Try, Try Again

Elon Musk of SpaceX has had bad luck with his rockets re-entries into earth’s atmosphere and touchdowns.  The latest missile fell over on an anchored barge.  Musk blamed condensation ice from the heavy fog in which the rocket was fired.  No matter what happened, Musk is facing a PR problem until he can get his stage ones to settle gently in an upright position upon re-entry.  No one argues that it is easy to do.  It is probably the hardest part of a launch likened to a juggler doing magic tricks while keeping balls in the air.  Musk, however, boasted that his company would master the technology.  He put himself in a position of peril by making the statement before showing the proof.  Thus far, one of his rockets has landed safely back on earth.  The others have crashed in one way or another.  That’s not a good record.