When it comes to space there’s really nothing to it

Fifty years ago it looked so easy — one small step for man and a giant leap for mankind. In 2019 it’s baby steps still. London’s Daily Mirror, November 21:

It was tipped to begin test flights by the end of 2019, but SpaceX’s Starship rocket has suffered a huge setback following a disastrous test. The monster spacecraft partially exploded during a ground test in Boca Chica, Texas … The failed test saw the top of the ­rocket blown off, sending plumes of gas into the air. Thankfully the rocket was unmanned … in September, Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, claimed that test flights in low altitude could begin within the next couple of months.

For Musk it must have felt like Groundhog Day. Reuters, September 1, 2016:

An explosion destroyed a Falcon 9 rocket belonging to Elon Musk’s ­SpaceX and its cargo during preparations for a routine test firing at Cape Canaveral … two days before it had been due to blast off and place a satellite in orbit. Video showed a fiery blast ripping through the upper part of the rocket before the vehicle collapsed in flames on the launch pad.

It’s all water off a duck’s back, ­Inverse website, August 31, 2017:

SpaceX is learning to laugh at its failures … Musk says the company is working on a blooper reel of failed rocket landings (wisely, it’s avoiding a failed launch blooper reel). Sensing he might have been out of the news cycle for too long, Musk declared on Twitter Wednesday: “Putting together SpaceX rocket landing blooper reel. We messed up a lot before it finally worked, but there’s some epic explosion footage.”

Of course it’s not just Musk. Bloomberg’s Justin Bachman, Monday:

Boeing Co successfully landed its new CST-100 Starliner spacecraft on Sunday after a two-day flight cut short by a software glitch during the vessel’s ascent that ruined its plan to dock with the International Space Station. “Overall, this is a good test,” NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said at a post-flight news conference at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston.

If you say so; in any case, it’s not just the US. South China Morning Post, September 27:

India’s attempt to land a probe on the moon’s southern pole failed, dealing a major blow to its ambitious space program. The country’s space agency lost communication with a lander and a rover near the satellite’s surface, minutes before a scheduled touchdown. The Chandrayaan-2 craft’s descent was normal until an altitude of 2.1km before communication was lost early on Saturday in India, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation, K. Sivan, said in a televised broadcast.

Lost and found, BBC, December 3:

NASA says one of its satellites has found the debris of India’s moon rover which crashed on the lunar surface in September. The space agency released a picture showing the site of the rover’s impact and the “associated debris field” … The rover lost contact and had a “hard landing” about 600km … from the South Pole in a “relatively ancient terrain”.

Any racist royal could have seen the problem was in the wiring. The Guardian, August 11, 1999:

The Duke of Edinburgh apologised yesterday after the Indian com­munity became the latest group to be offended by one of his ill-judged, off-the-cuff remarks. During a walkabout at an Edinburgh electronics factory, Prince Philip remarked that a fusebox bursting with wires looked “as if it was put in by an Indian”. His remark prompted immediate condemnation.