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Comment by mcculley | Hacker News Reader

I thought they were very clear on how they defined "success".

This is progress, and admirable, but not a success according to their previous statements.

From the livestream (at about T-30:00):

“We consider any data received that helps inform an improved future build of starship a success. From a milestone standpoint, our main goal is to clear the pad. Every milestone beyond that is a bonus. The further we fly, the more data we can collect.”

They've been saying (Elon at a minimum) multiple times that they expect the first flight to end in a giant ball of flames. That there's a "if everything goes extremelly well" plan that reaches quasi-orbit and lands back nicely... doesn't make this the expected goal. It's not like they can submit a flight plan to the FAA that's "we'll launch and explode somewhere along the way". They need to draw up a nominal plan, with the full understanding (by reasonable people) that the flight really isn't expected to actually fulfill that entire plan.

It's pretty amazing that the rocket went past the launch pad, yet alone survived past max-Q to begin with!

Why is it amazing that it left the pad?

It’s the first time this rocket has had all 33 engines attempt to light and fully throttle up.

SpaceX has no test facility capable of withstanding a full thrust booster test on the ground.

Also SpaceX has more boosters and ships complete and in various stages of assembly. A complete loss of the pad would have been much more damaging to the program.

It's a giant shaking and trembling structure built in a fail-fast iterative manner using unexpected materials (stainless steel) and processes (regular welding). Assemble all this in history's largest rocket ever, and expect everything to go perfect the first time?

I wouldn't have been surprised if the whole thing shook itself apart on the lift pad and blew up.

I don't know about you, but when I rapidly build and assemble large complex structures like a cowboy, I certainly expect a ton of failures on my first trials. When stuff goes much further than I expected, I'm in awe and disbelief.

It's a matter of expectations. No one set out with the goal of blowing up a rocket but it was very much an expected likely outcome. By clearing the launchpad, the team met their milestone. Anything beyond that is simply additional data to improve the next iteration.

I'm no fan of the SpaceX model but if it works for them and the safety of those on the ground is prioritized, it seems to work better than any other model tried here.

They defined success as being able to gather information. They did that :)

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