How SpaceX Bounced Back from the Brink of Disaster

Famous Failures

This is a special episode of Famous Failures. Instead of doing an interview, I recount the story of the first three failures that SpaceX experienced on the launchpad, which brought the company to the brink of collapse.

You’ll learn how SpaceX leveraged these failures for later success and how you can implement the same strategies in your own life.

The content of the episode is based on the following sources:

Tim Fernholz, Rocket Billionaires: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the New Space Race (2018);

Shane Snow, Smartcuts: The Breakthrough Power of Lateral Thinking (2014);

Chris Bergin, Falcon I flight – preliminary assessment positive for SpaceX, Spaceflight.com (March 24, 2007) https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2007/03/falcon-i-flight-preliminary-assessment-positive-for-spacex/;

Tim Fernholz, What it took for Elon Musk’s SpaceX to disrupt Boeing, leapfrog NASA, and become a serious space company, QZ (Oct. 21, 2014) https://qz.com/281619/what-it-took-for-elon-musks-spacex-to-disrupt-boeing-leapfrog-nasa-and-become-a-serious-space-company/;

Max Chafkin, SpaceX’s Secret Weapon Is Gwynne Shotwell, Bloomberg Quint (July 26, 2018) https://www.bloombergquint.com/businessweek/she-launches-spaceships-sells-rockets-and-deals-with-elon-musk;

Elon Musk, Falcon 1, Flight 3 Mission Summary, SpaceX (Aug. 6, 2008) https://www.spacex.com/news/2013/02/11/falcon-1-flight-3-mission-summary;

Dolly Singh, What Is It Like to Work With Elon Musk?, Slate (Aug. 14, 2013) https://slate.com/human-interest/2013/08/elon-musk-what-is-it-like-to-work-for-the-spacex-tesla-chief.html;

Tom Junod, Elon Musk: Triumph of His Will, Esquire (Nov. 15, 2012) https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a16681/elon-musk-interview-1212/.

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