Originally Posted by
Two's in
Anyone dismissing the Starhopper as less than serious should watch the current rash of successful Spacex launches, followed by the still amazing return of the first stages back to a flawless landing (well, mostly these days). The cost savings in multiple reuse of the first stage are staggering, and it took a commercial venture to make that a reality. Apparently sucking off the public teat like NASA prevents you from thinking that way...
NASA did re-use both the SRB parts and the main engines of the Shuttle, though, didn't they?
AFAIK, the main disposable parts of the STS were the external fuel tank plus some parts of the SRBs that couldn't be refurbished for re-use.
Technology has moved on and has allowed Space X to land their boosters on a dry platform, which allows greater re-use. Not surprising that this is a big step up from STS, as STS was conceived way back in 1969.