Billionaire Space Shots

[MoKelly]

Not an issue. You don't have the funds anyway.

Is this response indicative of how informed you are before you post?

MoKelly

 

[Jstpssng]

Off topic somewhat but how about a "hundredaire" space flight?
As a kid I was always ordering stuff from Edmund Scientific (in Barrington NJ I think).
I ordered a weather balloon then spent the day using Mom's vacuum cleaner, hose connected to exhaust, inflating it.
Finally it was "YUGE!"
Then what to do. It wasn't a windy day but hard holding onto, of course no lift but bulky.
We lived in the country but off of a major highway so I decided if I could get it down our long driveway across the road was my best friend and he'd be amazed. Somehow I made it...cars blowing horns, people yelling! Luckily my friend was home and amazed...until it snagged on a telephone pole ripping it apart, but well worth it.
Always curious if you had a big pasture and enough helium to lift your weight less 10 pounds strapped to a body harness what it would be like. Not enough lift but close enough you'd feel weightless.

Not the same but similar... a former coworker had a huge kite, the type that would pull a water skier. She was a little tiny thing and when a few of us went to watch her fly it, another coworker had to hold her belt to keep her from taking off.

 

[MossRoad]

Back in the 60's one of our neighbor's dad built a HUGE kite. He was an engineer. They took it out to a field and it picked the dad up off the ground. He had to let it go. I'd guess it was close to 8' tall. He retrieved it and tried a few more times. He just didn't have the body weight to hold it down.

 

[Cougsfan]

Quite a few years ago in our area some young people made a kite big enough for them to ride in. It didn't go well, a couple of kids were killed.

 

[rekees4300]

BEZOS BECOMES ASTRONAUT

 

[MossRoad]

Just like a ride at the fair!

 

[sd455dan]

from listening to the after flight interviews
Billionaires are finally seeing The Pale Blue Dot -just up close

Long distance images provided by Voyager 1

 

[MoKelly]

It was 10 1/2 minutes. Less than one cup of coffee drinking time. Hurry up and rush.

I watched on TV. Pretty cool.

I thought the best was when the rocket retuned and made a perfect landing exactly in the center of the circle it left.

That (to me at least) was incredible.

MoKelly

 

[stuckmotor]

I hope the Billionaire space flights are more successful than the shuttle disasters.

 

[mapper]

Wouldn't it be amazing if just one of those guys thought - world hunger, cancer or something like that was just as exciting.

Bill and Melinda Gates, Warren Buffet. Folks still dislike and don't trust them. Go figure.....

 

[mapper]

Not expressing an opinion on whether or not billionaires going to space is good or bad. I grew up watching the space program from John Glenn's first flight to landing on the moon. It was exciting and led to a lifelong love of spaceflight and the potential of space colonization. NASA continued making progress up to the space shuttle, which was intended to be a test bed for further development. That never happened, progress slowed to almost a complete halt, we ended up having to depend on the Russians for getting personnel to and from the International Space Station. We as a nation decided that further development was too expensive, we would rather spend our tax dollars elsewhere.
Other posts have mentioned the fact that the billionaires want to exploit the potential resources in space which belong to everyone, well we decided we didn't want to pursue them as a nation, so it kind of leaves the field open for whoever gets there first. Will it be our billionaires or the Chinese, India or the Russians?
When the national space program was in its heyday the tax rates on personal income were incredibly high (90+%) for the very wealthy. This has changed and allowed the growth of incredible personal wealth for a small percentage of our population. They now are the ones who can afford to pursue the dream of space travel, exploration and colonization.
Will this be good for the rest of us? Only time will tell.

 

[txdon]

BEZOS BECOMES ASTRONAUT

at 10:20 when the capsule is about 10' off the ground at the landing do some boosters fire off to soften the landing? I see a lot of sand blowing right before it hits the ground.

 

[bigtiller]

at 10:20 when the capsule is about 10' off the ground at the landing do some boosters fire off to soften the landing? I see a lot of sand blowing right before it hits the ground.

Yes, but my tv said they fired at 20 feet.

 

[ruffdog]

Maybe the rich should just stay on earth and buy stainless steel rabbits for $91.1 million? Sad....

Rabbit (Koons) - Wikipedia

 

[Fuddy1952]

Bill and Melinda Gates, Warren Buffet. Folks still dislike and don't trust them. Go figure.....

P. T. Barnum
Not sticking a cigar in anyone's balloon but thought provoking, oosik & mapper.
In one sense the flight was pretty amazing but as Jeff Bezos said: up there you see how fragile the Earth is, which to me (please, I'm being apolitical) makes me think of the green new deal, etc. Not to say we shouldn't take care of our planet, but I guess a cure for diabetes, cancer, etc. wouldn't have the same Wow effect.
It just makes me wonder about priorities and what's the long term agenda?

 

[MoKelly]

P. T. Barnum
Not sticking a cigar in anyone's balloon but thought provoking, oosik & mapper.
In one sense the flight was pretty amazing but as Jeff Bezos said: up there you see how fragile the Earth is, which to me (please, I'm being apolitical) makes me think of the green new deal, etc. Not to say we shouldn't take care of our planet, but I guess a cure for diabetes, cancer, etc. wouldn't have the same Wow effect.
It just makes me wonder about priorities and what's the long term agenda?
Amazing the richest person on Earth pays no federal taxes.

The taxes thing is Fake News.

He pays taxes just like you and me on stock he sells. There is no magic here. He pays capital gains just like anyone.

Read carefully the media reports of him paying no taxes. They are talking about the increase in his Amazon stock value in 2020. Then they say he paid no taxes on that huge gain. Duh!

Well - no one pays taxes on unrealized gains in stocks. No one gets a tax deduction for unrealized losses in stocks.

The media reports are a push to say “the rich should pay taxes on unrealized gains in stocks”.

There is always an agenda.

MoKelly

 

[Darryle]

How fragile while I blast off in my weiner rocket

These self absorbed people are so disconnected from reality, makes millions using tons of electricity, fuel, trees and mined plastics to ship all his goodies all over the world, and then puts the cherry on top with his rocket.

 

[MoKelly]

Now that rockets are sufficient to get into orbit, we need to focus on tractor beams!
It seems they have been trying to grow corn in space as well. Some farmer just fertilized a small batch with Lysergic acid diethylamide and submitted it and named it “Space Corn”.

Or “beam me up” technology!

Image not having to drive or fly anywhere again!

MoKelly

 

[Fuddy1952]

I edited out the taxes last sentence, irrelevant anyway to my point (Billionaires and taxes depends on Forbes, Politico, etc source).
My main point and many agree there are plenty of good things the super rich can spend their money on which is why the P. T. Barnum reference.

Is this "space flight" truly to benefit mankind, is it putting on a show, is it political or an inflated ego display?
One day even the uber rich will be on their death bed. Is it better to look back thinking with my vast wealth I made space travel possible for the masses or a cure for cancer/diabetes/alzheimers was discovered ending massive suffering.
The super rich can leave behind a fortune in real estate and possessions, or they could be remembered as helping others.
Just thought provoking is all.

 

[jjp8182]

Not to stir the pot too much, but from what I've seen sometimes "helping" others is the fastest way to cripple them for life.

Basically the old statement about giving a person a fish vs. teaching them to fish. While some may prefer to always be given "fish", if they never learn to "fish" for themselves what happens when all the benefactors who were giving them "fish" are no longer able to do so? (for whatever reason).

Not saying helping others is a bad thing, but the nature of the "help" really needs to be considered...

As for the "super rich", I find it rather fascinating just how quickly a massive family fortune can be spent - especially if the heirs never really learned the value of money by having to work for it.