[srmanuel]

SpaceX and Elon Musk make it look so easy to launch a rocket, it’s led some people to believe anyone can do it, until they try to build one and it blows up on the launch pad.

[SunkenCiv]

Yup. Just the other day a cashier started a short conversation about a space book I was getting, and my main contribution to this was, I watch the Falcon 9 launches on YT, but they go so smoothly they’re almost boring.

Generally I watch up to max Q, to see if it’s a lighter or heavier load [anecdotally the avg is 72 seconds, used to be 74, but the engines have been tweaked] then speed through to the landing burn.

No one aboard the drone barge.

No one aboard the booster.

They stick the landing something like 99% of the time.

[Dr. Sivana]

SpaceX and Elon Musk make it look so easy to launch a rocket, it’s led some people to believe anyone can do it, until they try to build one and it blows up on the launch pad.

SpaceX had some early explosions, too. I'll give them some time to iron out kinks. Right now, Airbus is looking better than Boeing.

Looking at that picture though, I would venture to suggest that the pollution from that blast exceeds that of a year's supply of all the cows in the Netherlands.