False. As SpaceX demonstrated just 2 months ago, the fueling process is the dangerous part. You have 1 or more cryogenic liquids in very large quantities being loaded.

Every vehicle that the US has launched with people loaded fuel before loading people. There are few concerns about problems due to boarding because the rocket is already powered up and in a known state. Fueling happens with few to no people at the pad for a reason.

Got a basis for that? Otherwise you're just another armchair engineer telling them what they're doing wrong because obviously you know so much better.

Why does this use BTUs and not MJ or kWh? 4211 BTU = 4.44 MJ or 1.234 kWh. Real units.

I don't disagree with your statements. But regarding the 6-12 inch rounds, most battleship armoring was capable of withstanding hits from 16 inch rounds. There's always tradeoffs, but it can be done.

Not just gas, ask them how they like all of their oil changes and everything else required of a ICE vehicle that you don't have on an electric.

I was auto companies would follow that logic. Most people recognize that having diversity of experience is beneficial to the company or workplace, but apparently in the auto industry, being a 20-30 year veteran of the same damn company makes you a saint. Most of those people have never held a different job, it was their first after college.

Parachutes don't allow you to perform a precision landing. VTOL rocketry lets you go where you want when you're coming back. You can land in a patch a few square meters in size. Parachutes can only achieve a few hundred square meters accuracy at best.

There is a huge advantage to a VTOL rocket. Obviously the goal here is reusability, but imagine being able to land your rocket back at the very same launch pad it launched from. Do a quick inspection, refuel, launch again. Won't be that simple, but that's the idea. They are actively interested in VTOL, that's the goal of Grasshopper.

The reason this is so much more attractive than a lifting body is that you're taking a lot less extra weight with you every time. The space shuttle was extremely heavy empty, a fair chunk of launch thrust was just launching the shuttle itself, not payloads or the people. So, in short, landing legs and some extra control hardware weigh a lot less than aerobodies and control surfaces. You want to be spending your fuel and thrust on the payload, not the weight of the rocket itself.

I remember when Spore was supposed to be THE big game. I never played it, anyone know what happened (besides EA)?

Haha, pretty much. Wish I could mod/upvote your comment.

Really, do you have evidence for that, or are you just saying that because you don't like them for whatever reason?

Dragon capsules are reusable, however, NASA has specifically contracted new capsules for every resupply mission. There's nothing stopping SpaceX from reusing the capsules for other missions, however. I know the demo 1 capsule, that performed a few orbits before returning, and demo 2 capsule, the first to berth with ISS, are both hanging outside mission control at the SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, CA.

I've always referred to them as semi-trucks, I guess in this case I would mean the large 53ft trailer. Could argue the truck part (or lorry for the British), is the rocket.

If it's so insanely expensive and difficult, then why is SpaceX working on just that, a reusable rocket? The pie-in-the-sky has always been a readily reusable rocket. That was the idea behind the shuttle. Didn't work out so well, but that was the idea.

Why do you disagree? Not looking to argue, just curious.