@6G@mastodon.social @drrjv it's a success because it met the goals that they set ahead of time.

They did not expect this rocket to go to the moon. That was never the point, that was never the goal. This is an engineering process, and this launch was about developing data that would help them refine rockets for the next launch.

So yeah this was a success because it proved some of the developments since the last fight, and it set the stage for the next round of improvements before the next flight.

This is how engineering of a new complex system works. One step after another.