A Kitty Hawk moment not to many noticed...

[Hatterasguy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1B6oiLNyKKI


We are now not throwing away the plan each time we fly to space!

The cost of space travel is about to plummet.

[Mölyapina]

I guess not too many people noticed the original Kitty Hawk, either .

Just watching that video, you can feel the excitement in the air. What a moment for everyone at SpaceX and everyone else on earth, too.

[Hatterasguy]

Yep, it was a game changer that's for sure.

The Falcon Heavy is being redesigned to be reusable, right now seats to space are around $20m compared to the Russian $76m, but they expect that to drop significantly in the coming years.

[OM617YOTA]

Love it.

Imagine how much our Mobil Delvac 1 at Walmart or whatever store would cost if the semi truck that delivered it just got thrown away after a single use? Exciting times for the space industry.

[spdrun]

The goal is still takeoff and landing from a runway, not vertical landing under rocket power (pretty wasteful of fuel payload -- you're using a rocket to hold you up when you could be using the air in the lower atmosphere). I suspect that space travel won't get truly affordable till we have a usable space plane.

BTW - the Shuttle solid boosters were reusable and refilled. They were recovered via parachuting into the ocean.

[pj67coll]

My stepfather, who worked briefly for NASA many decades ago alerted me to it. It was impressive for sure. Hopefully they can do it consistently.

- Peter.

[cmac2012]

Bah humbug. Cheap thrills. Earth is the realm of man.