> NASA would design a new feature, send it through half a dozen design reviews, apply a few pounds of paperwork, test it on the ground, test fly it (maybe) once

> NASA would design a new feature, send it through half a dozen design reviews, apply a few pounds of paperwork, test it on the ground, test fly it (maybe) once, and then deem it "correct" and fly it as-is forever. Manned. Traditionally, until the Shuttle anyway, NASA has been more cautious. Apollo had 2 unmanned Saturn V launches and 4 unmanned Saturn 1B launches, 10 unmanned Saturn 1 launches, and 5 Little Joe II launches. Beyond that, Apollo 8, 10, 11, and 12 were place on free-return trajectories for safety, and 7,8,9,10 were all essentially test missions for aspects of 11. Project Mercury similarly had several unmanned test flights. Gemini only had two, though the Titan II (non-GLV) already had several successful flights (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/USAF_ICBM_and_NASA_Launch_Vehicle_Flight_Test_Successes_and_Failures_%28highlighted%29.png http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/USAF_ICBM...)