, but it made an impression on the public – especially the younger public – that is hard to overestimate.
My younger son is a software engineer, but he never showed much interest in any aspect of space, including launch. But when the two Falcon Heavy boosters came back and landed simultaneously, he texted me 30 seconds later to exclaim how amazing it was. I had no idea until then that he was watching it. (The teeth-gnashing we at FAA/AST went through to license that landing is, in retrospect, laughable.)
Inspiration 4 was the most inspiring, yet understated, space flight since Alan Shepard’s flight. Elon continues to rack up historic, inspirational firsts for private spaceflight. His early triumphs will be surpassed by subsequent improvements (you’d be amazed at how much the Falcon 9 has morphed over its lifetime). Some will be enormous improvements. Starship will be so big that we won’t be able to predict or describe how big of an advance it is.
Without SpaceX successfully cutting their teeth on lighting 27 engines on Falcon Heavy, I believe lighting 29 or more on Starship would have been seen as unlikely to work.