Yeah, geez, I’m trying to get inspired here by Inspiration4, SpaceX’s latest launch. Call me crazy, or jaded or just thick as a mud fence, but it’s not coming. Maybe someone can help me peel the clouded scales from my eyes. Maybe it’s those cheap looking Sci-Fi space suits or maybe I was expecting to swoon over the sheer audacity of it. But I got nothin’.
Id prefer we fill the seats with the fools in Washington DC. One way.
It’s all been done on the 60’s. That means this 60 year old stuff is just expensive “who cares”.
Paul your starting to sound like an old geezer ?.
Participation in aviation related activities is on the decline and your part of the problem, not the solution. Perhaps a change of occupation is in order…maybe Walmart greeter?
Got a case of the Meh-h-h-s now? Wait until they describe the science experiments carried out by the first batch of paying passengers in the World’s First Revenue Flight Of A 3D-Printed Electric Powered Autonomous Multicopter.
Paul - So your raffle ticket didn’t come up? Me neither.
Paul, I find that you 're much more impressed with this than you profess to be. In particular, you’re impressed with Elon Muck and his SpaceX accomplishments, as am I. Remember that he could have taken his early gobs of money and played for the rest of his life, but instead he’s given us Tesla (transformed the whole idea of electric cars) and SpaceX.
“Cartoon” describes this event perfectly, from the cartoon drawings on the wall to the “tournaut’s” flight clothing that’s right out of the Jetteson’s cartoon animation series. Space flight is no longer about exploration and putting one’s life on the line to accomplish what has never been done before. It’s just a new opportunity for the ultra-wealthy to grab the spotlight for their glory as they bathe in whatever satisfaction they get from looking down on the rest of us. Expect the video game shortly, if it hasn’t already been released.
Rockets are hard, space is even harder, the fact that private companies are doing it is amazing. Most of all though, we have a new generation of engineers and scientists doing it, and in innovative and lower cost ways. That is truly inspiring.
Like a remake of an old movie, new actors and updated scenes.
"That’s why to set the world right, some billionaire should buy me a seat on one of these things. You could have no more honest set of eyeballs recording the passing scenery as ya’ll fool around with those science projects. "
I can think of nobody better to do an objective “ultimate pilot report” on a space launch than Paul.
We would get the “warts and all” objectivity missing from the “Gosh–Golly–Gee, look what I DID!” of non-aviation reports. We would also get the deeper MEANING of the flight–Paul’s wry and sometimes acerbic commentary.
No cartoons??? What the hell? I want the cartoons. One cartoon is worth a thousand witticisms… well, maybe not a thousand but I still like the cartoons
With all due respect, I don’t understand why AvWeb, AOPA, Flying, & other AVIATION news outlets cover spaceflight at all. I own a 1946 Aeronca Champ & two vintage gliders; my flying never even gets close to the tropopause. The only aspect of spaceflight that interests me as a pilot is whether these operations pose a threat to aviation. Otherwise, if I wanted to read about spaceflight, I’m sure I could find many sources of information.
Paul
Substitute small plane for space x, private pilot for (amateur astronaut or tournaut) and purpose instead of science in your piece and see how it reads.
I hope you are being somewhat tongue in cheek because as an earlier poster said the attitude you expressed towards this flight is often expressed towards GA by those who cannot find the time or money to participate.
I personally am enthused that private space flight is happening since the US government has other spending priorities.
Yeah, I can’t imagine there is any crossover interest between GA and space flight. Possibly as a way to increase revenue the folks at Avweb decided to cover space stories occasionally. Seeing as we’re here anyways probably a good idea to give us another page to click on. GA is way more varied than your 75 year old plane and gliders. A significant number of pilots were hooked on flight by watching Apollo and STS launches and dream of getting the our turn.
I wish Donald Trump would buy a ticket on the next flight out. I would love to see him squeezed into one of those hot spacesuits, making a couple hundred orbits minimum. He has the money. But does he have the guts?
Penultimate means next to last. Did you really mean that?
To Daniel Berend:
I’m keenly aware that GA is broader than my Champ & vintage gliders. I’m retired after 44 years as a magazine editor & writer, most of those with aviation magazines. I’ve flown a wide assortment of stuff from hang gliders & parachute canopies to jets. All that has been aviation, not space. I’m glad for you & anyone else who was inspired by space exploration to become involved in aviation, but I respectfully submit that these are two different realms, & I’m not interested in billionaires riding an unwinged object for which the atmosphere is just an obstacle to overcome.
Bold talk from someone named 1958 Cessna.
I know why we cover them. Because readers want us to. Space stories are among the highest read on the site, much more so than electric airplane stories.