For those who haven't lived through it, or watched it, this captures exactly the driving ethos of the U.S. ICBM race in the 1960s. There was failure after failure of Atlas and Titan, and the developmental launches kept on going like clockwork. Each failure was retrospectively analyzed, the fault found, a correction engineered, and the available next model in the production lineup would be equipped with the modified part or subsystem. (Meanwhile, you kept firing according to schedule. You were still gathering data.) The program went on, because it was a race to see who would be able to return fire with nuclear weapons.
This ethos was behind the incredible drive and attainment of the manned space program. The next launch counted more than the last launch. This is why I have known from the beginning that Musk was on the right track. Because he had the Right Stuff. He didn't cry over spilt milk. He was focused on getting the job done right. That is what engineers do.
(Been there, done that. We were in the midst of low-rate production of ROLAND 2 and had an ignition failure of the propulsion system. I figured out the problem and we tested an experimental motor to confirm the explanation. Problem solved. Easy solution. We were still in production.)
For those who haven't lived through it, or watched it, this captures exactly the driving ethos of the U.S. ICBM race in the 1960s. There was failure after failure of Atlas and Titan, and the developmental launches kept on going like clockwork. Each failure was retrospectively analyzed, the fault found, a correction engineered, and the available next model in the production lineup would be equipped with the modified part or subsystem. (Meanwhile, you kept firing according to schedule. You were still gathering data.) The program went on, because it was a race to see who would be able to return fire with nuclear weapons.
This ethos was behind the incredible drive and attainment of the manned space program. The next launch counted more than the last launch. This is why I have known from the beginning that Musk was on the right track. Because he had the Right Stuff. He didn't cry over spilt milk. He was focused on getting the job done right. That is what engineers do.
(Been there, done that. We were in the midst of low-rate production of ROLAND 2 and had an ignition failure of the propulsion system. I figured out the problem and we tested an experimental motor to confirm the explanation. Problem solved. Easy solution. We were still in production.)