Title says it all. I just watched Blue Origin land a bunch of rich space tourists and it’s being called a successful “mission”. IMO trying to massage egos of the vendor and participants as having something greater than an exclusive joyride with no greater purpose than to have personal bragging rights.

  • Maeve
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    122 days ago

    I don’t think it’s just bragging rights. I think it’s to figure out potential issues with transportation and colonization.

  • @[email protected]
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    622 days ago

    There are few things more useless than arguing over language. The problem with our billionaire space race isn’t the branding.

    Some people act like the editors of the dictionary can bend reality like the force, Green Lantern ring, and the Infinity Stones all rolled into one.

    • @[email protected]
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      222 days ago

      If you can’t influence people with word choice, why have people been doing It for centuries?

  • @[email protected]
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    22 days ago

    At this rate the up down motion and the penetration of the tip into the outer rim is so basic and over done, they may as well call it missionary.

  • Mellow
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    22 days ago

    history of the word mission

    mission(n.) 1590s, “a sending abroad” (as an agent)

    General sense of “that for which one is sent or commissioned” is from 1670s; meaning “that for which a person or thing is destined” (as in man on a mission, one’s mission in life) is by 1805.

    Meaning “dispatch of an aircraft on a military operation” (by 1929, American English)

    was extended to spacecraft flights (1962), hence, mission control “team on the ground responsible for directing a spacecraft and its crew” (1964).

  • @[email protected]
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    422 days ago

    High cost, high risk activities should require a non-refundable insurance purchase that can be used for cleanup should something go wrong, environmental offsets, and any other unexpected costs.

    Hell, private rocket launches should have to prepay cleanup costs.

  • Scrubbles
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    322 days ago

    I like the idea of something like cruises. A voyage.

  • @[email protected]
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    822 days ago

    They are literally strapped to enough explosives to kill them many times over. It may not require any skill, but it is certainly dangerous.

    • Skua
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      1022 days ago

      Isn’t that also true of anyone taking a regular commerical flight on an airliner? There’s plenty explosive fuel in there to kill someone too

      Much less dangerous, certainly, but I wouldn’t count the engine as a reason for it being a “mission” unless the mission is testing that engine

    • @[email protected]
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      522 days ago

      Is skydiving a mission? Is deep sea diving? Those are dangerous, but are as much novelties as these space flights.

  • jawa22
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    622 days ago

    The rate at which billionaires are doing incredibly dangerous things is far too low.

    • @[email protected]OP
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      118 days ago

      Something in the back of my mind…the Ocean Gate passengers were given clipboards with some kind of paperwork to record what they observed. Can’t remember if that was busywork or attempt to legitimize the trips.