[kjs3]

That it flew for 4 minutes before blowing up is pretty impressive for the first flight of something this massively complicated. No one has really tried anything comparable since the 60s (U.S. Saturn project and Soviet N-1 project (all 4 flights of which were failures)). So...yeah, IMO they can claim a success without too much handwaving.

Now, the fact they didn't understand it was going to destroy the pad taking off and the debris field was nothing like what they predicted is pretty troubling. That speaks to cutting corners and taking risks they shouldn't be allowed to take.