[1] SpaceX loses yet another launch vehicle.

For those of you not familiar with [2] SpaceX, it is at the forefront of the [3] NewSpace movement, whose advocates believe it is imperative to harness the power of private enterprise to make mankind a spacefaring species. Its colorful and brilliant founder, [4] Elon Musk, is one of those Internet Billionaires that populate the new technology landscape these days. SpaceX has developed a new commercial launch vehicle, the [5] Falcon I.

Unfortunately, the first two “demo” flights failed to reach orbit. This third flight was intended as a “production” flight and carried actual “paying” payloads.

I have mixed emotions about this failure. On the one hand, I agree with the motivation of the NewSpace advocates. I would like to see us become a spacefaring species. I reckon it’s the only way my great-great-grandson will get to fly [6] one of these.

But I have spent the last twelve months helping design NASA’s new launch vehicle, the [7] Ares I. This rocket science stuff isn’t as easy as it sounds. [8] Staging is risky. [9] Propellant slosh can bring you down to earth. In a sense, it’s good to know that the problems I’m working on are not simple.