(Some advances in science have happened when the mainstream view was wrong, many others have have occurred when the mainstream view was right. ALL have required ENGINEERING to succeed, and quite frankly, it is in the engineering and funding and detail design that most theoretical advances have failed.)
After all, the THEORY of rocket science was known in the 1920's based on "simple" equations of physics known since Newton's era. It took tens of thousands of man-years of effort to get to today's level of expertise - where NASA STILL blows them up on the launch pad, and has them fly to Mars and Venus - only to fail on re-entry in the last hundred feet. (Er, meters.)
Feet, meeters - eh, one little boo-boo.
only to fail on re-entry in the last hundred feet. (Er, meters.)
What? You think it failed? LOL! That’s just the cover story. Remeber that face on Mars? Hmmmm? ;^)