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truthisfreedom

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24. Wait, what? There's three new companies (and possibly a fourth) who are building rockets now, and

Fri Dec 30, 2011, 02:25 AM

Dec 2011

NASA and other entities are contracting them to put satellites, probes, and PEOPLE into space! SpaceX (Elon Musk's rocket company, the guy behind Tesla Motors and a former partner at Paypal) will be launching for NASA in January. He hopes to put a man on Mars within 10 years! The commercialization of space travel is a great thing for America. Why should we be paying for everything with our tax dollars when we can let commercial entities take all of the financial risks?

Let's look at the list of companies entering the space race right now.

Elon Musk's SpaceX (my personal hero)
Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic (yep, THAT Richard Branson)
Paul Allen's Stratolaunch Systems (he's a co-founder of microsoft)

There are more. Check out this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_spaceflight

The future of commercial spaceflight is actually pretty bright! Don't despair! We're still leaders, but it's moving to the commercial sector!

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Highlight:

China push to put astronaut on the moon [View all] dipsydoodle Dec 2011 OP

Didn't we put up a 'No Trespassing' Sign? bahrbearian Dec 2011 #1

Good, I hope they succeed cowcommander Dec 2011 #2

I hope the Chinese feel the same. eom tawadi Dec 2011 #15

Yeah, China's not at all nationalistic. Richardo Dec 2011 #20

Yeah... kenfrequed Dec 2011 #40

Point being - no nation is going to the moon and NOT be nationalists Richardo Dec 2011 #42

I imagine there are many different degrees of nationalism-- from the benign to the destructive LanternWaste Dec 2011 #45

Outer Space Treaty Ichingcarpenter Dec 2011 #90

Agree, and.. girl gone mad Dec 2011 #87

Good. We should be ashamed of our giving up on space. onehandle Dec 2011 #3

Wait, what? There's three new companies (and possibly a fourth) who are building rockets now, and truthisfreedom Dec 2011 #24

Space tourism and satellite launching for the highest bidders is not quite the same. onehandle Dec 2011 #43

Wow. Thanks for the iteration of continuing space exploration Kolesar Dec 2011 #86

SpaceX has no plans to go to Mars. girl gone mad Dec 2011 #91

("SpaceX has no plans to go to Mars") But NASA does.. EX500rider Jan 2012 #98

Amen, onehandle! DeathToTheOil Dec 2011 #60

I hope this will push us back into manned spaceflight in a big way DavidDvorkin Dec 2011 #4

And I hope we stay far away from manned spaceflight... Bob Wallace Jan 2012 #102

+100: unmanned missions are the way to go for now 0rganism Jan 2012 #104

I can't think of a reason why we would want... Bob Wallace Jan 2012 #107

GOP Candidates Declare Plans For Border Fence Around Moon jberryhill Dec 2011 #5

Can they fake it as well as NASA did? ngant17 Dec 2011 #6

I know I'm whistling in the wind here drm604 Dec 2011 #8

Hahaha, you used "apollo was a hoax" and "think" in the same sentence. (nt) Posteritatis Dec 2011 #30

Also faked: your education. nt Dreamer Tatum Dec 2011 #9

I hope you are being sarcastic. Odin2005 Dec 2011 #12

I'm reading DU and the moon missions were faked. Really? stevedeshazer Dec 2011 #16

You should've seen the wankfests on that a couple years ago.. (nt) Posteritatis Dec 2011 #31

You are missing an "I", "O", and "R" itsrobert Dec 2011 #22

Only took me two days. Iggo Dec 2011 #92

Wow. How eminently reasonable of you. Warren DeMontague Dec 2011 #28

Face. Fucking. Palm. AtheistCrusader Dec 2011 #32

TOS violation Eliminator Dec 2011 #44

I alerted and the jury said it was just fine. Codeine Dec 2011 #71

Skinner, however, didn't. Posting revoked uppityperson Dec 2011 #78

Can't say I didn't warn him... Eliminator Dec 2011 #79

Su-weet. nt Codeine Dec 2011 #80

praise fucking Jesus Warren DeMontague Dec 2011 #81

Thumbs up on that! (n/t) EX500rider Jan 2012 #99

This is the sort of stupidity that makes DU look absurd. nt Codeine Dec 2011 #65

Post removed Post removed Jan 2012 #109

alerted. Codeine Jan 2012 #110

You're joking, right? Gemini Cat Dec 2011 #67

I heard NASA was going to blow up the Moon neverforget Dec 2011 #75

Moon cheese is terrible. It's monumentally stinky cheese. MineralMan Dec 2011 #76

Really? sakabatou Dec 2011 #93

Thay are looking for another Walmart location to dump their junk in n/t doc03 Dec 2011 #7

Sour grapes... David__77 Dec 2011 #10

If you say so n/t doc03 Dec 2011 #11

Really? stevedeshazer Dec 2011 #17

Disinformation. David__77 Dec 2011 #19

What about the censorship? Is it as bad as we have heard or is that also disinformation? cstanleytech Dec 2011 #23

Post removed Post removed Dec 2011 #25

Be nice. He is after all entitled to his views cstanleytech Dec 2011 #26

I was nice. But the fact remains. nt Dreamer Tatum Dec 2011 #27

And we are entitled to ridcule him. tabasco Dec 2011 #56

China is improving. AtheistCrusader Dec 2011 #33

Well perhaps we can narrow it down, can you search about the Tiananmen square protests now? cstanleytech Dec 2011 #35

There is no Internet censorship in China DissedByBush Dec 2011 #55

techincal problems perhaps like say a firewall blocking access? cstanleytech Dec 2011 #69

It's all semantics DissedByBush Dec 2011 #72

This message was self-deleted by its author agent46 Dec 2011 #37

"Unlike the US, China has pledged a "no first strike" policy." EX500rider Jan 2012 #100

Are we then to presume that destructive social policies in 1960's America LanternWaste Dec 2011 #46

Meanwhile, we need the Russians to get people into orbit, now. Odin2005 Dec 2011 #13

And even that seems like playing Russian roulette with a chainsaw these days.. (nt) Posteritatis Dec 2011 #70

Space exploration was a proxy for the Cold War in the 1960s Kolesar Dec 2011 #14

The space race did improve peoples lives. It holds much more promise. n/t Gore1FL Dec 2011 #29

Space exploration DOES improve peoples' lives. Warren DeMontague Dec 2011 #34

"Space exploration DOES improve peoples' lives." - completely unsupported inna Dec 2011 #39

You're working on a computer, aren't you? baldguy Dec 2011 #47

omg! LOL! +5 (arbitrary!) points for trying so hard, but... no cigar! inna Dec 2011 #48

How many communications satellites use vacuum tubes? baldguy Dec 2011 #50

failure to see the difference between correlation and causation; inna Dec 2011 #53

-5 for not answering the question. -20 for not knowing what you're talking about. baldguy Dec 2011 #54

*facepalm* sakabatou Dec 2011 #94

Basic research should be funded by the federal gov't, but the space program isn't the way Kolesar Dec 2011 #84

There is no need to pick and choose. girl gone mad Dec 2011 #88

Jesus Mother of Christ Eliminator Dec 2011 #58

'Taint just ignorance. Denialism isn't just a Republican trait. Sigh.... n/t PavePusher Dec 2011 #73

You sound like you are going to start your "Republican gun grabber" speech Kolesar Dec 2011 #85

Wow. Off topic, much? n/t PavePusher Dec 2011 #95

Think of all the cute little critters it saved. sofa king Jan 2012 #106

More convenient instead of hitting the FT paywall here's an NY Times article alp227 Dec 2011 #18

Its odd that dipsydoodle Dec 2011 #41

Finally. Deep13 Dec 2011 #21

By the time China gets to the moon SpaceX will be on to Mars. joshcryer Dec 2011 #36

I would put the chances of that at zero percent. girl gone mad Dec 2011 #89

Their first F9 launch was a complete success. Their second? First non-government... joshcryer Dec 2011 #96

"Non-government".. girl gone mad Jan 2012 #105

Government got them there quicker. joshcryer Jan 2012 #108

Hey, anybody remember when America used to do great things? tclambert Dec 2011 #38

I remember Gemini Cat Dec 2011 #66

I remember the the Eagle Landing sce56 Dec 2011 #83

Been there, done that. Javaman Dec 2011 #49

Chinese announce plans pscot Dec 2011 #51

...."Americans last set foot nearly 40 years ago"? When was this written? LeftinOH Dec 2011 #52

Considering the amount of Apollo deniers out there I'm just glad they got the right century. (nt) Posteritatis Dec 2011 #61

The last Apollo mission (Apollo 17) landed on the moon in December, 1972. nt Codeine Dec 2011 #68

Better them than us Ratty Dec 2011 #57

yeah, except they're doing it with our money, while we got crappy products that Flatulo Dec 2011 #82

Let them have it. The moon is boring - and humans are too weak and puny for deep spaceflight Baclava Dec 2011 #59

The moon is the best next logical step for a base, Mars is too far away at this time Uncle Joe Dec 2011 #62

I still think too much money is spent on HUMAN spaceflight - - let our metal brothers lead the way Baclava Dec 2011 #77

Cool! Neoma Dec 2011 #63

Welcome to 1969! fujiyama Dec 2011 #64

Good for them! Steerpike Dec 2011 #74

I wish 'em luck. Bucky Dec 2011 #97

Good - they'll be needing to import lots of expensive stuff from the US to do it too. dmallind Jan 2012 #101

they'll change their minds once Apollo 18 is dubbed with Mandarin. aikoaiko Jan 2012 #103