I believe that this ethos is why commercial-space is going to rapidly surpass government-space. Like the title of one of Douglas Adams’s Zaphod Beeblebrox stories, government plays it safe. No one gets fired from government for playing it safe.

https://wweb.uta.edu/faculty/millsap/WhyStudyPolitics.htm
“A famous philosopher (me) once said there are three kinds of people in the world: 1) those who make something happen; 2) those who wish something would happen; and 3) those who wander in a daze wondering what happened. What kind are you? The British RAF motto: “Those who risk win.” Aim low and you will achieve it and be one of those wandering in a daze. Aim high and you have a chance to make something happen. “If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got.” Make positive change. Step forward rather than marking time or stepping back.”

Silicon Valley is world-famous precisely because it stopped doing what it always did and braved going beyond “the ‘explored domain’ where everything is understood.” Otherwise it would still call itself “The Valley of the Heart’s Delight” and be filled with orchards. Instead, we now enjoy many things that we take for granted, including GPS, a computer on every desktop, Earth observation and weather prediction, the internet, and international telecommunications. All of these are based upon technologies that were iterated into rapid improvement by Silicon Valley companies.

From the article: “It is very difficult to do innovate with each launch, increase launch cadence and avoid failure all at the same time.”

It is no wonder that SpaceX is the company to beat, in the space launch industry. It is one of the few that is willing to take on the difficult. It may not be certain that reusability can reduce costs and maintain reliability, but if it does, then those who are willing to take that risk will win.

No.

This is how you get to ‘Star Trek’ style.

Life has been on Earth for about four billion years. Now, since one hundredth of a millionth of that time, life is for the first time moving further than its home planet. We live in an extremely special time. And we’re not doing it Star Trek style, but we’re stumbling it very randomly and clumsily. Like life does everything. It works beyond our overestimated intelligence. It’s unstoppable, uncontrollable.