>reusable rockets would never work

I am so fucking tired of people acting like we haven't had reusable rockets since the 1980s. Do you think I was hallucinating when my parents drove me to Florida to see Columbia?

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heaney-555 2 days ago | parent [-]

Fine, let's be more clear: reusable rocket boosters that land themselves.

Experts said it wouldn't work. Then they said okay maybe it works, but the economics won't. Now they say nothing.

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dfgknionio 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

The shuttle had reusable boosters, but if you are talking about something reusable that takes off and lands vertically you are correct that it isn't 1980s technology.

It's 1990s technology.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_DC-X?useskin...

No one denies that SpaceX has done good work. But claiming that they have done anything others considered impossible is just wrong. The basic principles had been demonstrated decades before.

You are correct that people criticized the economics. Seeing as SpaceX's prospectus shows their rocketry business loses money, I am not convinced they're winning that argument.

	▲	heaney-555 17 hours ago \| parent [-]
		The DC-X was incredible for its time, but it failed. > but if you are talking about something reusable that takes off and lands vertically No, I am talking about something that takes off and lands vertically after boosting a first stage to orbit. Suborbital is 100x easier.

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AngryData 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Who said that? NASA had plans for reusable boosters if they were ever to get funding for it before spaceX was even an idea.

	▲	heaney-555 17 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Having the idea is not the hard part! Making it work is.