Failure is more than an option in rocket science — it’s a necessity

Recently, two events — the second attempt by Intuitive Machines to land on the moon and the eighth test of the SpaceX Starship — proved an old adage: Rocket science is really hard.

Both of these examples took place on the same day, March 6.

Missed shots at the moon are still scores for commercial space companies

The next phase of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services moon exploration program began on Jan. 15, with the launch of the Firefly Blue Ghost. It continued with the launch of the Intuitive Machines Athena lander on Feb. 26. Since the Blue Ghost also had the iSpace Resilience lander as a rideshare, at one point three spacecraft were headed for the lunar surface.