back to article Gaze in awe at Elon Musk’s historic 156-foot erection

SpaceX has retired the first rocket it managed to land in one piece and erected the remains on Sunday outside the company's US headquarters. The 156-foot (47-meter) rocket is the first stage of SpaceX's Flight 20 launch, which touched down at Cape Canaveral last December. Since then, its innards have been removed and …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    No contest

    The Wright Brothers gave us powered flight.

    Bezos can now give rich tourists a big thrill and a bigger bill.

    Progress!

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    He wants to be careful

    When I were a lad I built a rocket out of a washing up liquid bottle and loo roll tubes (fear not my old man was a miserable bastard so we never had the posh stuff so I didnt have to wait long) and I left in the driveway over night.

    Next day it was gone because the bin men took it.

    As long as he doesnt leave it too near the bins he should be ok.

    Also, there cant be many pikeys round there. It'd take a brave man round here to leave that much scrap out.

    1. Yesnomaybe

      Re: He wants to be careful

      When I was a lad, I used to pack match-heads into empty shell-casings and then crimp the opening partially shut. I learned that: The difference between a really good rocket and a pipe-bomb is vanishingly small. Got the hang of it, and didn't loose any fingers but in hindsight it probably wasn't something a 12 year old should be playing with.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It's all in the marketing

    FAA, don't think of it like a obstical planes could run into during foggy conditions because it is massively taller than everything else around the airport, think of it as a massively tall easy way to distinguish where the airfield when scanning the horizon for it.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: It's all in the marketing

      And if a plane does ever crash into it, it will be really historic.

      What's left of it.

  4. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Meh

    Let's see what it does to the $/lb price.

    That's the only number that matters.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Oh my, Mr Musk!

    Gaze in awe indeed. It's hard not to be impressed. 'Tis a thing of sublime beauty -- would love to see it in the flesh.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Oh my, Mr Musk!

      Ewwwww...! Just No.

      1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
        Joke

        Re: Oh my, Mr Musk!

        It could have been worse if he'd forgotten the comma in the subject line.

  6. JonW
    Thumb Up

    Nice to see things put into perspective

    Splendid final sentence; narks me that people lump the two vehicles together as it belittles SpaceX's achievement.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Nice to see things put into perspective

      And mis-characterizes Bezos' achievement.

      I suspect the author sadistically stuck that last bit in just to troll us commentards...

    2. a_yank_lurker

      Re: Nice to see things put into perspective

      Both are technically important milestones. Bezos showed it was technically feasible which is very important in its own right. But Musk showed that it is a viable for actually launching useful payloads which is even more important. True the time before the two events was very short but Bezos showed Musk's idea was reasonable if technically more difficult.

      Credit should be given to Musk's team for solving the technical problems so quickly, a brilliant piece of work.

      A parallel is most (Americans) think Lindbergh was the first to successful fly a plane non-stop across the Atlantic. This overlooks that Alcock and Brown did not about 8 years earlier. And a few months/weeks before Alcock and Brown the USN flew a seaplane across the Atlantic with a few hops. To me Bezos' did want the USN did while Musk jumped ahead to Lindbergh, skipping Alcock and Brown.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Nice to see things put into perspective

        The trouble I have with the Bezos rocket is its shape. Every time I see it I think that the company should be renamed from Blue Origin to Electric Blue Origin.

        1. TheDillinquent

          Re: Nice to see things put into perspective

          Blue Organ

      2. Alan Brown Silver badge

        Re: Nice to see things put into perspective

        " Bezos showed it was technically feasible which is very important in its own right."

        DC-X showed that 20 years ago. Bezos is good at sounding his own trumpet but a sounding rocket is not particularly innovative.

  7. Mikel

    Kudos

    Nicely done.

  8. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge
    Joke

    Is that a rocket

    Is that a rocket in your pocket, or are you just pleased to see me?

  9. Spudley

    Great to have one on display, but...

    Great to have one on display.

    But when is he actually going to re-launch one of them? That's what I'm waiting for.

    That and the Falcon Heavy.

    1. Swarthy
      Facepalm

      Re: Great to have one on display, but...

      Later this year - according to the article.

    2. Yesnomaybe

      Re: Great to have one on display, but...

      Once they have a re-launch, that will presumably herald the end of Musk's economic worries for good.

  10. annodomini2
    FAIL

    "Flight 20 wasn't the first rocket to successfully reach space and return, since Jeff Bezos' New Shepard rocket managed that a month before"

    Nope... SpaceShipOne did it first. (From a non-governmental perspective)

    Some may argue the Space Shuttle did it first.

    Bezos achieved the first Earth bound powered landing, which is a different thing.

    1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
      Mushroom

      "Bezos achieved the first Earth bound powered landing, which is a different thing."

      If we're being fussy, one could argue that the Russians have been doing powered landings for years. Admittedly it only "powered" for the last few feet, but still....

  11. RJFlorida

    Gazing in awe

    I just come here for the lewd innuendo in the titles.

  12. Simon Harris
    Boffin

    Falcon 9

    Can it become the officially recognised El Reg unit for height measurement?

  13. SkippyBing

    Quandry

    On the one hand I'd like to visit it the next time I'm in LA visiting friends. On the other I may never get to if Trump gets elected and I'm too scared to go there!

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