I was going to say that landing just on thrusters is ballsy, but it has parachutes as a backup. His difficulty in getting out of the pilot seat seems like something that might be a pain in the ass for astronauts returning from the ISS.
The bad thing about spacecraft announcements is that it is so hard to tell how real they are.
The capsule they showed off today was mostly flight hardware. Meaning it wasn’t a mockup.
Then that’s pretty impressive.
Hopefully Space X keeps its ambitious launch schedule next year. They have 15 launches planned for next year alone. The most ambitious missions being two launches of the Falcon Heavy, launch abort system check for the Dragon V2, and possibly an unmanned launch of the Dragon V2 into space and back. Oh well, if you’re going to be in the rocket business, might as well shoot for Mars.
I really should get a job with SpaceX. Last time I looked, though, the jobs they had I was best suited to were the ones in the Waco area.
I guess no one at SpaceX is British, because the last rocket named V2 wasn’t exactly a crowd pleaser.
I like it. I will LOVE it when I see it fly. Obviously the US gummint, doesn’t care a rat’s ass about manned space flight any more. But if private companies are willing to take up the slack, then WOO-HOO! And… can I get a ride?
I was fascinated by the huge contrast between the interior of previous spacecraft and this one; everything is so slight and minimal.
NASA is providing half the funding and developing the the technology. The US government is on hand to purchase whatever services this company offers. Once again this will be held up as an example of the dynamism of “free enterprise”, which means the public bears the costs and the owners receive the profits.
Oh yes it was. IF YOU WERE HITLER!!! ZING!!!
It is still a boilerplate edition of the ship. The interiors of space-ships tend to get more complicated as they become reality. Just look at some videos from the ISS, the whole space is full of visual clutter. I think that’s just the way it goes these days in space travel. 
Yeah I am more interested in the real vehicle, rather than the mockup.
Ker-blewy!
Thanks for that, I was thinking, “This looks like a set from a low budget TV show.”
I can’t disagree. However:
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Given my choice, I’d rather subsidize a company that actually builds a manned spacecraft and launches it, rather than (a) pay whatever Putin demands for Soyuz seats or (b) subsidize a twenty-year cycle of studying and designing and restudying and redesigning and re-restudying and re-redesigning, which is what we have gotten so far with NASA and its incestuous contractor family.
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SpaceX is one company… that gets one subsidy. At that point, Musk is free to build and buy what he needs in the most expeditious and cost effective way. He is not required to keep twenty marginally competent subcontractors in twenty different states happy and well greased, on account of those subcontractors’ influence on Capitol Hill.
Well at first glance, I have to wonder about two things…The interior looks very spacious, which makes me wonder how much hardware isn’t in there yet. Make no mistake, extra space means more hull to contain it, and therefore more weight, so you don’t generally design spacecraft with lot’s of extra room. (that’s why it looks more like a TV show spacecraft than flight hardware) So I suspect that there’s a bunch more stuff that would go into it for flight.
The second thing is, where is the fuel for the landing rockets? Parachutes are actually a pretty weight efficient way of slowing things down.
I don’t know the exact fuels in use, but they’re hypergolic. The landing thrusters will also be used as escape rockets if there’s a problem during launch.
