[btilly]

Fundamentally with a machine, if it goes right it works. It is just a question of making sure that it goes right often enough. Planes have the advantage that there are more ways for them to fix things that go wrong. Rockets have the advantage of being simpler so less can go wrong. If we had equal experience in both, it isn't obvious which would be safer.

And yes, it is possible to make rockets safer. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Launch_escape_system for one of the ways. But there are limits. If you're next to something that decides to explode, that explosion is a problem.