I don’t think the expression is positive or negative. It just means we can’t go back. I guess that could be positive or negative case by case depending on how you feel about going back or not.

The confetti is out of the canon.

It’s not just you. I expected the article to compare it to Tesla’s trajectory, where they proved out the hard part of the technology (batteries vs reusable craft), but then faltered after a dozen other companies followed their playbook, but had better product instincts.

The current administration forced Europe to invest heavily in aerospace, and they’re doing just that. SpaceX’s approach to R&D is reproducible. They have a 10 year head start, but that’s not a huge amount of time when the goal is colonizing the solar system.