I Think I'll Pass

Outside The Beltway
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Space X is doing an all civilian space mission. The kicker is one of the four astronauts is going to be picked from a random drawing.

I actually considered getting involved, until I read up on the commander of this mission.

First, let me introduce you to him. Jared Isaacman is the CEO of a company called ‘shift 4 payments’ which is a payment processing giant in the hospitality industry.

Here is his flight experience. He basically flies MIG’s on the weekend for fun, though he does have a world record for fastest trip around the world. He’s also run a flight school for military pilots.

Nothing personal, but nothing about him gives me any confidence should this voyage suddenly have an ‘Apollo 13’ moment.

Just for fun, I found someone I’d be much more comfortable as my flight commander…when you read about him, you’ll see why. Let’s just say he is proven to have ice water in his veins in emergency situations.

It is with this in mind, that I’m formally deciding to take a pass at trying to make history this time around. I would suggest you don’t either…but that is up to you.

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I really don’t think you read the article about the guy who “flies MIG’S on the weekend for fun and ran a flight school for military pilots”.

With all his flight experience (wonder if your commercial pilot has the hours and experience to pass the test to fly military planes as a civilian), and multiple flight vehicle training (how many types of flight vehicles has your commercial pilot flown) – he does seem like a good choice to me.

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I still have doubts that a permanent settlement on Mars can be achieved.

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Um…did you bother reading up on Capt Sullivan’s resume…especially the part about him being a former Air Force fighter pilot? I think he could more than pass that test, and with flying colors to boot.

With all due respect, this mission has a very good chance of turning into the next Apollo 13 fright flight. At that point, the Captain has 3 lives in his hands, and his next move could very well spell doom for everyone.

It’s your life pal…which person would you rather have? The teacher, or the doer?

I don’t know about you, but I choose the doer.

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I apologize for going off-topic, but when I first glanced at this post, I thought that somehow his company name slipped past the profanity filter. It wasn’t until my second glance that I noticed the letter F in the first part of the name.

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That just proves this forum needs a more readable font. :rofl:

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I believe it is absolutely possible. Not in the near future. But maybe in 50 years or so.

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A permanent settlement would imply people being born there, at 38% of the gravity we are evolved to gestate from.

We’ll see. :man_shrugging:

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It is simply too cold and too far to ever see a human WO some sort of hybernation technology…which would make going to Mars trivial.

Nobody is going to Mars. Better off with deep space drone exploration.

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I’d settle for advancing the technologies needed for an Alcubierre Drive.

This could be us someday:

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It’s a reach…I don’t like to say never.

Deep space probes are the here and now.

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Journey would be 7 months. People are staying in the space station on missions that are 6 months – and has been as long as 400+ days. I’m thinking there would be a heater of some type in the rocket blasting you to mars.

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14 months round trip is an awful long time to visit a frozen barren planet.

Average temperature of minus 81 F would have life sustaining materials failing like crazy after 7 months in transit.

I don’t want to ruin the fun…No way would I green light going.

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Yes it is, but the first one(s) to do it will be in the History books forever.

How would it fail? Remember we put a mars rover on the ground and it ran for how long past it’s expected lifespan?

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Correct. That rover did not need to store food or oxygen or medical supplies.

To be honest I would have said the same about going to the moon in the 1940’s.

I am too risk adverse now.

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Still thinking it won’t be a problem given the rover was designed, worked, and worked very well above expectations in the conditions.

Or when Columbus set sail – right?

Oh I won’t be signing up for any space travel anytime soon. I don’t even like airplanes.

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They’re just going up and down. That’s Branson’s whole gimmick, and they’re trying a test flight soon. I’d guess Musk is just casting his shadow with this show.

I watched a few dragon capsule missions and the controls basically amount to 3 tesla touch screens that wont do much more than let you see where you are and pick a spotify playlist. Damn near a Disney ride.

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That’s it. The nerds on the ground do the math and flying, “pilot” gets a bit of docking control.

A few years from now Musk is going to huck that rich Japanese artist guy and 8 friends who already paid around the moon, using the BFR. That’s the one i’d skip.

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Care to tell me how cold it gets in the Arctic Circle or Antartica? :wink:

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It gets that cold, but it doesn’t stay that cold. It may get up to +70 in the summer sun, but summer nights on Mars get as low as -100 F. I don’t even want to think about winter …

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