Butch Bartels

i'm a sweet cup of butter

[Butch Bartels @butch_bartels]

I bet ya boo don't smell like peach cobbler

[The White House @WhiteHouse]

Today, we remember a legend.

On this day in history, Harambe would have celebrated another birthday. An icon that became part of internet history, American culture, and an entire generation’s timeline.

Tomorrow marks 10 years since we lost him. Ten years since the moment the world stopped scrolling and collectively mourned something bigger than a meme.

He became a symbol of loyalty, strength, chaos, unity, and the strange beauty of the internet bringing millions of people together for one cause: never forgetting Harambe.

Everyone remembers where they were when they heard the news. And somehow, a decade later, his legacy still lives on.

Gone, but never forgotten.
Rest easy to a true patriot. 🕊️🇺🇸

May 27, 1999 — May 28, 2016
Forever in our hearts.

[Chun @satofishi]

Now that Starship V3 has made its debut, we are one step closer to making life multiplanetary.

During Fram2 training, apart from the usual Dragon-related topics, I remember that what we talked about most in the training room was how to reliably tether down on Phobos.

Three months ago, Elon announced that the focus would shift toward the Moon. That makes sense. And I am also excited to see that, with AI data centers, we may eventually find a way to make space commercially practical.

So why am I setting my sights on Mars rather than the Moon? Because I believe that even without private investment in lunar flights, we will still reach the Moon, and likely very soon. As competition between the United States and China intensifies, governments will turn lunar bases into reality. And I am happy to sit back and watch that happen.

On the other hand, I have no confidence that Mars will still happen within our lifetime. And I think I should do something about that. I hope that by purchasing a flyby mission to Mars, SpaceX will have another reason not to forget about Mars. Because we seriously shouldn’t defer Mars to our next generation.

Although this mission will not make a tether down on Phobos, everything has to begin with a first step. We had Mariner 4 and 9 before the Vikings, and today’s Curiosity and Perseverance. I hope this mission can show the public that Mars is not just a point of light in a telescope. It is a real place, and humans can fly there and come back alive and come back healthy.

[Lars Blackmore @larsblackmore]

We’re so back

[Jared Isaacman @rookisaacman]

I think yesterday’s post sparked more debate than anything I have previously shared..it is probably worth a bit of clarification as I am a make nuance great again kind of guy. After this novel, I will take a break from longform for a bit.

If I have one overriding political position (and I hope we all share it) it is the competitiveness of the nation. This grew after I started my defense aerospace company in 2011--where our job was flying fighter jets as adversaries to help prepare and train US military pilots. I saw the pace of progress from potential adversaries, across multiple domains--and it is unsettling. We have a real geopolitical competitor, and competition is great..as long as we don't lose!

My post yesterday was not about one power source over another. I am not dying on a hill for solar, coal or nuclear (though I do very much support making nuclear great again..even in space). What matters is that we can afford to generate enough energy (we don't want to lose in power-hungry AI)--and most importantly is that we can take on big, bold endeavors again without taking decades and billions more than expected.

We don't have a world war or a cold war creating the urgency, but the risk to national security is still present. We need to return to the mindset that defined us during the Manhattan Project, the dawn of supersonic flight, the USS Nautilus, the Space Race and early supercomputers. Today’s equivalents are hypersonics, AI, quantum, fully reusable rockets, robotics and new nuclear--and we should be really concerned about falling behind.

The list of major projects that are 10+ years late and billions over budget keeps growing:

- A single Ford-class aircraft carrier
- The NextGen air traffic control program (started in 2003!)
- Ballistic missile sub and ICBM replacement programs
- The Artemis return-to-the-Moon program
- California high-speed rail
- The KC-46 tanker
- A single nuclear reactor at a power plant
- The original Hudson River tunnels were built between 1905–1910 for the equivalent of ~$3B today. The replacement will take 25 years and $15B for a single tunnel..and I would bet the over on costs.

Some blame regulatory burdens, bureaucracy, or grift--(and they are not wrong) but there are some companies literally financially incentivized to drag projects out for as long as possible! But there is also a cultural problem. I saw it during my NASA prep and in conversations across government--we lack extreme ownership, we take fewer risks and convince ourselves that bold endeavors just can’t be done--at least not on the timelines or costs we used to achieve.

I believe the President and his administration are trying to course correct in an imperfect system--he is setting ambitious goals for Mars, pushing to make nuclear great again, issuing executive orders to accelerate drone adoption, opening up supersonic corridors and empowering leaders to overhaul and unleash the scientific potential of our nation. But efforts like these are easily lost in a sea of polarizing headlines alongside job and budget cuts.

America has long led the world economically, scientifically, militarily--but that won’t continue by default. I am grateful for the companies and their investors trying to seize this moment--I’ll spare the names, but those I have met in commercial space, nuclear startups, automation and robotics, supersonic airliners, eVTOL aircraft and the players disrupting the defense primes are all helping move us in the right direction. Hopefully it happen fast enough, because we can just do big, bold things again.

[Max Evans @_MaxQ_]

🇺🇸Proud to be an American🇺🇸

[SKYPAD @Skypadusa]

What's your favorite part of America the Beautiful?
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JOIN, TO FLY. ~ https://t.co/lVKPTSWpCw
#Skypad #SKYPAD250 #Skypad_USA #Skypadusa #MOS #USA #AI #Liberty #Patriotic #FREEDOM #American #America250 #Tech #Military #MilitaryTechnology #USMilitary #Americathebeautiful #Tesla #JOINTOFLY #Army #Navy #AirForce #CoastGuard #SpaceForce #Marines #Jetpacknights #250YearsofAmerica #Parade #Drones #DroneTech #Innovation #Constitution

[Jared Isaacman @rookisaacman]

Spent the last few months assembling a pretty extensive plan—shaped by insights from a lot of smart, passionate people. No shortage of input—everyone loves NASA and wants to help. Maybe I will write an op-ed someday—but I didn’t love being inundated with plans from people who thought they were uniquely NASA’s savior—and I have little interest in doing the same.

In short, I would have deleted the bureaucracy that impedes progress and robs resources from the mission (this is not unique to NASA it’s a govt problem). I would flatten the hierarchy, rebuild the culture—centered on ownership, urgency, mission-focus alongside a risk recalibration. Then concentrate resources on the big needle movers NASA was meant to achieve.

And if it came down to poor outcomes like failing to launch a near-complete Roman, shutting down Hubble or Chandra prematurely or flying reduced crew sizes to the ISS just to save money (yes, people are actually considering 3 astronauts instead of 4)…then yes, I would have funded it myself to protect the science.

That is not how it should work—and I honestly don’t think it would have come to that. With the right political support and smart management—logic should prevail.

[Chris Combs (iterative design enjoyer) @DrChrisCombs]

🚨BREAKING🚨
The Canadarm has responded to US tariffs on Canada by holding astronaut Suni Williams hostage outside the International Space Station

[SpaceX @SpaceX]

Super Heavy booster going from hot-staging to tower catch on Starship's seventh flight test

[Enron @Enron]

On January 6th, we will change this country forever

[Joel C. Sercel, PhD @JoelSercel]

A senior guy in the Space Force told me that their estimates are that SpaceX has saved them $40B since they started contracting with them (which goes all the way back to when they were still part of the Air Force). This is due to better performance and lower cost then the legacy cost plus contracts with the military industrial establishment.

[SpaceX @SpaceX]

The fourth flight of Starship brought us closer to a rapidly reusable future

[SpaceX @SpaceX]

Super Heavy landing burn and soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico

[Butch Bartels @butch_bartels]

@isaiah_p_taylor Always felt like this was best summed up (for space especially) as everything has a half-life — that includes the system, and the system that made that system. Component half-lives compound upward, and space has less margin for a system not acting as designed

[Chris Combs (iterative design enjoyer) @DrChrisCombs]

Starship with a rude reintroduction to the Earth's atmosphere, somewhere in the vicinity of Mach Jesus

I wanna know how much heating the unshielded side got

[Joe Biden @JoeBiden]

Just like we drew it up.

[SpaceX @SpaceX]

The world’s most powerful launch vehicle ever developed, powered by 33 Raptor engines, lifting off from Starbase

[SpaceX @SpaceX]

Tracking camera views of hot-staging separation

[Truthful🛰️ @Truthful_ast]

How the fuck is this real.

[Butch Bartels @butch_bartels]

@jettisam Need to start marketing a jetpack pilot weight-loss diet…. season dependent!