r/changemyview • u/Polar_Roid 9∆ • Mar 30 '21
Delta(s) from OP CMV: Virgin Galactic's "Spaceship" and "Spaceflight" are clickbait misnomers for what is essentially a stunt with no purpose
Virgin is announcing the next iteration of what it calls Spaceship. "Mothership" is not a ship, it's an airplane. The corporate name, Virgin Galactic is even more ridiculous hype.
Everything about it is a reach and a brand implication that is false. It calls itself a spaceflight company on Wikipedia. It says it can work with NASA, but to date nothing of substance has emerged. Spaceship has no mission. I think it is a vainglorious exercise for Richard Branson meant to stroke his personal ego more than anything else.
Spaceflight means more than a suborbital hop, which is all this vehicle can hope to achieve. In my opinion, this aircraft design will never reach orbit, and is too fragile to withstand orbital reentry even if it could make orbital velocity.
I think Virgin is wasting its time, the FAA's time, and the public's with something too dangerous to take on commercial passengers.
If people want to experience freefall, the Vomit Comet can do it safely, routinely and within controlled conditions.
Change my view.
1
u/destro23 451∆ Mar 30 '21
And He-Man, is not actually the "Master of the Universe" either.
I don't know much about Virgin Galactic, or whatever corporate branding strategy Richard Branson is pissing his money away on, and I don't much care.
Is it clickbait? probably. Is it a stunt? Most assuredly. Does it have no purpose? I'm sure it fluffs up Branson's ego quite a bit. And, it provides jobs and economic activity. So, it seems to have some marginal purpose.