Blue Origin trip to Mars

[Rams]

Absolutely incredible launch and landing on a barge 350 + miles off the coast.   I am very impressed.

Rams

[Robert]

Absolutely incredible launch and landing on a barge 350 + miles off the coast.   I am very impressed.

Rams

Its amazing to watch the take off and landings. What Musk did in such a short time and NASA couldnt do in a lifetime.

[Rams]

Absolutely incredible launch and landing on a barge 350 + miles off the coast.   I am very impressed.

Rams

Its amazing to watch the take off and landings. What Musk did in such a short time and NASA couldnt do in a lifetime.

I could be wrong but, I don't believe this was Elon,  I believe this was a Bezos rocket ride.

Rams

[Serk]

I'll rephrase Robert's sentiment:

What private industry has done in a few years government run programs couldn't do in a lifetime...

(Unless it's an authoritarian government that steals designs from the private industry that pioneered the new developments, I.E. China)

And yes, this was a big Amazon delivery.

I'm still partial to SpaceX and Starship but whatever moves us towards a goal of multiplanetary life is a good thing and I'll celebrate.

I watched it live on multiple monitors, as I do with most launch attempts...

Sticking their landing on the 2nd attempt was awesome, I think SpaceX took 10 attempts to finally get that down for the first time (With Falcon)

[Jersey mike]

I'll rephrase Robert's sentiment:

What private industry has done in a few years government run programs couldn't do in a lifetime...

(Unless it's an authoritarian government that steals designs from the private industry that pioneered the new developments, I.E. China)

And yes, this was a big Amazon delivery.

I'm still partial to SpaceX and Starship but whatever moves us towards a goal of multiplanetary life is a good thing and I'll celebrate.

I watched it live on multiple monitors, as I do with most launch attempts...

Sticking their landing on the 2nd attempt was awesome, I think SpaceX took 10 attempts to finally get that down for the first time (With Falcon)

Competition is a driver and learning from the "mistakes" of others certainly decreases the learning curve.

It's great they got the rocket up and into space but there's a long way to go and then the successful deployment of the satellites which I hope goes well.

The idea of putting people on Mars is an interesting idea and it's going to take people with real grit and determination to see it through while knowing help isn't around the corner.

[Rams]

I'll rephrase Robert's sentiment:

What private industry has done in a few years government run programs couldn't do in a lifetime...

(Unless it's an authoritarian government that steals designs from the private industry that pioneered the new developments, I.E. China)

And yes, this was a big Amazon delivery.

I'm still partial to SpaceX and Starship but whatever moves us towards a goal of multiplanetary life is a good thing and I'll celebrate.

I watched it live on multiple monitors, as I do with most launch attempts...

Sticking their landing on the 2nd attempt was awesome, I think SpaceX took 10 attempts to finally get that down for the first time (With Falcon)

Competition is a driver and learning from the "mistakes" of others certainly decreases the learning curve.

It's great they got the rocket up and into space but there's a long way to go and then the successful deployment of the satellites which I hope goes well.

The idea of putting people on Mars is an interesting idea and it's going to take people with real grit and determination to see it through while knowing help isn't around the corner.

Agreed.   I've never taken a trip that I didn't plan on coming home.   My understanding is any such journey is a one way trip, there is no returning to the Third Rock From The Sun with our current technology.   While I've always considered every trip an adventure, it was always knowing I could come home.  Won't be signing up for this one.  

Rams

[Serk]

The Escapade spacecraft have deployed from the Blue Origin New Glenn and are performing nominally so far:

https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/escapade/2025/11/13/nasas-twin-escapade-spacecraft-have-deployed/

The current planning I've followed is to make the trip to Mars for humans a round trip. It won't be a quick or easy trip though, multiple years with current technology.

And if someone spends too much time on Mars it would be difficult, possibly lethal, to try to come home, Mars' gravity is 38% of Earth's, if you fully acclimated to that coming back to 1G could be lethal.

And in a "Now it's Valkyrie related" twist, until yesterday I wasn't aware that Honda is getting into the rocket game...

https://x.com/i/status/1934940854247997745

Honda Conducts Successful Launch and Landing Test of Experimental Reusable Rocket

https://global.honda/en/topics/2025/c_2025-06-17ceng.html

[Rams]

The Escapade spacecraft have deployed from the Blue Origin New Glenn and are performing nominally so far:

https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/escapade/2025/11/13/nasas-twin-escapade-spacecraft-have-deployed/

The current planning I've followed is to make the trip to Mars for humans a round trip. It won't be a quick or easy trip though, multiple years with current technology.

And if someone spends too much time on Mars it would be difficult, possibly lethal, to try to come home, Mars' gravity is 38% of Earth's, if you fully acclimated to that coming back to 1G could be lethal.

And in a "Now it's Valkyrie related" twist, until yesterday I wasn't aware that Honda is getting into the rocket game...

https://x.com/i/status/1934940854247997745

Honda Conducts Successful Launch and Landing Test of Experimental Reusable Rocket

https://global.honda/en/topics/2025/c_2025-06-17ceng.html

Very interesting.

Sir, In my mind it was always Valkyrie related.   I fully expected the volunteers to go would be Valkyire riders.   

Rams

[GiG]

Yes, there are a few riders that could possibly indeed be Martians 

[Hook#3287]

Honda Conducts Successful Launch and Landing Test of Experimental Reusable Rocket

Wow, that's amazing.

That's a Honda I'm probably not interested in riding.