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Inspiring - as it should be.
Got into aerospace out of college in the mid 80s.
Wasn't like this at all. I left.
They build the rockets in California and drive them to Texas for test firing, then, drive them to the launch site.
The diameter of the rocket was selected to be the largest 12feet because larger loads require more permits and escorts.
Have you heard about the time they flew a rocket to the launch site?
It started to collapse in on itself, so an engineer dove inside it and held the walls to stop it from crunching and breaking
Everyone should read this book it’s full of insane stories. My favorite is there is a SpaceX tech with magic hands who trimmed a rocket nozzle by hand with basically tin snips. I always assumed they used some jig with a cutting wheel
If this hasn’t been mentioned, transit time from South Texas to Cape Canaveral on a barge is no more than 5 days. The delay must have been getting a barge, loading, offloading, etc.
Pretty standard tbh.
I live in an oil and gas town and this kind of thing happens all the time to get vessels into the various plants when it comes time to replace them.
In fact it happens so often that there's a main route where they either diverted or raised all the power
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That was the first Falcon 9 to be launched, iirc from Berger's book. The transport trailer was the lowest they could find, but it was still a commercial unit. SpaceX subsequently built a custom transport trailer that reduced required clearances and allowed them to drive on the
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Fascinating stories. The whole company sounds like a true challenge to work for but you know your bosses have your back for any crazy idea that might work.
This isn't that wild at all.
It's how oversized loads are delivered to remote sites with no rail access/port access all the time.
Fairly basic logistics for heavy lift.
The only insane thing is that they did it for 10 days straight shift sleeping in the vehicles. Thats awful.
Someday soon they’ll launch a rocket from the factory in TX, land it on the launchpad in FL. 
I get the feeling moving rockets by sea between US ports is only "slow and expensive" because of the Jones Act
not as hardcore as amish people riding a horse and buggy in the middle of nowhere illinois
This sounds like lots of the people I’ve worked with in industry- pulp and paper, forestry, mining, construction. They figure it out, get shit done and don’t ask permission.
That is so incredibly badass.
Especially when they had badges at their disposal.
I volunteer to be a guy who moves the powerline with a pole that’s total Florida man energy
Now that’s how you are solutions oriented in Heavy Haul/over dim loads in freight! Great story, thanks for sharing
It is not insanely hardcore. This type of thing literally happens everyday in specialty transportation businesses. I think what SpaceX is doing is awesome, and this is a nice story, but perhaps give some credit to the truck driver and the folks who secure the permits, etc
Space book of the year?
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Michael Anderson
@mrmikeyanderson
Space completely dominated my #readinglist this year. 
What books (related to space or otherwise) would you recommend for me in 2025?
Book links in comments for those interested!
What books (related to space or otherwise) would you recommend for me in 2025?
Book links in comments for those interested!Show more
Lifting power lines with a stick? Average cargo container drive in the developing world
This was how this nation used to do everything. How else was the Pentagon - then 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘸 the world’s largest office building - constructed in just 16 months? Today it would take 7-10 years minimum, with a lot more “time saving” construction equipment available.
Urgency
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This is very inspiring to read.
It can literally be applied to almost everything, if not everything, that we do.
Having a sense of urgency to complete a task instead of thinking one has all the time in the world to do it.
I have both lift off and reentry that are in my to-read
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Reminds me of one of Musk’s freshly built factories that was facing a long wait time to get internet hooked up, so some employees secretly rigged up an insanely long cable from somebody’s house that was kind of nearby.
People who aren’t afraid to “do things the hard way” speak to my soul
I'm glad a guy who founded a think tank can appreciate the value of physically-based experiential approaches to knowledge and life.
I don't think any teams on earth work as fast or as hard at problems in front of them as Space or Tesla.
Mind blowing. Inspiring.
Bullshit. My family moves over height stuff around all the time and you’d never get away with just lifting wires or all types on your own, and many don’t have the slack to do it. Way too much risk & damage. Let alone for a couple years thousand miles.
I saw what was left of B1050 on the side of the road near Sour Lake TX in 2018. Really off the beaten path. Must have been on its way to McGregor for parting out.
This is fairly standard practice. I guess the engineers themselves doing it instead of some other crew makes it special but this practice is normal for moving heavy machinery
Barge speed can be more than 10 Mph.
So I am missing something of actual reason why road transport is favoured
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And that’s the way you save enough time and money to keep building kick ass rockets!
Wow, still operating as if it is a startup. Hustling everyday. No wonder they are years ahead of competition.
Nothing unique about this. Most people are unaware how things get done - this is a good example.
This is the difference between Elon and Narayanmurthy demanding hard work. Elon asks for creativity while Narayanmurthy wants employees to work like robots.
It's also not true. Not insofar as the details of the move are concerned. I'm intimately familiar with the regulations and requirements surrounding a move like this and it didn't go down quite as described. Other details (e.g. Florida shutting down for a week) are just wrong.
They should have just launched the rocket from Texas and land it in Florida.
Wtf are you talking about? Oversize load truck driving teams do this all the time.
The intellectual class really has no fucking clue how actual work gets done.
You can work like this for about 2 years before is not fun anymore, you burn out, and start asking "wtf?"
It's nothing compared to the early days of getting Falcon 1 all the way from California to the Kwajalein Atoll, which is so far out the Japanese used it as their forward listening post in WWII.
Not surprised they drive it themselves.
The amount of line and bridge strikes that occur during large load transport is staggeringly high.
I’ve seen plenty of Falcon 9s and fairings being transported. Saw one stuck on an off-ramp while they tried to figure out how to get to the truck stop too.
I've seen them come through my town, Fanning Springs, Fl, many times. We have the only bridge on US 19/98 over the Suwannee River. They are heavily escorted by line crews and FHP. It's a major production when they're coming down the road. Always cool to see.
Amazing!
However nothing tops India's Space Agency in early 80s transporting a satellite on a bullock cart!
A poor country with a small budget, the scientists resorted to this after figuring this was faster and way cheaper than sending the satellite out to France for testing.
looks like a scaled version of transporting in India
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Hindusheadingtomuseums?
@CanHindusurvive
Replying to @Ganitamrita
This is very common practice in India when transporting hay.
Whenever the hay lorry reaches a power line, the cleaner jumps out with long Y shaped sticks & lifts the power line above the hay stack with help of others, so the lorry can pass under it.
x.com/Ganitamrita/st
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This is how the rest of the world move all oversized freight - e.g. huge generator turbines from Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan.
Lifting power lines themselves was incredibly dangerous if they actually did it.