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Old December 14th 11, 09:37 AM posted to sci.space.policy
Matt Wiser[_2_]
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Default NASA, SpaceX Set First Dragon Launch To ISS


"Alan Erskine" wrote in message
d.com...
On 14/12/2011 5:31 AM, Matt Wiser wrote:
On Dec 13, 10:02 am, Alan wrote:
On 13/12/2011 5:22 PM, Matt Wiser wrote:

Now we'll see if Musk's rocket and capsule can do what he claims they

can
do. So far from him, it's been 90% talk, 10% actually getting

something up
and back.

What have you got against SpaceX?


Nothing against Space X, but Musk: the man's been shooting his mouth
off a lot. If he had stuck to his original schedule, the ISS Cargo
runs were supposed to be going by now. Not to mention that "retiring
on Mars" crap and some other statements that imply he was trying to
muscle in on NASA's exploration programs.


Stick to his guns? The delays are hardly unexpected for such complex
systems and most of the delays are not the fault of SpaceX anyway -
there's simply a backlog of launches due to other failures - not by

SpaceX.

So the man's got dreams, what's the matter with that? Good luck to him,
I say and if anyone can make it happen, it's Elon Musk.


Nothing wrong with dreaming, that's what America's all about: turning dreams
into reality. But, and this is what his problem is, he's been more into
yapping than flying. He needs to follow what the Commercial Space Federation
said at their 2010 symposium: "We need to stop talking and start flying."
Only by flying will those who doubt commercial crew and cargo services be
satisfied-and I'm one of them. Not to mention loathing the Musk-worship you
find on a number of sites: spacepolitics.com is one-where if you're not 100%
behind Commercial Crew/Cargo in general (and Space X in particular), you're
a heretic. He's not the messiah when it comes to HSF to LEO; all he is is an
entrepeneur with a product he wants to sell to NASA, other space agencies,
corporations, and maybe space tourism as well. That's all.

Maybe there wouldn't be the venom directed at him if he was playing catchup
to an outfit like Boeing or ULA in this regard, maybe not. Until he flies
people to LEO and brings them home, he's an "amateur hobbyist" as one
congressman said when this whole commercial crew concept got going.