[sterna]

The space shuttle was a poor design in many respects even by the standards of the 1970s as described in Feynman's Challenger crash report http://www.ralentz.com/old/space/feynman-report.html

Good design does magically appear as time goes by but is a result of a sound design and testing process. Fortunately, I am sure SpaceX is aware of this so they will most likely get a much better track record than the space shuttle.