> didn't develop ground-breaking firsts
- First full flow staged combustion engine that actually flies
- horizontal flight, vertical landing (belly flop)
- booster reuse on an orbital class rocket
- First full flow staged combustion engine that actually flies
- horizontal flight, vertical landing (belly flop)
- booster reuse on an orbital class rocket
Indeed, and I'll observe that the significance of this one is often lost on more casual observers.
> took something we've done for 50 years and do it more efficiently.
One can argue that this is "all" that happened in AI in recent years. We took something that was arguably done before, in some similar way or shape, and made it practical. But this is HUGE. It's not a minor accomplishment! It may very well be harder than doing some prototype for the first time.
SpaceX is landing rockets at sea on comically small platforms.