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Or one could say that SpaceX has basically the same tolerance for failure as the traditional rocket companies had back in the 50s and 60s when they too were first learning to build rockets. That pre-launch "tolerance" is basically zero, with every post-launch failure being investigated as a mistake to be corrected rather than an acceptable cost of doing business.


>That pre-launch "tolerance" is basically zero

I don't think that is accurate. There is a difference between 9%, 99%, and 99.999% confidence of success going into a launch.

You can almost always delay builds and launces to run more simulations, tests, and studies and increase confidence.

A simple example is SpaceX could have chosen to wait until they had a booster test with 100% engine ignition before moving on a full launch. Instead they choose move forward anyways without more stationary booster testing.




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