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NASA chief suggests SpaceX may be booted from moon mission

(www.cnn.com)
404 points voxleone | 4 comments | 21 Oct 25 12:58 UTC | HN request time: 0.656s | source
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reactordev ◴[21 Oct 25 13:21 UTC] No.45655443[source]▶
Posture, no one can compete, not even NASA.
replies(2): >>45655530 #>>45655583 #
raverbashing ◴[21 Oct 25 13:28 UTC] No.45655530[source]▶
Yeah who is going to deliver faster and more reliable than SpaceX? Boeing? LM?

Doubt

replies(2): >>45655624 #>>45655892 #
JohnFen ◴[21 Oct 25 13:34 UTC] No.45655624[source]▶
I don't know who else can, but I do seriously doubt SpaceX is going to be able to deliver within the next decade or so either.
replies(3): >>45655721 #>>45655732 #>>45655895 #
peterfirefly ◴[21 Oct 25 13:44 UTC] No.45655732[source]▶
They have a pretty good chance, actually. They are almost done with the hard parts of the Starship.
replies(2): >>45655873 #>>45656338 #
1. virgilp ◴[21 Oct 25 13:56 UTC] No.45655873[source]▶
I wouldn't say "almost done" - orbital refueling is likely one of the hard parts, and it wasn't attempted yet.
replies(2): >>45656075 #>>45657347 #
2. JumpCrisscross ◴[21 Oct 25 14:13 UTC] No.45656075[source]▶
> orbital refueling is likely one of the hard parts

It's the most novel and riskiest. I wouldn't say it's hardest. That's launch, reëntry and reüse. They've substantially de-risked those components with IFT-11.

I'd put IFT-12 validating Block 3 as the actual hardest launch next year. If that goes smoothly, I'm betting they make orbit and propellant transfer before the end of the year. And if that happens, I'm betting they get at least one rocket off to Mars before year end.

replies(1): >>45670678 #
3. peterfirefly ◴[21 Oct 25 15:55 UTC] No.45657347[source]▶
It's probably a lot easier than the raptors, the plumbing, the launch tower, the launch mount, the belly flop, staging, and the catching. It's probably easier than the pez dispenser.
4. virgilp ◴[22 Oct 25 15:32 UTC] No.45670678[source]▶
I never claimed "hardest". And yes, block3 being as of right now still unproven is another reason to say "not almost done with the hard parts yet".