Editing Blog/2024-06-06/It's A Good Time To Be Alive (section)

== Space ==

When I was a child, space was in a temporary lull. India was sending our stuff up and getting better at our launch vehicles but it was neither like the Apollo / Shuttle prime time nor like today. I remember watching Shuttle launches, though, and those were awe-inspiring moments. That all ended with [[wikipedia:Space Shuttle Columbia disaster|Columbia]], which was a big deal to us in India because it featured [[wikipedia:Kalpana Chawla|the first Indian-born female astronaut]]. Nowadays there's all sorts of action.

=== SpaceX ===

Possibly the most exciting space company. They've cut launch costs down to things that normal people could afford. They've got HD video of their rockets in space. They've brought iteration to a field that is famously risk-averse, and have invented [[wikipedia:Falcon 9|the most reliable launch platform man has ever built]]!

Today they tested their [[wikipedia:SpaceX_Starship_(spacecraft)#Ships_28–32|Starship 29]] with its Super Heavy booster and it went well. We had video of plasma, and watched in excitement as it cut through one of their control fins. Crazy that this is all real.

=== China ===

Less widely described in the US but the Chinese Space Program is going quite well. [[wikipedia:Chang'e 6|Chang'e 6]] is their second sample-return mission. [[wikipedia:Tiangong space station|Tiangong]] is between a tenth and a third the size of the ISS depending on how you measure it. And they've taken humans to space!

=== India ===

I watched this stuff religiously as a child. [[wikipedia:Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle|PSLV launches]] were loads of fun. By the time I left India for the US, it didn't seem like the GSLV was going to be successful, but [[wikipedia:List of GSLV launches|look at them now]]!