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On March 30, 2017, SpaceX accomplished a historic feat—relaunching an orbital-class rocket from Earth just a year after its first successful lift-off. This wasn’t the first time Elon Musk’s company broke new ground: in December 2015, they successfully landed a reusable rocket for the first time, and five months later, they managed to land a rocket on a droneship in the ocean—another unprecedented achievement. These milestones are just a few examples of SpaceX's many steps in their long and sometimes messy journey to reshape space exploration. In their new blooper reel, spotted by Ars Technica, you can witness just some of the many missteps the company experienced along the way.
The video highlights that failure is an essential component of the scientific process. Naturally, when it comes to rockets, failure can be much more dramatic than in other fields of study. SpaceX has documented their rockets exploding mid-flight, disintegrating over the ocean, and crashing on landing pads—all often caused by small issues like a radar malfunction or insufficient propellant.
Though explosions—or as the video puts it, "rapid unscheduled disassemblies"—are always undesirable, some are less catastrophic than others. Take, for example, the Falcon 9 explosion that rattled buildings for miles last year, destroying a $200 million Facebook satellite in the process. Even costly failures like this play a vital role in paving the way for future successes. As Musk once remarked, "If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough."
You can view the fiery compilation below.
