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> Weren't there published papers by NASA scientists proving, without a doubt, that it's impossible to construct a booster rocket with the structural stability to return to earth?

No. Going back to the 1960s, re-usable two-stage configurations were being drafted [1].

[1] http://papers.sae.org/640297/

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But I thought this all came to our god king in a dream.

oh stop. People are excited about reusable rockets, a mainstay of science fiction since the beginning. Why do you have to be a wet blanket? "Elon Musk didn't think of reusing rockets, and he didn't personally build them, and he doesn't have a degree in rocketry!" You're fighting a Quixotic battle against a strawman.

I think reusable rockets are cool, and I think musk is impressive.

I'm just not a member of the cult of Elon. I think he follows a path of aim impossibly high, be happy with getting pretty far. People instead take it as "he's literally going to do everything".

I see many more people talking about "the cult of Elon" than people who actually think he's literally going to do everything.

It reminds me way more of the nickelback is terrible thing. It's more of a meme than the actual subject. It's fun to feel like a member of the enlightened in-group that doesn't follow Elon Musk like sheep. All those dumb people that think GM will go bankrupt next year.

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