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First post, by DosFreak

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https://www.engadget.com/can-richard-branson- … -170015596.html

This past Sunday, Sir Richard Branson was escorted to an altitude of 50 miles aboard Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo Unity. Somehow, these men are now both considered astronauts.

Relevant (Trailer Park boys so you have been warned)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpymUblcedw

Last edited by DosFreak on 2021-07-15, 23:04. Edited 1 time in total.

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Reply 1 of 21, by mrwho

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It depends on who you ask whether he went to space or not.

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-ha … u-ask-1.6099854

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Reply 2 of 21, by Pierre32

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DosFreak wrote on 2021-07-15, 22:58:

Relevant (Trailer Park boys so you have been warned)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpymUblcedw

I've never watched the show, but that was a version of the exact joke I thought of when I saw the thread title 😁

"You f**k ONE goat..."

This was my favourite response to the whole affair. https://twitter.com/kenklippenstein/status/14 … 414813854420997

Reply 5 of 21, by Caluser2000

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It's called leading by example. Good on the man I say.

There's a glitch in the matrix.
A founding member of the 286 appreciation society.
Apparently 32-bit is dead and nobody likes P4s.
Of course, as always, I'm open to correction...😉

Reply 6 of 21, by chinny22

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I like Wikipedia's opening paragraph.

"An astronaut (from the Greek "astron" (ἄστρον), meaning "star", and "nautes" (ναύτης), meaning "sailor") is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft."

I've been on plenty of boats and even a few ships but wouldn't call myself a sailor. I think the same rule should apply to astronaut as space tourism is becoming a thing.
Although even wiki also goes on to say the term astronaut's been used to describe anyone that's gone into "space" so guess it's nothing new.

but hey if the guy wants to jump aboard the company's spaceship then I can hardly blame him.
Hell, I still think getting to drive the company car on occasions is pretty cool

Reply 7 of 21, by Zup

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That's because the pilots managed to land the spaceship (can it be considered a spaceship? there are doubts if 50 miles is considered "space").

In other case, the headline could've been "You crash once and you're history".

I have traveled across the universe and through the years to find Her.
Sometimes going all the way is just a start...

I'm selling some stuff!

Reply 8 of 21, by brostenen

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He did not really reach space. He flew in the thermosphere. But then again, the different US gouverment agencies define it all differently. Nasa say 80 kilometers. Other say 118 kilometers. Nations in Europe say 118 kilometers.

Space??? Well, not exactly true.

Don't eat stuff off a 15 year old never cleaned cpu cooler.
Those cakes make you sick....

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Reply 9 of 21, by Jo22

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Light travels faster than sound, thats why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
- Albert Einstein

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

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Reply 10 of 21, by Caluser2000

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brostenen wrote on 2021-07-16, 09:45:

He did not really reach space. He flew in the thermosphere. But then again, the different US gouverment agencies define it all differently. Nasa say 80 kilometers. Other say 118 kilometers. Nations in Europe say 118 kilometers.

Space??? Well, not exactly true.

But there was nothing else around except for space. Plenty of space....😉

There's a glitch in the matrix.
A founding member of the 286 appreciation society.
Apparently 32-bit is dead and nobody likes P4s.
Of course, as always, I'm open to correction...😉

Reply 11 of 21, by mrwho

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Caluser2000 wrote on 2021-07-16, 10:11:
brostenen wrote on 2021-07-16, 09:45:

He did not really reach space. He flew in the thermosphere. But then again, the different US gouverment agencies define it all differently. Nasa say 80 kilometers. Other say 118 kilometers. Nations in Europe say 118 kilometers.

Space??? Well, not exactly true.

But there was nothing else around except for space. Plenty of space....😉

You could say the same about Texas...

“Hey, you sass that hoopy MrWho? There's a frood who really knows where his towel is."
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Reply 12 of 21, by brostenen

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Caluser2000 wrote on 2021-07-16, 10:11:
brostenen wrote on 2021-07-16, 09:45:

He did not really reach space. He flew in the thermosphere. But then again, the different US gouverment agencies define it all differently. Nasa say 80 kilometers. Other say 118 kilometers. Nations in Europe say 118 kilometers.

Space??? Well, not exactly true.

But there was nothing else around except for space. Plenty of space....😉

It is not empty space. There is a lot of stuff. Even ISS are inside remains of our atmosphere.
The majority of people and scientists agree that space is after 118 kilometers.

Don't eat stuff off a 15 year old never cleaned cpu cooler.
Those cakes make you sick....

My blog: http://to9xct.blogspot.dk
My YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/brostenen

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Reply 13 of 21, by BitWrangler

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There's lower standards also, weren't pilots getting Astronaut wings for doing 100 or 120,000 feet zoom climbs in the 60s??

But if you wanna get really really technical, has anyone actually navigated between two different stars yet? Nope, therefore nobody is an astronaut.

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 14 of 21, by BitWrangler

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Caluser2000 wrote on 2021-07-16, 00:58:

It's called leading by example. Good on the man I say.

Well yeah, it's a nice proof of confidence in his own hardware kind of thing. You wouldn't wanna fly in a Boeing if you heard of the CEO saying "There's no way in hell you're getting me into that thing."

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 16 of 21, by Jo22

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BitWrangler wrote on 2021-07-16, 14:21:

There's lower standards also, weren't pilots getting Astronaut wings for doing 100 or 120,000 feet zoom climbs in the 60s??

But if you wanna get really really technical, has anyone actually navigated between two different stars yet? Nope, therefore nobody is an astronaut.

Interesting thought. Technically, all our planets are still within sun's atmosphere (the heliosphere), anyway. I wonder, does this make us solarnauts/stellanauts, maybe ? 😉

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 17 of 21, by Jo22

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The other guy is now flying into space..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMHhXzpwupU

Isn't it great when people have dreams they're trying to fulfill and don't care about money at all ?
That's quite an inspiration. Hope the crew makes it (fingers crossed).

Edit: Lift-off! Wow! 😁 Isn't it amazing to be human and to be able to follow this event !? 😁
Edit: Phew! All went fine! And people are happy and laughing. ❤️ Isn't it wonderful that people can be so positive ? 😀

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 18 of 21, by ratfink

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Yeah I thought it was all very uplifting. The pickle millionaire's ship reminded me of my old Hamlyn Rockets and Missiles book from when I was a kid in the sixties - pretty similar craft in there so watching that felt like watching a childhood dream come true. The gondola that bezos came down was very retro too, like something out of Jules Verne.

Reply 19 of 21, by Jo22

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+1

I think they did a good job, despite all the negative press.

Personally, as an European, I kind of miss that slightly naive (North-) American optimism of the late 20th century.

Today, everything is so grim and sarcastic. The press comes up with the lame old "what is that good for??" thing.
It's depressing how simple-minded they are. They are so limited in their thinking that it hurts.
Press loves to talk about scandals and catastrophes, but seldomly about the good things. 🙁

Boy, what I'm tired of this negative attitude.
Space exploration is about seeing things from a different perspective.
Problems in space lead to solutions that can have applications on earth, too.
Thing is, they are discovered by accident, also. In science, solutions not seldomly appear before a matching "problem" (application) is found.

Likewise, a space flight for VIPs may have a positive effects on these people.
Apollo astronauts stated, that their space flights made them spiritual and made them feel humble.

If just a handful of world leaders would go into near space and feel the same way,
the world could become a better place.
Likewise, any solutions found to give life to a dead asteroid, moon or mars can help healing earth.

But no, press always comes up with how much things cost or how much pollution rocket launches cause.
This is paradox, I think, because money spent on warfare is many times higher and
because these new rockets aim to be very efficient and recycable.

These new rockets can be re-used and don't remain in orbit (like rocket stages often do).
Also, over the years, air planes and cars do cause much more pollution that rockets.

All in all, this reminds me of Einstein, who stated that we can't fix things with the same mindset that caused the problems.

He also asked us to question ourselves if we think the universe is a friendly place or a hostile place.
If we think about this, the current situation in the world is a bit depressing. People claim to be open-minded and politically correct (ugh), but apparently always assume the worst of other people and can't laugh about themselves.

The whole "sarcasm is soo cool" fad is amplifying this, I think.
I mean, I love Garfield's type of sarcasm/zynism.
But that is because it's in combination with humor.
Both together work like yin and yang and keep things in balance.

Of course, these last two "space" flights were mainly a publicity thing.
A proof-of-concept so to say. To attract investors.
But they also were intended to fulfill a long awaited wish of the companies' founders.

But this wish makes the motifs very likeable, very human.
It's not for nationalism, not for prestige. Not even for commercialism/capitalism.
If we watch these videos, we see people with real emotions. Simple as that. 🙂
These millionaires fulfilled their childhood dreams, as childish as this may seem. Maybe that's why they even started their business originally, not sure.
They really lived for this very day, it seems. This may inspire several generations for space and this old, blue marble.

And that this 82 years young lady was invited to participate the flight,
was also a nice move. 👍
I think it had to do with justice, rather than publicity.
She was an aviation ace and participated a real astronaut training in the 60s,
until the NASA project in question was halted to prevent women from passing the final tests (they were so close).
This was due to political reasons, apparently, because a few old men didn't like the idea of equality.
So if people on a fishing cutter can call themselves "sailors", "captains" and "skippers", why can't these people be "astronauts", too? 😉

That being said, that blue origin rocket is quite interesting, IMHO.
Reminds me of old science fiction novels, in which rockets had the ability to land on foreign moons and planets! 🙂
I think it's really fascinating that real rockets nowadays finally have this ability!
This maked old novels much more believable and enjoyable in retrospect.

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//