Quote:
Originally Posted by Donger
Why? The SRBs were rockets and they were re-used. It's impressive in the way these are recovered, certainly.
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It's less the methodology (although a rocket landing evokes incredible images from classic science fiction that tickle the imagination), than the vision of the team doing it. It finally feels like space is attainable again. For man. Fast and affordable reuse (something the SRB was not) has been marked as a cornerstone for SpaceX vision of making access to space cheap and boring.
Regardless of NASA'a awesome achievements (in spite of Congress), that's one thing they could never achieve. Without cheap and ubiquitous space access, there is no chance of the common man seeing space. My Dad grew up thinking he may one day get to go to space, when the space race was all about manned exploration (well, manned patriotic achievements anyway). I grew up doubting my grandchildren would ever see space, thanks to the current vision of robotic exploration. SpaceX is taking us back to the vision of man wandering the stars.
A rocket, and hopefully soon a capsule, standing tall after a powered landing is simply the promise that someone is again working towards manned exploration. My son now has dreams of going into space. While I'm not that optimistic, I have hope for his children.