T͢h͢e͢ ͢F͢a͢l͢c͢o͢n͢ ͢1͢ ͢D͢a͢y͢s͢ Just finished Eric Berger’s book 𝘓𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘰𝘧𝘧: […]

T͢h͢e͢ ͢F͢a͢l͢c͢o͢n͢ ͢1͢ ͢D͢a͢y͢s͢
Just finished Eric Berger’s book 𝘓𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘰𝘧𝘧: 𝘌𝘭𝘰𝘯 𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘌𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘋𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘓𝘢𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘚𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘟.

Here are some of my photos from the pivotal moment as Falcon 1 transitioned from a string of early failures to success (2008-2009). Elon’s reflections: “The crazy thing is that I originally budgeted for three attempts,” Musk said. “And frankly, I thought that if we couldn’t get this thing to orbit in three failures, we deserved to die. That was my going-in proposition.” (p.165)

By 2008 “I had to allocate a lot of capital to Tesla and SolarCity, so I was out of money,” Musk said. “We had three failures under our belt. So it’s pretty hard to go raise money. The recession is starting to hit. I didn’t even have a house.” (p.182)

“As bad as Flight Three had gone, he wanted to give his people one final swing. In the factory, they had the parts for a final Falcon 1 rocket. ‘Build it,’ he said. ‘And then fly it.’ What they did not have was much time. If this rocket crashed and burned, well, everyone pretty much knew what that meant. The period that followed would be the most memorable and arguably important period of the company’s history, hardening its DNA and setting the stage for SpaceX to become the most transformative aerospace company in the world.” (p.183)