4 ms·

SpaceX seems to have an ability to test without human risk that far exceeds past space missions. (Thanks to reusable rockets and autonomous / remote systems)

• henvic 6y ago
  Exactly. I'd argue also that NASA was specially bad regarding safety in its infancy, probably because it was very militaristic and they don't need to care about profit, given its nature – so dozens of accidents might happen and they might still be in business.
  • mulmen 6y ago
    What are these dozens of accidents? How many fatal human space flight accidents did NASA have? I can only think of three, two of which came during the shuttle program.
    • henvic 6y ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_spaceflight-related_accidents_and_incidents https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_spaceflight-related_ac... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_spaceflight_non-fatal_training_accidents https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_spaceflight_non-fatal_...
• mulmen 6y ago
  Not really. All launches of Mercury era rockets had non-crewed test flights of the spacecraft. And they were on proven boosters. One benefit of using ICBMs is they start out autonomous. Both launch vehicles for Gemini (Atlas and Titan) were again completely autonomous because they were ICBMs. They were tested and proven before astronauts flew them. The first Saturn V launch was not crewed. As I understand all US spacecraft were largely autonomous, especially in the boost phase. SpaceX has refined that to automate docking but it’s not new.