this post was submitted on 07 Dec 2023
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SpaceX are making significant progress in rocket technology.
The perception that their rockets blow up all the time is due to their proximity to Elon Musk, the high amount of publicity their tests receive, & a healthy serving of confirmation bias.
SpaceX actually makes pretty good stuff. The sad thing is that Elon keeps trying to take credit for it even though it was the scientists, engineers and laborers who did the real work.
How so?
They've made the first reusable orbital rockets (falcon 9 first stage), and made the practice routine.
They're the first to ever fly a full-flow-staged-combustion rocket engine (raptor), combining high power and high efficiency.
Starship has already broken records (owing to its sheer size), and if it fully pans out it will be the largest rocket ever, and the first fully reusable orbital rocket. Next test flight is probably early next year.
Word is that the rocket that blew up before this one was because Elon musk decided the launch pad didn't need a blast deflector, overriding his engineers.
SpaceX does awesome stuff, Elon Musk is a fuckwit.