The difference with spacex is you can watch the rockets fly. You can also watch them actually build. That's where the goosebumps come from one livecam view, there are many [this video] this guy releases videos about once a week or so [link] this aerial photography channel documents bocachica every week or so too. Spacex is absolutely watched from every angle. [link]
The claim was that Musk's companies haven't "built" anything. Versions of Starship have clearly been built and launched, even if the project is still in development. It's a very real project and anyone can watch its developmental progress live: [this video] I doubt you or anyone else would bet significant money that Starship won't reach orbit. If so, I'd be happy to accept. For the record, I don't think you can point to any project even remotely equivalent in terms of capability or progress from Boeing, Lockheed, or ULA. I'd be happy if they were doing nearly as well as SpaceX. My other examples: Starlink, Tesla, and Dragon have clearly been "built" and shipped. Starlink is the hands of consumers, is actively helping Ukraine for military and humanitarian purposes, Tesla has shipped millions of vehicles, and Dragon Crew had another successful rendezvous with ISS days ago. I could spend a lot more time providing examples but consider these to be more than sufficient to disprove the claim that Elon Musk's companies haven't "actually built anything he announces" in "years".
Live stream showing Starship development progress.
The folks a NasaSpaceFlight have/will be doing live pre-shows up until the launch - [link] (this sunday show will catch you up) - [this video] (24/7 live stream, apparently they already have a countdown timer lol)
There was another view at the pad that had sizable bits of what looked like rock or concrete flying past it, camera went off line when the vehicle had barely left the ground. See the bottom right panel [this video]
Multi-panel view showing debris near the pad during launch.
When (launch window opening) * 4 hours from now * 5 AM Pacific Time * 7 AM Central Time (local) * 8 AM Eastern Time * 2 PM Central European Time Live Media * Official yet channel: [link] * Labpadre: [link] * NASASpaceflight: [this video] * EverydayAstronaut: [link] * TheLaunchPad: [link] * TechniquesSpatiales(FR): [link] Ressources * Mission sheet: [link] * Intro video: [link] * [link] * [link] * [link]
When (launch window opening) * 5 AM Pacific Time * 7 AM Central Time (local) * 8 AM Eastern Time * 2 PM Central European Time Live Media * Official YT channel: [link] * Labpadre: [link] * NASASpaceflight: [this video] * EverydayAstronaut: [link] * TheLaunchPad: [link] * TechniquesSpatiales(FR): [link] Ressources * Mission sheet: [link] * Intro video: [link] * [link] * [link] * [link]
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