Dear Moon – Space crew applications open | Hacker News Reader

Dear Moon – Space crew applications open

dearmoon.earth

42 pointsrobkop15 comments

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Speaking of influencers…

> To pre-register, select MZ's Social media accounts that you follow:

> ( ) Twitter <link> ( ) Instagram <link> ( ) Facebook <link> ( ) YouTube <link> ( ) LINE <link>

> MZ will be making announcements about this project via Social media, so please follow his accounts.

> Also upload a photo of yourself and your email address.

Weird way to buy a bunch of followers, contact info, and faces.

(I'm a huge proponent of space; I just hope this …novel… approach doesn't end up setting things back somehow.)

Serious question, but does anyone think this will actually happen within a decade?

Elon has motivated some amazing people to do some amazing things, but this seems like pure PR/Marketing theatre to me.

I hope I’m wrong, but... very skeptical of stuff like this.

I think chances are good, at least if progress at Boca Chica (soon to be known as Starbase, TX) continues at its current pace.

If we can extrapolate Falcon 9 and Dragon development to Starship, then yes. It took 9 years (2011 finding partners, 2014 final contracts signed, 2020 first astronauts to space) from the concept contract to commercial crew delivery on the F9 with the Crew Dragon.

Falcon 9 took SpaceX from concept (2005) to first integration testing (2008) to first flight (2010). Landing the core went from 'impossible' to small scale tests (2013) to recovery tests and landing of used boosters (2015).

Yes, they're doing all of this, again, all at once. But I dont see a reason why they couldn't pull it off. They've done so once already, and so far, they are on track. Their timer for me starts in 2016 with the unveiling of the BFR. Integration testing & landing validation started in 2019, and sticking a landing (albeit not orbital) is expected any day now (and that I mean literally, there's a test scheduled for today)

Very cool initiative. I’ve never heard of Yusaku Maezawa before this as well.

I’m sure lots of folks here would be interested, but is anyone else here afraid of launch malfunctions like I am?

I would be terrified. That being said, I get nervous every time an airplane takes off even though I know that hundreds of planes have safely flown that same day. I can’t imagine being one of the first people to fly in any vessel, let alone a space bound rocket.

> let alone a space bound rocket

Not to mention, the first crewed vehicle to leave Earth's orbit since 1972. Not only do we have little experience doing it, it hasn't been done in nearly half a century.

I'm concerned that a failure will greatly hurt the progress of spaceflight and the public opinion of it. Other than that.. well, we got 8 billion people laying around, all of us are going to die, and there are very few more glorious ways to do it than spaceflight.

For those wondering, no, this does not appear to be a joke: Maezawa has the funding and SpaceX has the technology.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DearMoon_project

That said, it's all tied to the development of the SpaceX Starship, which remains very much a work in progress.

There was a big press conference 2 years ago - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zu7WJD8vpAQ

The pessimisism deep within me makes me feel as if this is only going to attract the worst of potential crew members.

99% of the applicants will be wannabe celebrities and influencers I’m sure. Just hoping his screening process weeds these out or this is going to turn into a dangerous reality show.

Tiktok stars with big time money, YouTubers with huge subscribers, Instagram Influencers, they all stand to gain.

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