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from the deep-thoughts-with-Jeff-Bezos dept.
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
It's become increasingly clear that Jeffrey P. Bezos, who in the last several months has been talking much more openly about his once secretive space company, has some really big ambitions in space.
As Blue Origin moves toward its goal of having "millions of people living and working in space," the company has launched and landed the same rocket four times in a row, an unprecedented feat aimed at ultimately lowering the cost of space travel. By 2018, it plans to soon fly tourists on short jaunts past the edge of space in capsules designed with large windows. And earlier this week, Bezos announced plans to fly a new massive rocket, capable of getting to orbit, by the end of the decade.
For his achievements, Bezos, the founder of amazon.com and the owner of The Washington Post, was awarded the prestigious Heinlein Prize Wednesday evening at an event at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. The honor came with a $250,000 award that the multi-billionaire pledged to donate to Students for the Exploration and Development of Space, a nonprofit.
During a half-hour-long question-and-answer period, he offered some additional insights into his vision for how humans will eventually spread out into the solar system, what he hopes his legacy will be and how he competes against other billionaire space enthusiasts such as Elon Musk and Richard Branson. He also talked briefly about what it's like to go back to his high school reunions, and the day The Post opens a bureau on Mars. He didn't mention whether an assignment there would be a promotion or a banishment.
An edited transcript of his remarks is available in the article.
(Score: 2) by JNCF on Sunday September 18 2016, @09:13PM
Correct, acrylics and plastics that meet those requirements are expensive. People make bubble canopies for fighter crafts, because the cost is relatively tiny given the small volume of bubble canopies, high total cost of finished fighter jets, and the exreme usefulness of 360 degree line of sight. We also place smaller windows close together when line of sight is less urgent but still useful, as in this 747 cockpit, [wikimedia.org] or this cockpit of a small single engine aircraft. [ytimg.com] It's just not that important that every passenger has a great view. I think OP AC is trying to suggest that this is really a conspiracy to keep the fact that the world is flat hidden. Note the line about the horizon being flat no matter how high you get. This would require practically all pilots to be in on the fix, not to mention all of the other ways we can verify that the Earth is round (like the way that ships disappear over the horizon). I'm not sure if OP AC is trolling or not; if trolling, it was fairly subtle.