Comments by "Tony Wilson" (@tonywilson4713) on "Are Billionaires in Space Just a Pissing Contest?" video.

You are mostly right but also not quite right on a couple of things. Certainly Musk's SpaceX does a lot more normal commercial launches than tourism. But both Branson and Bezos are doing commercial stuff as well buts its less significant and less publicized but it is there. Virgin has Launcher 1 flying -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LauncherOne Bezos has his Luna lander work and the New Glenn and yes I know both have serious questions. So you are partly right and your criticisms are also valid. As an aerospace engineer I'm pretty critical of all 3 in certain aspects and incredibly grateful in others. On the criticism none of them have been all that innovative. Air launched rocket planes were there in the 50s. Re-usable rockets were being developed in the 1960s. On the positives they have broken the strangle hold that companies like Boeing, Rockwell and others had on government funding. That is actually a way bigger deal than most people realise. I get asked all the time why we haven't been back to the moon in 50years. The simplest answer is that companies like Boeing, Rockwell and others had these very cushy very profitable government funded programs where their goal wasn't so much as development as it was doing enough to get the next government grant. So these 3 guys disrupting the entrenched system has been a good thing. I worry about them over-hyping what they do and giving false narratives.
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@CyFr That's a good point. Musk at least has plans to escape to Mars or at least give himself the option. The problem he's got is that Mars is just so awful of a place for humans to live. Its frighteningly cold. It has no atmosphere we can breath. Because of how little atmosphere and magnetic field it has its also constantly doused in solar radiation and not the nice stuff that makes plants grow, but the stuff that kills life as we know it. The moon isn't any better and Venus is a hell hole.
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