Ten minutes after liftoff, SpaceX cut its own live feed on the Starfall demonstration flight. No orbit confirmation, no payload description, no further commentary. It was the kind of silence usually reserved for national security launches, and it was enough
  • Peppycito@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    912·
    3 days ago

    Dude, you realize the whole ‘going to the moon’ thing was just a way to convince the public to fund ballistic missile technology? And the whole reason for the shuttle was to steal Russias satellites? One of the biggest use cases for space is war. Space travel won’t feed anyone.

    • robear@lemmy.zipEnglish
      23·
      3 days ago

      We can already feed everyone. We just choose not to. Space travel has nothing to do with it, but we should do it anyway.

        • dzsimbo@sopuli.xyzEnglish
          31·
          2 days ago

          Not if we have gay space-communism and anyone and their mother can use the skytrain (my colloquial name for a space elevator).

            • dzsimbo@sopuli.xyzEnglish
              2·
              2 days ago

              Love ‘em! I think one of Banks’ Culture books even has a river running through one. I really believe it’s more a matter of when and not if. We probably won’t see one, unless longevity treatments become a thing.

              • GreyEyedGhost@piefed.caEnglish
                2·
                2 days ago

                Not Banks Orbitals, which are amazing and a fair way into the future, but orbital rings. They’re another launch system like space elevators, but have some advantages and drawbacks.

    • partial_accumen@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      2 days ago

      Dude, you realize the whole ‘going to the moon’ thing was just a way to convince the public to fund ballistic missile technology?

      And this was true for both sides of the 1960s Space Race.

      • Sputnik 1 was carried into space by the Soviet Sputnik rocket (an adaptation of the R-7 Semyorka Intercontinental Ballistic Missile) on October 4, 1957 source

      • Yuri Gagarin was carried into space on April 12, 1961, by a Vostok 8K72K rocket. The Vostok 8K72K was a three-stage liquid-fueled launch vehicle derived directly from the Soviet Union’s R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) source

      There was fierce competition inside the USSR for which rocket technology would be best used for weapons. The whole “exploration” or “civilian use” thing on both sides (USA/USSR) was just window dressing for weapons programs in space.

    • cy888@lemmy.worldEnglish
      6·
      3 days ago

      Ballistic missile tech already existed.

      It was modified for use in the Mercury program.