Originally Posted by
TURIN
What failures? The peregrine mission is the only private spacecraft I can think of that completely failed. All the others seem to have at least partially fulfilled their brief.
I may have expressed myself a little too harsh... But few people know, that privately funded spaceflight is not a recent invention, because it began exactly 50 years ago with a company called "OTRAG" (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OTRAG - there is an interesting documentary called "Fly Rocket Fly!" about it here (geman language with english subtitles only):
Startseite-Englisch ? FLY ROCKET FLY ). The founder of that company was lectured by the same professors as I, but more then a decade earlier. I even applied for an internship but the company was already being dissolved then. Between OTRAG and SpaceX there have been several attempts at private enterprise spaceflight, some were total failures, others still exist as subcontractors. One of the last major failures was "Virgin Orbital" and honestly I don't see a bright future for "Virgin Galactic" either.
Originally Posted by
TURIN
As for Hubble.
I'm sorry but that is not true. Hubble didn't work, it's mirror was not manufactured correctly. It was a complete white elephant until it was fixed... At great expense.
I count Hubble as one of the greatest successes of spaceflight ever. Because it was cleverly designed with in-orbit serviceability in mind. Therefore the initial flaw could be corrected. Not only is it a wonderful science tool, but also a strong reminder why human spaceflight is essential. Again, the cost is irrelevant, scientific advance has no price tag.
Originally Posted by
TURIN
When you say you've seen nothing but failure do you include SpaceX Falcon 9 and Heavy launches? Over 200 successful consecutive launches and recoveries. Even the Dragon capsules and fairings are reusable.
Falcon is indeed a success story. As for the Dragon capsule, it's development was funded and subcontracted by NASA just like the Apollo spacecraft 60 years ago. Not really private enterprise there. And how much the development of the Falcon rocket really cost only Elon Musk knows... Starship has yet to prove itself, but again, NASA funding and subcontracting for it's use as lunar lander takes some of the "private" aspect away.
Originally Posted by
TURIN
As for the SLS and Orion programs, a complete waste of money, decades late and not reusable.
I fully agree. Good lobbying from the industry combinded with weak project management from NASA.
So let's see how the remaining two missions of Intuitive Systems will perform!