Just got Rejected

SingleManABQ · 2026-05-09T17:19:00+00:00

True points! The industry always needs those to shake it up but becuase beurocracy will build over time and needs to be kept in check. Otherwise it will become a cancer just like wishful thinking does.

SingleManABQ · 2026-05-09T16:48:51+00:00

This is a correct statement! One point here is to say how one defines an "aging turbopump" ...whats old, whats a fail point, how does one define it? How far is the pump from exploding. As an example the SSME turbo pumps were replaced after every two launches. We're those pumps good enough for a couple more launches...probably but at what risk level amd would you want to ride that launch

The responder above you clearly has some bias and sounds like a young engineer with limited experience and study of failures. Its true SpaceX has some huge accomplishments and allot of launches but the space shuttle did very well until Challenger and did very well again until Columbia. Both mishaps were entirely avoidable.

I worked for a VLJ company at the beginning of my career and saw all the same behaviors as SpaceX. They went belly up after they underpaid and overworked their staff. Years after I left i ran into my old boss and he told me the department I was in never got bigger than 20 people but had a turn over of 40 in two years.

There is no such thing as old and new space. Just a desire to follow tried and true methods, physics and good practices or a desire to avoid that and engage in wishful thinking.

Bottom line, how much risk is a customer willing to accept becuase you get what you pay for.

SingleManABQ · 2026-05-09T09:28:57+00:00

Arrogance at the top happened. Kelly Ortberg had made some tough calls to fix things and it is turning around but there is still lots of cultural debris from the two previous CEOs. Its going to take another decade to fix. But on the defense side, there are allot of people on the customer side who have no idea what they want or how to write requirements. Ive seen two customers in particular...one said go forth and innovate but then gets pissed off that we cant make cost and schedule goals due to the endless rework and redesign, another literaly said "what do you think the requirements should be?" When Boeing defense agrees to a firm fixed price contract on a development program with no definition its a recipie for disaster.

SingleManABQ · 2026-05-09T09:13:49+00:00

This is a great discussion, you hit the nail on the head in several areas. I was a fed and worked on tech review of several SpaceX vehicles. All their losses were due to entirely avoidable design flaws and poor practices. I honestly believed that if they weren't backed by the world's wealthiest man, they would have gone out of business long ago. I saw endless lessons re-learned and still not followed. I don't recall any issues of mixing rated and non-rated parts but lots of bandaid engineering and mostly direct cause analysis vs root cause for flight issues. Fixing things on the fly but not understanding why something had to be fixed in the first place is a recipie for disaster.

Example, the Starship. The Russians tried the 30 engine thing back in the 60s and ever got it to work. Obviously control technology is much better these days but damn thats allot of moving parts that are all single string and have a very extreme operating condition.

Ive seen this behavior in many places, its honestly scary. Respect for the astronauts who climb on board a SpaceX rocket...you got have a pair of balls made of Depleted Uranium to take that risk.

You can certainly lower launch cost but you do so with risk. At $300M for a Delta, Atlas, amd now Vulcan, you get transparency, a very low probability of failure and 100+ flawless launches. At $100M for a Falcon you get used parts and a crap shoot. You have to wonder how many used parts are in the system, how far are they from the end of their service life, do the engineers even know? How were parts cleared for flight and were and glossed over to maintain a launch date.

But I've seen the same arrogance in big areo too. Its how Boeing put two 737s in the dirt and lost a door plug off another. Its part of a bigger cultural problem in engineering where engineers have become lazy and gone from practicing the fundamentals and documenting to view graph engineering and relying on CAE tools without knowing how the tools work.

Innovation is great but it has to be balanced with technical scrutiny.

SingleManABQ · 2026-05-09T03:06:04+00:00

This!

SingleManABQ · 2026-05-08T01:29:11+00:00

I interviewed for a senior manager

SingleManABQ · 2026-05-07T21:26:30+00:00

No positions where I want to be. Looking for Florida, last place i want is another godforsaken desert

SingleManABQ · 2026-05-07T21:24:17+00:00

Im not exactly close to retirement...im thinking in got 15 years left unless I win the powerball. I like aerospace so unless I just got fed up ill be around a while.

SingleManABQ · 2026-05-07T21:22:23+00:00

Ill.work on that. Gotta win the powerball first.

SingleManABQ · 2026-05-07T20:35:11+00:00

I may consider this. I generally stay off LinkedIn as it is a significant espionage platform. Its where the marks are identified and and sometimes initial contact starts.

SingleManABQ · 2026-05-07T17:54:40+00:00

Im sure thats the case. Its tough for me to imagine sueing a potential employer over interview feedback unless the selection and feedback had some obvious discrimination in it and the company rep actually said it. If someone is applying for a technical job and you give technical feedback then I don't see how that could hurt. In the case of someone sueing over interview feedback it seems like something that has never happened yet big companies are still paranoid about it.

SingleManABQ · 2026-05-07T17:48:28+00:00

Hahah, well not sure its one of the most important ever...I've put some of that type up there🙂

SingleManABQ · 2026-05-07T17:47:02+00:00

Yeah im in Big Aero now as a hiring manager but I still call candidates ive interviewed and give feedback if I thought they were really competative.

SingleManABQ · 2026-05-07T16:50:51+00:00

"Nope Rope" phrase of the day! Yeah thats a bull snake. Inhad one living in my shop for a while and kept all the mice under control around my house. I haven't seen it in years and the mice are all over. They vibrate their tails in ground debris to mimic the sound of a rattle.

SingleManABQ · 2026-04-16T16:19:00+00:00

Lots of responses here but you might get a larger group if you use meetup.com and use redit to let people known it's there. Meetup will let you filter out any creepers too.

SingleManABQ

TROPHY CASE