[ChrisMarshallNY]

A number of crashed landers says otherwise.

But these days, we have established infrastructure, to manage a lot of the things that the Apollo guys needed to construct from whole cloth.

Also, the way that SpaceX does research is highly effective (and inflammable). Failing fast works, as long as we are set up to learn the lessons, and avoid doing things like sticking people on top of unverified tech.

There was an interview, recently with either Ben Nelson, or his predecessor, where they mentioned that NASA (or its directly-managed contractors) would never have been allowed to blow up a whole bunch of boosters, just to finally arrive at a design that normalizes what used to be considered impossible. On the first crash, he would have been hauled up in front of a Senate investigation committee, and forced to explain why it would never happen again.