The first attempts of NASA to send up missiles for manned operatons were met with spectacular blow-ups on the launching pad, exploding just as it cleares the gantry, tail-spins in the clouds, etc. Videos are very interestng. But they learned from each launch.
NASA’s launch of the first Saturn V was a tour de force. First time all the components were launched. And it succeeded very nearly flawlessly.
As a child of the 50s, I was fascinated by the space race. One of the iconic comments during this time was “Why do ours always blow-up?”
Back then, NASA was run by rocket scientists with little liberal arts minions handling the menial tasks. But then, the rocket scientists either retired or died, and the minions took over.
NASA went from a “Can-Do” engineering department to a “Can’t Do” bureaucracy.
SpaceX is a “Can-Do” engineering firm. They will lead the way to space.