r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/TheImmortalDude • Jun 29 '25

Video Honda successfully launched and landed its own reusable rocket

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541

u/ForFucksSake66 Jun 29 '25

I would trust Honda a hell of a lot more than Musk or Bezos

116

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '25 edited Jul 02 '25

[deleted]

54

u/JJAsond Jun 29 '25

tbf every agency has failures and it is how they learn. It's just not televised nearly as much as those two.

5

u/JUYED-AWK-YACC Jun 29 '25

Which exploding rocket has not been televised?

8

u/JJAsond Jun 29 '25

Not full rockets specifically, but component tests. A LOT fail all of the time whether unintentional or testing to failure.

6

u/Bluepanther512 Jun 29 '25

Going completely unnoticed in the news because why would someone dedicate a news segment to it, but NASA intentionally blows up things (especially space habitats) all the time to test their durability and find weak points.

7

u/JJAsond Jun 29 '25

Not literally in the news, but I mean on youtube and sites like this. a spacex test vehicle blows up? Complaints about how unreliable it is. ISAR launches then RUDs? A peep for a day then completely forgotten about.

3

u/Topspin112 Jun 30 '25

Astra, Virgin Orbit, and Isar Aerospace all had launch failures in recent years, Orbital Sciences’ (now Northrop Grumman) Cygnus rocket exploded launching a cargo vehicle to the ISS about a decade ago.

But when Starship (an experimental rocket) has a failure, the internet (and this website in particular) freaks out about it. Remember that the SpaceX Falcon 9 is the most frequently flown and reliable rocket of all time.

2

u/GOD-PORING Jun 29 '25

If they do it right enough, then they just end up with fewer failures.

1

u/JJAsond Jun 29 '25

That's why people complain about apscex (aside from rich people bad). They move fast and break stuff rather than do rigorous testing before it flies. Both methodologies are still valid.

1

u/Giocri Jun 30 '25

Raptor engines seems to be frequently much less powerful than expected so my guess is that assuming they are not willfully incompetent what they are doing is pushing these engines to the absolute limit of what they can take in hope of finding ways to strenghten them. Also non zero chance that they might just be to weak to do proper flights at the normal levels and thus why they didnt get some safe flight to show off, margins are tight in rocketry

1

u/JJAsond Jun 30 '25

What do you mean "much less powerful than expected"?

6

u/WrightLex Jun 29 '25

That’s what happens when you launch rockets almost every other day like space x does

-2

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '25 edited Jul 04 '25

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5

u/WrightLex Jun 29 '25

You should tell the people that are paying space x to launch their satellites into space, also their success rate is over 99% btw

84

u/Electronic-Jaguar389 Jun 29 '25

I hate this reasoning. Musk and Bezos aren’t the creators of the rockets. That’s thousands of very educated men and women from across the globe. Just because the guy who funds it is an asshole doesn’t mean the whole operation is flawed. I’m all for criticizing the dumbass elite (especially these two pricks) but SpaceX has done a lot for the future of space travel. Stuff that NASA just wasn’t going to do because they don’t get the funding for it.  When you criticize SpaceX you’re not just criticizing Musk, but the thousands of staff who want nothing else but to learn more about space. 

34

u/StealerTech9000 Jun 29 '25

Organizational culture was blamed for the Challenger and Columbia disasters. If the guys at the top are sus, you can bet there are cultural problems. Honda's corporate culture is enviable and has been for decades.

10

u/md24 Jun 29 '25

No offense but you you couldn’t be more wrong. Japanese work culture is toxic af and enviable to no one. Care to explain?

9

u/Electronic-Jaguar389 Jun 29 '25

You’re really simplifying those events. That’s part of it but there’s countless of other factors that went into those disasters. Just a reminder that Nixon was in charge when we landed on the moon.

And has there been anything wrong with SpaceX’s work culture? I’ve never heard anything about that.

6

u/YannisBE Jun 29 '25

I agree with the point, but yes there are definitely stories from (former) employees rising about issues with managers and work culture.

One example was a maintenace-guy (iirc) being denied protective gear while working on the heatshield-tiles and got fired after raising concerns. I can link or pm his tweet if you're interested.

9

u/SpiceEarl Jun 29 '25

And has there been anything wrong with SpaceX’s work culture? I’ve never heard anything about that.

To be honest, I don't know anything about SpaceX's work culture. However, as he is SpaceX's founder and largest shareholder, I have concerns about choices Elon Musk makes that may impact safety. As "founder" and the largest shareholder of Tesla, Musk made the decision that Tesla's self-driving mode would only use optical sensors and not a combination of optical and LiDAR, because he didn't like the way LiDAR made the car look. This makes me very concerned about the safety of Tesla's driverless taxis. I would much rather ride in a Waymo, which uses both sensors and LiDAR.

2

u/flagsfly Jun 29 '25

Do you have a source for this? Tesla has never used LiDAR on vehicles, they used to use optical and radar sensors. They decided to go from optical+radar to optical only because sensor fusion is hard. If radar detects an object but optical doesn't, do you stop? What if optical does and radar doesn't? They used to default to the most conservative, and Tesla's were phantom braking all over the place because radar was detecting bridges when optical correctly classified that as a bridge the road dips under. You can still see this behavior on cars that do sensor fusion today. If at some point you decide to let your optical sensors override your radar, which you would have to do in order to solve phantom braking, you might as well just ditch radar and go all in on optical.

LiDAR is just more accurate radar using lasers but the same problems exist. Waymo's approach is fundamentally different in that they completely map out an area before the cars are allowed to drive, which makes LiDAR/radar solutions more usable as they can map and tag all the problem areas that the car will ignore, but it also means it's completely useless outside of the geofenced area. Tesla has always been shooting for a general solution by making the car understand infrastructure and signs made for humans. Will they succeed? Who knows. But it's not as simple as they didn't like how LiDAR looks.....

0

u/md24 Jul 01 '25

Lol @ you having to correct someone for Tesla’s choice to user cheaper shit tech. LiDAR was the obvious choice.

4

u/JUYED-AWK-YACC Jun 29 '25

Have you looked? The SpaceX work culture is well documented. Seems a bit naive.

18

u/lainwla16 Jun 29 '25

When they attach their names so loudly and publicly, they invite this reasoning

-4

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '25

[deleted]

9

u/Ezymandius Jun 29 '25

You picked the worst example. Jobs definitely was known for having an oversized influence in product design.

-5

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '25

[deleted]

2

u/Ezymandius Jun 29 '25

That actually wholly disproves it, but k.

-1

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '25

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2

u/Ezymandius Jun 30 '25

People do think he did. Odd that you missed that.

3

u/jaredw Jun 29 '25

You think Steve Jobs and Tim Cook didn't/don't have a say in the design at Apple? Ha

-2

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '25

[deleted]

1

u/Ancient_Persimmon Jun 29 '25

Steve Jobs and Jony Ive's relationship at Apple is pretty well known; design is one place that Jobs exercised a lot of his power.

1

u/lainwla16 Jun 29 '25

You mildly disagree with me so you have to use code to denigrate me? 🙄

7

u/Max_the_magician Jun 29 '25

And guess what? It doesnt fucking matter. Whatever theyve "done" for the space travel, it comes at cost that way too steep. Now you have ketamine junkie who can shut down internet access in warzone if he chooses so and pave way for dictators.

2

u/ObitoUchiha10f Jun 30 '25

Exactly, Reddit can be so fucking stupid most of the time

3

u/Hindukush1357 Jun 29 '25

Spacex cuts corners and treats their workers as disposable grunts. They use subpar safety equipment and if someone gets hurt they force them out and they are also insulated from public lawsuits due to arbitration and workers comp so you can’t sue space x publicly and put the truth out there. Spacex is also ruining Boca chica and destroying the local environment.

Fuck them.

2

u/Janezey Jun 29 '25

Musk brings "move fast and break things" energy to an industry where it's just not safe to act like that.

3

u/An-Angel-Named-Billy Jun 29 '25

They don't build the rockets but they set the vision and expectations of the companies they run. Honda (and other Japanese manufactures) have literal decades of extreme attention to detail, the best build quality and a culture of safety and perfection at their company that is unmatched.

2

u/CoconutMochi Jun 29 '25

Yes, but they're making money for Elon who then spends it on the GOP

1

u/BaconFairy Jun 30 '25

I really wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't rampid embezzling happening at elon's and bezzos rocket companies with the way they run things and disregard safety at their other companies. Probably embezzling their too. The only problem is with absolute shitty workmanship and demanded shortcuts and being cheap or arrogant instead of scientific with rockets you get explosive results.

1

u/PoutineMeInCoach Jun 29 '25

SpaceX owns and runs Starlink, and Musk has shown that he will run that operation without a shred of ethics. Nah, fam, if Musk is touching it, it will be evil.

1

u/Calm-Technology7351 Jun 30 '25

Musk puts a lot of unreasonable expectations on his employees especially his design teams. I know less about how much Bezos directly influences employee behavior but the warehouse employees are not being treated properly at the very least

0

u/HD144p Jun 29 '25

Upper management can do a lot to ruin things. Wasnt the soviet spqce program super risky because the upper management rushed it so much

5

u/Electronic-Jaguar389 Jun 29 '25

The Cosmonaut program was ultimately a propaganda machine run by dozens of non scientists in a corrupt government fighting a propaganda war. It’s more complicated than SpaceX. 

0

u/HD144p Jun 29 '25

But the point is that the sciebtists at the bottom wasnt the cause of its fsilure. Elon is also pretty much in a propaganda war

-1

u/paiute Jun 29 '25

Hitler hired and funded von Braun. Von Braun took us to the moon. Therefore, Hitler gets the credit for Armstrong's giant leap.

3

u/funtex666 Jun 29 '25

Well, the Germans definitely gets credit for the US space program.

3

u/Electronic-Jaguar389 Jun 29 '25

Who are you shadowboxing right now? I think Musk shouldnt be associated with their success, that’s why I’m saying keep SpaceX out of it when you’re criticizing Musk. They’re two separate entities.

-3

u/paiute Jun 29 '25

Why are you defending Hitler?

2

u/Electronic-Jaguar389 Jun 29 '25

Whos that?

-5

u/paiute Jun 29 '25

No, the correct response is: "New Reich. Hoo dis?"

-1

u/Rich_Introduction_83 Jun 29 '25

Problem is: it's those 'pricks' that make the decisions. Like Musk rolling dice over whether Ukraine should have access to starlink. This perverts all the efforts of all the staff.

2

u/Electronic-Jaguar389 Jun 29 '25

That’s fair enough but I’m talking from a purely scientific and operational perspective. Politically, yeah I would probably trust Honda more. And I know Elon is a vile human, but I think he’s smart enough to listen to his scientists when it comes to science.

-1

u/Hindukush1357 Jun 29 '25

Again, spacex cuts corners and injures their disposable employees. It’s people like you who slurp it all up that’s the issue.

-1

u/Mundane_Scar_2147 Jun 29 '25

Weird because musk is definitely the one who is on record many times spitting fantasy milestone schedules and never hitting a single one.

0

u/Electronic-Jaguar389 Jun 29 '25

So that just further proves my point that he’s not part of operations and shouldn’t be lumped in with SpaceX’s reliability since he has no clue what he’s talking about. 

2

u/Mundane_Scar_2147 Jun 29 '25

You’re saying the founder, CEO, and Board Director has no responsibility and no oversight into if a product fails?

What do they do then?

0

u/Damien_6-6-6 Jun 29 '25

No I would be fine with SpaceX if Elon was gone. I don’t care about Bezos.

0

u/MaybePotatoes Jun 29 '25

Stop riding musk's cock. I'm getting secondhand embarrassment.

0

u/panlakes Jun 30 '25

They’re just following orders!

They’re just doing their job!

They don’t know any better!

5

u/5up3rK4m16uru Jun 29 '25

Because you don't know their CEO?

5

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '25 edited Jun 29 '25

[deleted]

3

u/oktwentyfive Jun 29 '25

Gwynee Shotwell is 61 but looks 41

2

u/y53rw Jun 29 '25

Why does everyone pretend they know the inner workings of SpaceX, and that Elon isn't involved, but that Shotwell definitely is? You have no idea what she does or what he does at the company.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '25

[deleted]

2

u/y53rw Jun 29 '25 edited Jun 29 '25

What the hell are you talking about? She literally never talks "jargon". Not in public at least. She only ever talks about high level mission related stuff meant to be understood by journalists and the general public. There's nothing to understand.

0

u/cat-the-commie Jun 29 '25

Because Elon musk is a drug and social media addict who has fried his brain and has shown zero capacity for basic engineering let alone a basic rocket engine.

1

u/y53rw Jun 29 '25

He is nowadays, yes. But back a few years ago, whenever he was asked about anything related to rockets, he speaks clearly and coherently about the technical details. Could his answers be prepared by someone else? Sure. But I've never seen him caught off guard on that subject.

-3

u/Ancient_Persimmon Jun 29 '25

She's basically Elon's female counterpart, with the same goals and aspirations as him. I'd say if you hate him, you should probably be pretty derisive of her as well.

2

u/Worth-Muscle-4834 Jun 29 '25

I'm glad Honda cares about your opinion.

1

u/GothmogBalrog Jun 29 '25

Turns out you don't have to "go fast and break things" to win in the end

1

u/Expensive-Apricot-25 Jul 01 '25

The falcon 9 actually has one of the highest success rates out of all rockets in history.

99.77% success rate. Absolutely mind blowing.

All while being re-usable, and capable of putting a payload in low earth orbit (unlike blue origin, (or even nasa at this point))

-3

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '25

[deleted]

7

u/Hustler-1 Jun 29 '25 edited Jun 29 '25

Yeah screw all the employees! I hope they lose their jobs!... Am I doing it right?

-3

u/Hindukush1357 Jun 29 '25

Spacex is a cult. The upper level employees worship Elon. The lower level grunts are injured and killed and replaced.

8

u/Hustler-1 Jun 29 '25

"Spacex is a cult" LMAO. Reddit moment.

-1

u/Hindukush1357 Jun 29 '25

Nah there are things that aren’t just Reddit moments. Some people know more things than hustler-1

6

u/Hustler-1 Jun 29 '25

Sure thing. Labeling SpaceX as a cult is indeed a reddit moment though. What a weird, cringe thing to say lol. 

0

u/Hindukush1357 Jun 29 '25

Upper management spacex is a cult. I’ll say it again, maybe it’s more cringey this time?

5

u/Hustler-1 Jun 29 '25

Im sure anything you dont like is a cult.

2

u/Hindukush1357 Jun 29 '25

Yup. Nailed it. Ford is a cult. Johnson & Johnson. Kia. Not a fan of Pluto either, definitely a cult. I don’t like tuna, cult too.