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Re:SpaceX wins $440M contract with NASA to develop Space Shu... by natep on Friday August 03, 2012 @04:13PM (#4335928)
Not counting their initial failures, SpaceX has had a 100% success rate. And each rocket was so significantly different from the previous rocket[1], that it's more fair to say they had 3 rocket models with 100% failure, rather than one model with 60% failure rate. And the Falcon 9 has a 100% success rate. And they were awarded this contract, so obviously NASA believes they can achieve the desired reliability and safety for the rocket that will be used under the contract (not F1).

I'm not affiliated with SpaceX, nor trying to be a fanboi, but I believe you are distorting things.

[1] Which did earn them a lot of criticism from the industry, actually

Re:SpaceX wins $440M contract with NASA to develop Space Shu... by smallblacksun on Friday August 03, 2012 @06:05PM (#4336426)
>Not counting their initial failures, SpaceX has had a 100% success rate.

And other than the ones that exploded, NASA never lost a shuttle.

Re:SpaceX wins $440M contract with NASA to develop Space Shu... by natep on Friday August 03, 2012 @07:20PM (#4336709)
That's not what I'm saying at all. Every shuttle was designed the same. Every F1 that failed had a different design, and the company's policies and practices changed drastically over that time as well. You can't compare it to an established program with intermittent failures.
Re:SpaceX wins $440M contract with NASA to develop Space Shu... by jlgreco on Friday August 03, 2012 @09:22PM (#4337068)
The shuttles that failed were not initial failures. Not by a long shot.