Virgin Galactic’s Future

The amount of money wasted on this flawed concept is tragic, when considering what better things could have been done with it to advance suborbital flight.

Are they still using hybrid propulsion? I haven’t seen much detail on what’s different about Delta, other than size.

If SpaceX is offering orbital rides for a few hundred thousand, I’m having trouble seeing how VG would compete with a suborbital system. They were way too late to market, and they’ve probably missed it. I would never have put a dime into this business, and I wouldn’t now.

Islamists Keep Stabbing People

Why are we not allowed to talk about it?

This “Islamaphobephobia” has been going on since 911. Whenever an Islamist Islamists, the knee-jerk reaction is to express concern over our reaction to it, rather than the act (similar to how when there is Democrat wrong doing, the story is about Republicans “pouncing”). And it’s not just in Europe; the pro-Hamas demonstrations and riots indicate that it’s here as well, and we’ve been letting many in at the open border. The administration’s notion that Gazans should be “resettled” here is insane.

Admiral McRaven To The American People

“There are countries that do not tolerate speech critical of the government and its institutions. There are countries where citizens who publicly disagree with the actions of the government and its institutions are condemned as disloyal citizens, investigated and tried. There are countries where people with political views that differ from those of the governing authorities are subject to governmental abuse and ruin just because of their political opinions. We have a name for these countries. They are totalitarian.

Space History

Several firsts today. I think this is the first time we’ve seen an entry without a plasma blackout. It’s amazing that it managed to do a soft landing with all of that damage to the fin. I’ll be curious to know if all of the fins suffered like that, or just the one in the video, but it’s a testament to how robust the design is.

[Update a while later]

I suspect that this is going to upstage Starliner docking with ISS.

[Update a while later]

Commentary from David Strom.

[Friday-morning update]

Reflections from Glenn Reynolds.

Centuries from now, on other worlds, Joe Biden and Donald Trump will be minor footnotes in history, but everyone will know the name Elon Musk.

[Update a while later]

Ellie Sheriff interviews Elon:

Biting Commentary about Infinity…and Beyond!