... Low in the south, apparently, from the UK, 10-15 minutes after launch.

Hm. I think NASA TV will provide the better view somehow.

We can't land men on the moon and the X15 did Mach 6.7 decades ago.

In a very strong sense we have become a joke. Imagine how disappointed those living in the 60s would be if they could have seen 60 years into the future.

It's a bloody good job they couldn't. They wouldn't have bothered.

Give Elon another decade and maybe, just maybe, he will have rectified this embarassing situation.

Trump is hailing the launch as a "MAGA Moment," and he's launched his own Space Force.  That's fairly imaginative, isn't it?  Both Trump and Pence are slated to attend the launch.

Bugger!

Another way of looking at this is that the science won over the Dan Dare / big tech approach of a very few humans playing around in near-space.

Some absolutely fantastic robotic interplanetary probe and lander/rover missions have been carried out instead. Hugely more has been learned in that way than if the emphasis had been on getting people up there building space stations, moon buggies and lunar habitable domes for moon and asteroid mining. There wasn't the money to do both.

But the outward looking tech billionaires have now arrived - looking as much for long term financial returns as scientific knowledge and the expansion of humanity - and both approaches are now simultaneously practicable.

Don't forget this is going again today.  Currently there is 2 hours 53 minutes to launch

A successful launch, about 5 or 6 minutes in, all looking good.

That was most impressive. All seemed well under control. The acceleration was fantastic.

Also, the first stage landing on a ship was a not inconsiderable feat.

Progress, in three images.