
SpaceX Falcon rocket explodes on landing after delivering satellite to space - srgseg
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-35340734
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ChicagoBoy11
There's something really special about the fact that Musk himself posts these
videos of SpaceX's "failures", and has generally been very candid about his
setbacks with this companies. So often narratives of great achievements are
told/shown in such a way as though it were destiny, like those involved were
geniuses who knew the right path all along. That's not how real work -- of any
kind, looks like. What a tremendous lesson for young people everywhere to see
Musk share his work -- the successes and failures -- with the world.

I loved Gene Kranz's "Failure is not an option," but outside of the specific
context in which it was used, it is a terrible slogan. Failure, actually,
ought to be the only option, in the sense that if you are never failing you
likely are falling short of whatever it is that you could potentially
accomplish.

Nowadays there is this idea of instilling in kids a "growth" mindset, in the
sense that you ought not praise them for "intelligence" or how smart they are,
since these things are immutable. Rather, praising them for their effort and
perseverance, which can be nurtured, likely helps instill in them these very
values, which often are far better predictors of success than intelligence
itself.

I hope at some point we collectively start thinking about great founders, or
companies, or amazing things society builds in the same way. Instead of story
after story praising Musk for being the "real iron-man," maybe we should
publicize the electric car movie where you see him walk into a garage in the
middle of the night filled with cars with production issues, with a clear look
of despair on his face. SpaceX is now the leader of private space aviation,
but at one point Musk had to bank the company on a single launch because,
well... all other ones had failed.

He is undoubtedly the innovator of our generation. But it's not because he is
smart (which he undoubtedly is), or a visionary (again, ditto), but in
addition to these things, he is working very, very, very hard. And has failed
-- a lot. And picked himself up every time.

This is incredibly inspiring stuff, and makes you root for the guy (and
companies) even more.

~~~
madaxe_again
Successful people aren't successful because they succeed a lot - they're
successful because they fail a lot, and don't let it deter them.

Failure is success, as long as you learn something from it. If you learn
nothing, then you failed before you even started.

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srgseg
Larger size video:
[https://www.instagram.com/p/BAqirNbwEc0/](https://www.instagram.com/p/BAqirNbwEc0/)

~~~
hanniabu
I missed it live because of the lag. After watching this, it's definitely a
lot better than many reports make it seem. It actually seems like it was a
successful landing, but then tipped most likely due to the motion of the ocean
combined with the relatively small supports. For an object that long and thin
that's swaying, I'm surprised it doesn't have longer supports.

~~~
chli
It tipped because a leg didn't latch, as mentioned in the article AND on the
instagram video provided by @elonmusk.

~~~
MicroBerto
They said something about ice on TV?

~~~
jvzr
Apparently the thing that receives part of the leg and get it latched to the
rocket was frozen (because of fog at the launch pad) and resulted in the leg
being free and allowed to move.

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klum
The headline and article make it sound like this was some huge failure, while
in reality the mission was a success and the landing a test which almost
worked out.

~~~
Mithaldu
It's honestly quite amazing just how well on-target that thing landed, given
the speed it's doing it at, and the distance it went. Tipping over due to a
small component failure is roughly the same category of issue as a small css
styling oversight on a website on launch.

~~~
Piskvorrr
Good thing that CSS doesn't explode quite as literally and violently as rocket
fuel does, then ;)

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Shivetya
I would not say it exploded on landing, it landed just fine. When you break
apart a device full of things that like to go boom and provide a spark your
bound to have an explosion.

Got to love the audacity of landing on a barge in the ocean instead of land.
So why is he doing this? Is it possible he wants to be as neutral going
forward? Will he start building rockets on a seaborne platform as well? Go
full Bond super-villain on us. Seriously though, why not buy an island.

~~~
nickik
Going back to where you came from cost far more fuel. Every kilogram of fuel
you save is extra profit.

Also some places you are not allowed to land with a rocket.

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adwn
No, the cost of the fuel is almost entirely irrelevant; the entire fuel for
the rocket launch is less than 1% of the total cost.

The motivation behind saving fuel by landing on a barge is that the fuel thus
saved can be transformed into additional speed of the upper stage, enabling a
larger payload.

~~~
nickik
Literally what I said 'Every kilogram of fuel you save is extra profit.'. They
make profit by sending payload into space.

~~~
adwn
> _" Every kilogram of fuel you save is extra profit."_

No, it's not: Additional performance (i.e., payload capacity) does not get
them more money from a customer if that customer's payload doesn't require
more performance.

If you want to be pedantic you might argue that more performance allows for
more customers, but then not _" every kilogram"_ is extra profit, because the
spectrum is not continuous.

