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For many years, I viewed the Saturn V rocket project as the most bold, most wildly successful engineering project ever completed. Most impressive was the lack of tolerance for failure, lack of opportunity for trial and error, achievement of zero complete failures, and the very short timetable. Full disclosure: Some of those Saturn V engineers were my friends. I learned to know them in the years 1967-68 at G.E.'s Apollo Support Department, where I worked with them on a different project. Engineering aspects of the Saturn V project are documented in the book NASA Apollo Series: Stages to Saturn, A Technological History of the Apollo/Saturn Launch Vehicles
by Roger E. Bilstein
Today, I watched the 2010 documentary film, Azorian: The Raising of the K-129 (2010). I watched it on Amazon. The film focused on the engineering aspects of the Glomar Explorer and the raising the the submarine K-129 in the 1970s. IMO that was a stunning engineering achievement, comparable to the Saturn V. That project was also marked by the lack of tolerance for failure, lack of opportunity for trial and error, success in its one and only mission, and an extremely short timetable.
Both of those projects were done using technology that seems ancient by today's standards. Yet today's engineers might find it very difficult to replicate those successes. Elon Musk is trying, but his actual future plans are still fuzzy. Elon Musk's methods are also very much trial and error, and incremental refinement following failures. That is very different than the constraints on those other three projects.
Next I think of a third project (still in our future) that IMO is comparable to Saturn V and Azorian. Comparable for the same reasons; the lack of tolerance for failure, lack of opportunity for trial and error, and the one-shot try for success. It is the Launch and deployment of the James Webb Space Telescope. I'm amazed what must be accomplished in a short time window which will begin at the t=0 moment of launch, all without human help, all done in a location inaccessible to astronauts on a repair mission. Some engineering aspects of that project are discussed in the video below.
I don't mean to be parochial; choosing only American successes. Please add to this thread other engineering projects from any country that you think may be comparable to these three. But for the sake of some focus, let us limit candidate projects to the years 1900-2030.
by Roger E. Bilstein
Today, I watched the 2010 documentary film, Azorian: The Raising of the K-129 (2010). I watched it on Amazon. The film focused on the engineering aspects of the Glomar Explorer and the raising the the submarine K-129 in the 1970s. IMO that was a stunning engineering achievement, comparable to the Saturn V. That project was also marked by the lack of tolerance for failure, lack of opportunity for trial and error, success in its one and only mission, and an extremely short timetable.
Both of those projects were done using technology that seems ancient by today's standards. Yet today's engineers might find it very difficult to replicate those successes. Elon Musk is trying, but his actual future plans are still fuzzy. Elon Musk's methods are also very much trial and error, and incremental refinement following failures. That is very different than the constraints on those other three projects.
Next I think of a third project (still in our future) that IMO is comparable to Saturn V and Azorian. Comparable for the same reasons; the lack of tolerance for failure, lack of opportunity for trial and error, and the one-shot try for success. It is the Launch and deployment of the James Webb Space Telescope. I'm amazed what must be accomplished in a short time window which will begin at the t=0 moment of launch, all without human help, all done in a location inaccessible to astronauts on a repair mission. Some engineering aspects of that project are discussed in the video below.
I don't mean to be parochial; choosing only American successes. Please add to this thread other engineering projects from any country that you think may be comparable to these three. But for the sake of some focus, let us limit candidate projects to the years 1900-2030.
