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> In late October 2001, Elon Musk went to Moscow to buy an intercontinental ballistic missile. Has there ever been a better introductory sentence?

by appden 11y ago

agumonkey 11y ago
It all reads like a wonderful technological suspense thriller.
kposehn 11y ago
No.
toomuchtodo 11y ago
I don't have a link to further into that story, but after being screwed by the Russians on the price (they did a bait and switch, increasing the price four fold when he arrived), he asked on the plane ride home "How hard can it be to build a rocket?". EDIT: To add to this, the US government created sanctions against Russia, causing the Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin to say "Use a trampoline to get to the ISS then" [1], which prompted Elon to unveil the Dragon Mk2 crew capsule: "Sounds like this might be a good time to unveil the new Dragon Mk 2 spaceship that @SpaceX has been working on w @NASA. No trampoline needed" [2]. I would not want to be on Elon's bad side. [1] http://space.io9.com/russia-to-nasa-try-jumping-to-iss-on-a-trampoline-1570387515 http://space.io9.com/russia-to-nasa-try-jumping-to-iss-on-a-... [2] https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/461279062837968897 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/461279062837968897
- solarexplorer 11y ago
  I remember reading it here: http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a16681/elon-musk-interview-1212/ http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a16681/elon-musk-interv...
  - toomuchtodo 11y ago
    Ahh! That's it! Thank you!
- drzaiusapelord 11y ago
  I love how Russian dishonesty led to SpaceX's success in a significant way. It almost like we've had a people who go about things the absolutely wrong way to for everyone else to learn from (Communism, Stalinism, Putinism, etc).
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
benmorris 11y ago
I guess I was so caught up in the fact that he was trying to buy an ICBM. I didn't really think about the timing as well. This would have been within 30 days of 9/11 happening. Hard to imagine even thinking about doing something like that.

> In late October 2001, Elon Musk went to Moscow to buy an intercontinental ballistic missile. Has there ever been a better introductory sentence?

by appden 11y ago

> In late October 2001, Elon Musk went to Moscow to buy an intercontinental ballistic missile. Has there ever been a better introductory sentence?

agumonkey 11y ago

It all reads like a wonderful technological suspense thriller.

kposehn 11y ago

No.

toomuchtodo 11y ago

I don't have a link to further into that story, but after being screwed by the Russians on the price (they did a bait and switch, increasing the price four fold when he arrived), he asked on the plane ride home "How hard can it be to build a rocket?". EDIT: To add to this, the US government created sanctions against Russia, causing the Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin to say "Use a trampoline to get to the ISS then" [1], which prompted Elon to unveil the Dragon Mk2 crew capsule: "Sounds like this might be a good time to unveil the new Dragon Mk 2 spaceship that @SpaceX has been working on w @NASA. No trampoline needed" [2]. I would not want to be on Elon's bad side. [1] http://space.io9.com/russia-to-nasa-try-jumping-to-iss-on-a-trampoline-1570387515 http://space.io9.com/russia-to-nasa-try-jumping-to-iss-on-a-... [2] https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/461279062837968897 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/461279062837968897

solarexplorer 11y ago
I remember reading it here: http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a16681/elon-musk-interview-1212/ http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a16681/elon-musk-interv...
- toomuchtodo 11y ago
  Ahh! That's it! Thank you!
drzaiusapelord 11y ago
I love how Russian dishonesty led to SpaceX's success in a significant way. It almost like we've had a people who go about things the absolutely wrong way to for everyone else to learn from (Communism, Stalinism, Putinism, etc).
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]

benmorris 11y ago

I guess I was so caught up in the fact that he was trying to buy an ICBM. I didn't really think about the timing as well. This would have been within 30 days of 9/11 happening. Hard to imagine even thinking about doing something like that.