were recovered. Even today SpaceX can& #39;t recover the upper stage engine. Now we all know SS eventually turned out to be a failure because the reusability was good only on paper. But I& #39;d caution everybody - we still don& #39;t know if SpaceX reusability is any better economically.

So as much as I& #39;m space enthusiast, I& #39;d advise some humility about this launch. The US space program is really in a bad place right now IMHO and yes, in all that political crap and bureaucratic immobility, the SpaceX looks like a star. Especially compared to Boeing.

But in a larger perspective it really is not that impressive, in fact in many ways a huge downgrade from the Space Shuttle (which was developed in 70& #39;s and perhaps using modern tech could be made much better as well).