24 thoughts on “SpaceShipTwo Lands at SFO”

  1. Yup,

    O.k. so we had a successful government funded project, therefore…
    government run projects aren’t successful?

    There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of a conformation bias binge.

  2. Yep, we would never had gone to the moon if JFK had not mandated it and poured a vast amount of money into the project. This was anything but a backyard project, and the various manufacturers involved would never have invested that kind of money into a venture like going to the moon. For one thing, they did not HAVE that kind of money. The government did.

    Additionally, much of the hardware used in the space program started out as defense projects. Atlas and Titan missiles were the backbone of the early man in space programs. Some projects are just too big for private investors. Bert Rutan and his folks were able to use that early research. If they had not, his spaceship program would never have gotten off the drawing board.

    And BTW, our space program, as well as supersonic jet design, got a quantum leap ahead thanks to German research during WW-II. Those were all government funded projects

  3. Gyges:

    My point was America was freer than the Soviet Union and so was able to get to the moon first. Actually it probably wasn’t even a contest once we geared up.

    I don’t know if you know this but we went to the moon on mostly available technology, produced I might add by the private sector.

    It also appears that Rutan did this with off the shelf technology as well or he developed it for this application. I think someone above mentioned they do not use tiles for heat protection.

    Anyway, my money is on people doing their own thing in pursuit of knowledge or a buck or both.

    I do dig, just disagree that Rutan used all that much available government developed technology to do this.

  4. Yup,

    Did you really just bring up the U.S.’s manned trips to the moon to prove a point about this guy was only able to do this because he’s free from government control?

    I hate to be the one to break this too you, but NASA is the organization responsible for manned space flights to the moon. As it turns out, NASA is run and funded by the U.S. Government.

    Look, these guys are doing something amazingly cool, but the reason they can do it now and not 50 years ago, is because they’ve benefited from all sorts of research and advances that the U.S. and other countries have made through government sponsored research.

    Dig?

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