> the stated primary objective was to get through staging without blowing up.
So I was more or less correct at the top of the thread when I said, "if the launch works through staging, SpaceX fans would declare it a success", and I consider that a low bar.
There were no crew on the first two Saturn V flights, yet the engineers considered it worthwhile to build them with sufficient care that they didn't vaporize anything except fuel and oxidizer.
I'm confused by your stance here, because it's like you aren't aware that the Falcon 9 rocket by SpaceX has launched 80 times this year so far, and 60 times last year, and those are all commercial launches with payloads.
Thats hardly what I would barely sending an empty rocket to orbit. Just because some new version is being tested using different technologies and methodologies of building and isn't fully functional doesn't indicate that we can't or don't regularly exceed what you say we're barely accomplishing as a people.
So I was more or less correct at the top of the thread when I said, "if the launch works through staging, SpaceX fans would declare it a success", and I consider that a low bar.