You’ve got to admit: Elon Musk has style.
The fire and smoke have long since dissipated, but the excitement of last Tuesday’s maiden launch of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket continues to linger as a lone red car with a mannequin “driver” cruises through the blackness of space to the soundtrack of David Bowie.
Live photos of “Starman” in the drop-top Tesla Roadster — with one hand on the steering wheel and the big, blue Earth hanging behind him — proved to be as inspiring as any image of space travel from the last 50 years.
But this time, it’s a bit different on many accounts. One being: It’s silly and fun, too.
Though it started as a publicity stunt linking Tesla to SpaceX, the image of that car and driver in space quickly became a source of social media delight, getting posted and re-posted on pages all around the world.
A typical new rocket demonstration would usually launch something like a block of concrete to simulate the mass of the spacecraft, but Musk and SpaceX are anything but predictable and boring.
The Falcon Heavy launch was a milestone not just because it became the most powerful rocket in operation, but also because it boosted its payload — the Tesla Roadster and its “driver” — out of Earth’s orbit into the trajectory around the sun, which will take it out farther than Mars, and to the asteroid belt.
As impressive as the launch was, the only question that remains is whether or not it can maintain its momentum and live up to the promise of returning humans to space while landing spacecraft on the surface of the moon — an inherently difficult and dangerous endeavor, even for NASA.
And SpaceX has never flown a rocket with a human being on board before.
But Musk and his company have a lot more coming this year, including launching astronauts on its crewed Dragon spacecraft and preparing its Big Falcon Rocket (BFR) for potential tests in the very near future.
But even though the entire space industry has seen many triumphs, “that doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy,” said Michael Lopez-Alegria, a former NASA astronaut who has also served as the president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation. “Taking humans into space should never be taken for granted.”
Along with Boeing, SpaceX is under contract with NASA to deliver astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).
Though there have been some setbacks and delays, both companies say the first flights with humans could very well happen sometime this year.
Virgin Galactic, the space company founded by Richard Branson, and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin could also fly humans for the first time this year, on suborbital expeditions that could reach the edge of space.
As the space council mulls over how best to involve commercial companies in its newest space race, an undistinguished rivalry (or bromance) seems to have blossomed between Musk and Bezos via Twitter.
After weeks of anticipation from SpaceX obsessives and other mild enthusiasts, Musk finally tweeted that February 6th would be the day that everyone should steel themselves for the Falcon Heavy to take flight.
Bezos, Amazon CEO and founder of competing private spaceflight company Blue Origin, made it abundantly clear to his competitor that he’ll be watching, too.
Bezos tweeted a good luck message to SpaceX in anticipation of the launch:
At first glance, you may be tempted to read these tweet as a sincere gesture of camaraderie. After all, the two companies aren’t in direct competition.
SpaceX plans to send people to Mars. And Blue Origin wants to dominate the emerging space tourism industry, which will launch paying astronauts into orbit around Earth.
But Bezos’ hashtag — gradatim ferociter, Latin for “step by step, ferociously” — could be read as a diplomatic and congratulatory acknowledgment that any successful launch for any private spaceflight company should be considered a great victory for the industry overall.
Although that’s a desirable interpretation, it just might be too innocent of a translation for this.
The hashtag Bezos’ used just so happens to be Blue Origin’s motto. So basically, Bezos’ is effectively “trolling” SpaceX by tweeting his own company’s motto at them the day before the Falcon Heavy launch.
“Go for it! But don’t forget — we’re coming for you,” is the basic insinuation here.
And Musk’s kissy-face response may as well have been the middle finger.
Musk and Bezos have openly shared aggressive words with each other before, but this is all stipulation here. It’s difficult to not see the hidden meaning behind the tweets.
Despite the bromance or rivalry between the two billionaire CEOs, there will be big things coming from each private commercial spaceflight company very soon.
Failed launches, delayed timelines, and any other set back could be detrimental to the companies trying to win this new age space race.
But, big things are coming…
That’s all for now.
Until next time,
John Peterson
Pro Trader Today