You are viewing a nice photo of Jeff Bezos’s (of amazon.com fame) rocket from the Blue Origin website. Blue Origin is Mr. Bezos’s entry into the race to the stars; other entrants are the zillionaires Richard Branson (Mr. Virgin Atlantic, etc.) and Elon Musk (Mr. Tesla etc.). There maybe other zillionaires playing this space game too, but they have not risen to my level of consciousness. Other men (always men) who have amassed huge fortunes tend to buy football (soccer) teams, but these three worthies are burning their way (literally) through their cash piles. It is somewhat ironic that one of Mr. Musk’s stated goals is to reduce global warming and I suppose that blasting a chunk of metal from here to Mars can be likened to having to break eggs in order to make an omelette.
All this is by way of introducing my faithful readers to my original reaction to seeing the Bezos rocket:
“Wow, it’s a phlying phallus, how awesome!!”
Subsequently I wondered whether the design team were having a joke at their boss’s expense, or whether he instructed them to come up with such an erection as an appropriate object for penetrating space. On further reading it became apparent that stem part, or thruster, becomes ejected at a certain height and only the domed part proceeds upward and onward. This is where the pilot and the passengers sit-a sort of cockpit.
Finally I draw your attention to the emblematic feather painted on the side of the thruster. I leave it to you to come up with its symbolism, but it certainly tickles me.