[firefax]

>Why did you feel the need to post this comment?

Maybe parent feels like rocket science is a field that should have few launch failures?

I can't give you a quantitative answer since I'm usually focused on new research rather than what company/nation did said research... but their stuff does seem to blow up on the launchpad more often than NASA's :-)

[inglor_cz]

NASA does not produce any launch vehicles. It produces payloads and buys launch services from others.

Unless you count test artifacts, an actual catastrophic failure of a rocket on a launchpad (or even in flight) has been rare in the last 10 years.

[kortilla]

Pop quiz, how many rockets has SpaceX launched in the last 5 years? How many have blown up the launchpad?

[adaml_623]

Trivia question. When did NASA last launch a rocket not built by a commercial entity