Future of the project

[jakewmeyer]

Hey everyone! 👋

Bit bittersweet to write this, but I think the best path forward will be to wind down this project and move any consuming applications to Launch Library 2 API by The Space Devs.

Biggest reasons why this is probably for the best:

1. Nearly all of the data points in this API have been adopted by LL2, especially when it comes to SpaceX specific reusability data
2. LL2 has a strong community surrounding it with timely, crowdsourced data updates
3. Data updates for this project have been tough for 1 person to keep up with, especially as SpaceX has ramped launch cadence. LL2 has a community of enthusiasts who keep the data current, so it seems counterproductive to fragment data update efforts

Bittersweet because this project has been a big part of my life over the past 6 years, but I can't give the project the time it deserves, especially on data updates. This project helped spark my interest in software development, taught me the value and importance of the open source community, and even helped me get my first professional software job. It's been a privilege to lead an open source project of this magnitude, and I deeply appreciate all the community issues, PR's, and feature suggestions over the years.

So this is the current plan, pending community feedback: In its current state the API is cheap to run on a VPS, so I'm happy to keep it running to avoid broken links around the internet, but there won't be any more data updates going forward from myself.

[Nekzuris]

Thanks for the update

[TsaiZinan]

Your project helps me a lot in building my website.
Really appreciate all of your work!

[timisenman]

Thanks for everything, @jakewmeyer! Your work has meant the world to me. Hope we get to meet sometime and grab a drink.

[stanifert]

Thank you for all your hard work @jakewmeyer! This API has been a blast to use, and I couldn't agree more to your closing remarks – this API was a special one for me as well. Thank you again & best of luck on any future endeavors!

[StarNumber12046]

please continue this, OSS is awesome

[warwickofthegh]

Thank you for all your efforts over the years! equally rewarding for us users of your service!! 🚀🚀

[OZ1SEJ]

I've used your site a lot over the years for teaching space science to kids in Denmark. I'm sorry to see it end, but I want to thank you for providing this - I know it's been a source of inspiration for many of my students.

[david-mcneill]

Bit late to this, but thank you so much for the hard work you put in over all of those years @jakewmeyer! It's been my go-to API for a very long time and I really appreciate you keeping it online for the foreseeable.

Thanks again!

[jdarpinian]

Thanks for the data over the years! I made a pull request to update the README so people aren't confused about why the data in the API is stale. #1329