SpaceX with Japanese astronaut aboard blasts off for space station

Watching the Japanese news, you'd think Noguchi was the only one going up in space.

No mention of the price tag.

gary

Wishing them well

You can watch it live here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xOqLxWihSA

Successful launch, well done Elon Musk and TESLA, well done Japan! Hopefully Noguchi-sensei's amazing journey to Space inspires millions of Japanese kids to want to do the same. This proves that humans can do anything!

Marvellous.

Be nice if such expertise and investment could be put towards poverty, medical services, homelessness etc.

WOW! all the negatives!

Kind of makes you wonder about the kind

of people that are out there....

Truly scary!

Gambatte!!!

No mention of the price tag.

Be nice if such expertise and investment could be put towards poverty, medical services, homelessness etc.

These kinds of missions advance mankind. We should try and solve our earthly problems too, of course, but not at the expense of space missions.

The satellite images and GPS we now take for granted, for example, couldn't have been achieved without these types of missions decades ago. Satellite images and GPS don't just give us Google Maps, they let us track migrating animals, shrinking ice caps, illegal fishing etc. The technology has helped us understand climate change and is vital in combating it.

It's impossible for us to know how the technology being developed for these missions, the experiments being conducted at the space station, and all the science & innovation happening within in the industry today will improve our lives tomorrow, but it will.

The great thing about humanity is people follow their passions, so as a whole we can work on everything. Some people work to help alleviate poverty and homelessness, some volunteer to teach children in Africa, some work to shelter stray animals, and some pick up trash at a local beach. All are important. There's no need to sacrifice space. Let's do it all, and celebrate all of humanity's wins.

The new space suits actually look modern and not bulky. The new space capsule is not cramped too, up to 7 people

With more rocket launches, and upcoming Boeing, can get more done in space. And less expensive too - about $50 million per. Plus with the two private companies competing for contracts saved the agency between $20 Billion and $30 Billion in development costs

That extra money frees up to use in other projects, like the moon and mars missions

Space suits are actually looking fashionable. Nice to see!

WOW! all the negatives!

I did say it's marvellous. I've been fascinated for decades by space travel and the bravery and endurance of those who go up there - never knowing for sure if the mission will be a success. The Right Stuff and recently, First Man are some of my favourite non-fiction films to deal with space exploration.

Kind of makes you wonder about the kind

of people that are out there....

Truly scary!

It's not scary having the opinion that, whilst this is another interesting chapter in the saga, maybe it would be great if an equal amount of money, resources and enthusiasm could be deployed to help those of us on this planet who aren't fortunate enough to have access to things like food, electricity, medicine, clean water etc.

@Judy

Hmm. Looking at the thread again, I wonder if I misread you? Do you mean negativity - as in some of us are not so enthusiastic? Or do you mean negative as in the amount of downvotes?

If it's the latter, then it's still not scary. Although, it would be simply lovely to hear from some of the down crowd, as to why we can't have both space travel and an equal standard of living for everyone.

I fail to understand the negative votes: Our future is in space. We have polluted and overpopulated Earth. There is no serious plan, which must be an internationally agreed plan, to resolve any of those issues.

To perpetuate mankind at some point we must become a multi-planet species. While the Sun is now in it's main phase and provides the Earth with just the right amount of heat to be habitable, that won't last forever. As the Sun consumes its hydrogen it will slowly heat up and in a few hundred million years the Earth will be too hot for water to exist. In about a billion years the Sun will exit the main phase and balloon into a red giant. It will expand until it's diameter is about as big as Earths orbit. Mercury, Venus and probably Earth will be destroyed and Mars may or may not survive this but if it does it will be scorching hot. At some point Man must master long distance space travel and find ways to inhabit other worlds or it will die off when the Sun makes Earth uninhabitable.

The space suits and interior photos of the crew capsule suggest styling was more important than function. I hope I'm wrong but coming from an aviation background I expect to see functional engineering, not styling for the sake of style. One hopes the styling doesn't interfere with function.

Who's getting all the glory? NASA, Tesla.

Which private company is benefiting in this relationship? Tesla.

Japan ends up with the bill, not enough recognition, not enough technological transfer to Japan.

20 years from now, looking back at this achievement, who will mention Japan's part and role? Maybe in Japan. Don't expect this to matter anywhere else.

It's all about NASA It's all about Tesla.

Based on some of these comments, it needs to be pointed out that SpaceX and Tesla are in fact, different companies. They are both headed by the same extremely high-profile individual, but they are not the same. Even one is private [SpaceX] and one is public [Tesla].

I suppose this speaks to the marketing prowess and brand image of Tesla, but they make electric vehicles. Not rockets.

@kiwiboy

Well said!

Missions like these advance humanity in so many ways (including breakthroughs in medical research among many other things).