In regards to any Musk endeavor, the media will always portray it in a negative light. This test launch was a big step forward
- All first stage Raptor engines performed nominally - in comparison to the many that failed on the first due on large part to launch pad design that allowed back pressures to damage them
- The “hot” separation went well. The first stage did fail during rotation maneuvers, very possibly due to damage from the second stage separation. SpaceX was expecting damage and this will provide critical data on how to reinforce for future tests.
- The six Raptor engines on the second stage performed flawlessly. An unknown situation caused the auto destruct to kick in at / near the moment of engine shut down. Possible software glitch.
This mission was nearly fully successful in all aspects - considering that this is only the second flight of the whole rocket. Musk has a lot of smart engineers on the project and to advance so far as quickly as they have is a credit to this project
They’d be a lot farther along, and able to run a faster prototype spiral, if the FAA didn’t have its head up its thermal exhaust port.