from Hacker News

SpaceX cleared for US military launches

by jamesmoss on 5/27/15, 8:06 AM with 116 comments

  • by nraynaud on 5/27/15, 9:42 AM

    I like the old school dogma underlying the whole thing. Russia is bad, private enterprise is good, the US wants to put weapons in space, and Michael Jackson is rocking the world with Thriller.

  • by Fuxy on 5/27/15, 9:34 AM

    So really this is a more of necessity not to encourage competition.

    They need a replacement for the Russian rocket engines and SpaceX is the only good alternative.

  • by neolefty on 5/27/15, 11:18 AM

    I assume this is for the Falcon 9 especially; will they need to certify the Falcon Heavy as well, and will it take as long as the F9 certification?

  • by kaolinite on 5/27/15, 12:21 PM

    Is anyone else becoming a touch bothered by the large number of BBC news articles that are being submitted to Hacker News? I love the BBC and BBC News is - for the most part - very good. However, the articles on their website are often lacking in detail and when talking about technology, they are often wrong or show a misunderstanding on the behalf of the reporter. The BBC News definitely has a place - I'm just not sure that it's on Hacker News.

    I don't mind one or two articles - and I don't mind articles from mainstream news publications - but there are a lot of articles being published from the BBC. Here's the past 24 hours:

    https://hn.algolia.com/?query=bbc&sort=byPopularity&prefix=f...

    All of that said, they keep getting upvotes - so enough people clearly want them on Hacker News.

  • by shiggerino on 5/27/15, 5:03 PM

    What exactly are the national security implications of using Russian engines? That it will combine and burn fuel and oxidizer like a stinking, dirty commie?

  • by chinathrow on 5/27/15, 2:16 PM

    Welcome to the military/industrial complex. Something you can be really proud of!

  • by higherpurpose on 5/27/15, 10:04 AM

    I would've preferred if SpaceX didn't become a Defense contract. Now I'm worried about military/NSA influence (in order to get these contracts) spilling over into Elon Musk's satellite Internet business.

  • by wahsd on 5/27/15, 2:41 PM

    This seriously compromises the integrity of SpaceX.

    Even if they were to only support "national security" there is absolutely zero chance they can know whether they are actually supporting national security or global surveillance and oppression of human rights.

    What people don't realize is that we, SpaceX and Musk, are really no different whatsoever than any of the companies that have been chided for "working with the Nazis" or "supplying the Nazis". The US Government and military are nothing remotely even close to "a force for good". A force for good does not support totalitarian dictators, overthrow governments, spy and surveil their "friends", assassinate scientists, support racist regimes, invade and collapse societies leading to the formation of ISIS, use government powers to support corporate private interests, shield, hide, and protect tax evaders, etc. The dirty laundry list is looooong.

  • by throwaway12357 on 5/27/15, 11:37 AM

    Somewhat ironic that Elon Musk's SpaceX whose ultimate goal is to make life multi-planetary, is now collaborating with agents that may as well be responsible for triggering a Kessler syndrome. Not to mention the fact their business very much implies the termination of human life -- if for the greater good that is left for discussion on a case by case basis.