> At a deeper level, the shuttle failed because technical success was secondary to political success. [...] Yes, there is also all of that. That's another th

> At a deeper level, the shuttle failed because technical success was secondary to political success. [...] Yes, there is also all of that. That's another thing: neither SpaceX nor any other private company would make the same design mistakes as the space shuttle program for the simple reason that private companies want to succeed. But government agencies will gladly make the same sorts of mistakes in slightly different ways (as in the SLS case) precisely because success is not actually required and none of the people making decisions have anything to lose anyways.