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Comment by oorza | Hacker News Reader

If a spacefaring vessel lasts long enough that it needs to be decomissioned due to wear and tear, that mf'er belongs ONLY in a museum. I hope to live to the day where that isn't universally true, but it is not today.

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I'm sure the first couple will be preserved, but they'll quickly become as common as derelict airplanes or ships. Has SpaceX kept any of their Falcon 9 boosters besides the first one that landed? I think the old ones are disassembled for analysis, then scrapped.

> I'm sure the first couple will be preserved, but they'll quickly become as common as derelict airplanes

I've always been a fan of putting such things on pedestals outside of public buildings, VFWs, etc. A bit less feasible with full rockets, but the engines at least would be fairly easy to put in parks so kids can climb on them.

You'd love Gasworks Park in Seattle: https://www.seattle.gov/parks/find/parks/gas-works-park

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> Gas Works Park has a play area with a large play barn, and big hill popular for flying kites. Special park features include a sundial, and a beautiful view of Seattle. Access to Lake Union is restricted at Gas Works Park, as the lake sediment contains hazardous substances.

Appear that that description omits the lede! But the park does seem singularly interesting per the Wiki article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_Works_Park

Yeah, the picture captures some of it, but you really have to see it (preferably with kids) as there's just giant old industrial equipment painted and ready to climb on. Some of the valves even turn!

Makes sense for NASA to donate, but say SpaceX could recover $10m in materials from an expended Starship, that's a steep ask.

When the time comes, I hope they choose to donate it to a museum, or if not, the funds are raised to buy it off them.

I mean it's a $10m ask/potential write-off, so there is that. The "first one" will be even more rare/valuable and NASA might make a deal for it.

SpaceX would get considerably more than $10M in marketing / brand goodwill by donating to a museum. So for the first 1 or 2 decommissioned rockets, I think donation beats scrap ROI.

i've been to boca chica, starhopper and the older starships are quite literally parked on the side of the road. I bet if you showed up with the gear to move them they'd probably just give them to you ;)

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