Sunday, July 11, 2021

Congratulations to Richard Branson

If you consider altitude 88 km to be "space", then Richard Branson has earned his NASA wings. Tasting his own dogfood, as engineers put it.

I think the fifty-mile threshold is an American holdover from the 1950s when NASA was more an aeronautical concern, and space an afterthought. Branson is, I believe, British but he did this test in New Mexico rather than in Australia. To be an international spaceman he needs to exceed 100 km.

100 km what Jeff Bezos hopes to achieve, from Texas. As for Elon - I think he's still focusing on reusable heavy-freight rockets.

And we must all appreciate Branson (and Bezos) working on reliability and safety in no-atmosphere flight. It starts with tourism; it becomes commonplace travel and shipping. There is the "room" to read.

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