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Comment by oh_sigh | Hacker News Reader

Further cementing the idea that Bezos wants to be Musk.

Maybe, but my leading guess is that there are only so many areas where a billionaire can throw billions of dollars and actually feel like they're contributing to (taking over) the future of humanity - with electric cars and privatized space transport being the safest bets.

I agree, it's just sad that they jumped on an internet-hyped nothing of a company instead of just spinning up their own.

Musk bought into Tesla; he didn't create it. This was before they even released their first product.

These were only safe after one of those billionaires actually proved it. Before SpaceX and Tesla, both these things were considered untenable.

I suspect the Nissan Leaf would have happened with or without Tesla.

Blue Origin predates SpaceX.

And still has not reached orbit

> were considered untenable.

The billionaire space race starts before SpaceX, largely from/around the Ansari X Prize (Bezos, Paul Allen).

Blue origin predates SpaceX

Are you suggesting that it's vice versa? Because it seems SpaceX (even from its name) has always had a MUCH bigger vision than blue origin. Were Blue Origin pursuing reusability before SpaceX?

Bezos getting into electric cars, Blue Origin trying to get into Satellite Internet it always reeks of sub-par copycatness

Yes.

> Charon made its only test flight at Moses Lake, Washington on March 5, 2005. It flew to an altitude of 96 m (316 ft) before returning for a controlled landing near the liftoff point.

The name is more ambitious too as it isn't just about exploration but expansion.

Rivian was also founded at the same time as Musk became a retroactive fouder-in-name of Tesla.

Fair point. I wonder what the reason for the lack of output is. They’ve yet to make an orbital launch vehicle, and can only land from a straight up launch… that feels like an easier problem to solve.

Meanwhile SpaceX are onto their 3rd/4th generation of launch vehicle and are doing more launches than everyone else combined.

Tesla when Elon “took over” made the roadster (a drive train for a lotus Elise), no real brand and no real identity. The founder-in-name is a pretty shitty dig. He has been directly involved in the Model S/X/3/Y

Wozniak built the Apple II. Is Jobs less of a founder?

IMO Musk is more like if Ronald Wayne had joined late and started being called founder through a lawuit settlement over something bad he had done, then took over and bailed out his cousin's company he had a financial interest in using a fraudulent merger. Maybe with the energy/grid connection more of a Kenneth Lay.

Fraudulent merger that was voted for by 85% of shareholders? That has done nothing but increase Shareholder value. Yep, absolute criminals!

Fraud can increase shareholder value when a company is in speculative stages. Cheaper than a normal roof!

So what was the fraud?

One part was the fake shingle demo.

I'm confused which one you mean, shingle is not a term used in my locale. The roof tiles? Are the roof tiles fake?

Yeah the demoed roof tiles pushing through the SolarCity acquisition were fake mockups. Later they never got them to work near the price point that pushed the deal through and now have a redesign making them close to the size of small panels.

And it’s certain it was fraud and not r&d not able to achieve the results they initially thought they could?

Similar to a kickstarter for a useful hoverboard.

BlueOrigin was a still a glorified thinktank when SpaceX launched its first Orbital rocket.

Did Bezos participate in this round? It looks like Amazon invested, but Amazon is no longer run by Bezos.

He is Executive Chair of the board

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