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Yes, it was cool as fuck. I’m sorry I missed it live. I don’t know about price per kilogram, but this is instantly recognizable to the layman as something out of science fiction. Here’s to a new generation of space ops.
No, this means next to nothing for the culture war. Most people are not supporting their team due to a calculated future trajectory of humanity. They are assessing the personal economic impact, the respectability of their social circles, the overall sense of security. Rocket milestones are remarkably insulated from all of those in the short term.
I’d say it remains a shockingly gray-tribe issue. Degrowth is (thankfully!) not as influential as you suggest. Climate activism remains strong, but oddly technocratic, even as it incorporates the trappings of idpol. See the NSC’s Call to Action. Meanwhile, most of the right wing doesn’t care unless the topic can be linked to American exceptionalism.
Which brings us to Trump. I would argue that he has personally dragged the Republican Party further from laissez-faire, libertarian politics even as he has enacted some of those policy goals. The niche which was, in 2010, occupied by Tea Partiers now hosts outright populists and social conservatives. This election is a referendum on any number of social, economic, and personal-conduct issues before it’s about the future of space exploration.
Please don’t vote for Trump on the basis of Musk’s political drift.
Predictions: I do not expect the Biden admin or the Harris campaign to speak out against SpaceX. The latter might snap at Musk, but it will be for his Twitter remarks, not for anything about space exploration. I particularly do not expect the FAA to “block” Elon, especially since Flight 6 allegedly got approval already. Neither a Harris nor a Trump admin will move against private space companies, Musk or otherwise.
The Biden administration is suing SpaceX over its hiring having disparate impact to asylum seekers.
Haven’t those already been dismissed?
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/spacex-walmart-court-wins-imperil-dojs-immigration-bias-probes
I’m sure the DoJ appealed, but I can’t find anything newer than April.
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According to Musk, they're explicitly prevented from hiring migrants due to Federal ITAR rules, which means they're being sued by the Feds for obeying a Federal law.
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