> I don't follow spaceflight news in any great depth - but doesn't SpaceX also have a rocket thingy that keeps exploding? In fact even the rocket that Dragon l

> I don't follow spaceflight news in any great depth - but doesn't SpaceX also have a rocket thingy that keeps exploding? In fact even the rocket that Dragon launches on has a long history of explosions. First in the launches, then in the landings that resulted in some very spectacular booms. One time it landed perfectly upright, engines shut off, and one of the landing feet collapsed, causing it to fall over and BOOM. That was so funny :) But now it has had a huge run of successful launches. I think it's a better approach because material science does not always behave exactly like the mathematical models. And space is one area where the margins of failure are extremely low.