re: SpaceX's new Falcon Heavy rocket at the launchpad edit: Today's the launch date

Does the vanity of this man piss anyone else off besides me? A US Government Leach. Why send a car? Why not something useful? This man is the biggest government farmer in the history of the world.

First hit in Google:

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By the Los Angeles Times' reckoning, Elon Musk's Tesla Motors, SolarCity, and SpaceX together have benefited from an estimated $4.9 billion in government support. The figure compiled by The Times, explains reporter Jerry Hirsch, comprises a variety of government incentives, including grants, tax breaks, factory construction, discounted loans and environmental credits that Tesla can sell. It also includes tax credits and rebates to buyers of solar panels and electric cars. "He definitely goes where there is government money," said an equity research analyst. "Musk and his companies' investors enjoy most of the financial upside of the government support, while taxpayers shoulder the cost," Hirsch adds. "The payoff for the public would come in the form of major pollution reductions, but only if solar panels and electric cars break through as viable mass-market products. For now, both remain niche products for mostly well-heeled customers." And as Musk moves into a new industry — battery-based home energy storage — Hirsch notes Tesla has already secured a commitment of $126 million in California subsidies to companies developing energy storage technology.

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Does the vanity of this man piss anyone else off besides me? A US Government Leach. Why send a car? Why not something useful? This man is the biggest government farmer in the history of the world.

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Nah. Everything that leech does is available to anyone else who has the vision to go out do it. It's not as if the government is making Elon Musk only programs. He's just smarter than everyone else and is figuring out how to use those freely available programs to make his visions come true.

Then he launches fricking satellites into fricking outer space and then lands fricking reused rockets on fricking barges and brings the cost of getting to fricking space down.

What have you done?

EDIT: Other than be pissed off at someone doing things you didn't have the imagination to even begin to think of, I guess.

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Why send a car?

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I think that was a bit of sarcasm in the OP.

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Question is does he ultimately become Tony Stark or Lex Luthor?

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I'm thinking Hank Scorpio.

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Then he launches fricking satellites into fricking outer space and then lands fricking reused rockets on fricking barges

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Ironically the barges are owned by a Louisiana company...

No, it was not. His car is in the rocket.

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LINK


Video on why it was delayed. If you watch t made good business sense to do so.

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Dude has a pretty sweet space suit I guess

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Yes their rockets are very successful. For a while there they were blowing up a lot of rockets trying to land them, but they expected that as it was a totally new concept and not something NASA was able to do. The rocket launches themselves were mostly a success though (there was a recent one that exploded I believe).

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Thanks for the input DTG. Was just asking a question and got murdered with downvotes Sheesh.

I guess people forgot about....

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2006 The first SpaceX launch fails just 33 seconds after lift-off. Cause: a rusty nut. This video provides a blurry view looking down from the rocket…until it explodes.

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2007 The company’s next chance to establish credibility also ends in failure. The engines shut down prematurely and the rocket fails to reach orbit. SpaceX is 0 for 2.

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2008 Ferrying the ashes of Star Trek star James “Scotty” Doohan into space should have made great publicity for SpaceX—if the payload hadn’t ended up in the sea instead. This video captures the moment when two of the rocket stages separate and collide, sending the craft into an uncontrollable spin. Also onboard was SpaceX’s first payload for NASA.

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2015 A SpaceX rocket vaporizes shortly after launch. It was June 28—the birthday of company founder Elon Musk. On board were two payloads for NASA destined for the International Space Station. NASA has since negotiated significant discounts on its SpaceX contracts.

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2016 Space X loses a rocket before launch, after the vehicle explodes during fueling.

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LINK

I'm not even shitting on SpaceX, but with any industry, there will be multiple failures before successes.