Bad-ass SpaceX CEO on the 3rd Launch Failure

Thursday, August 7, 2008

In case you're unaware, the 3rd launch attempt of the SpaceX Falcon rocket failed last week, losing a DoD satellite, 2 NASA satellites, and the ashes of 209 people including Scotty from Star Trek (why on earth did they put his ashes on a high-risk test launch?).

In case you're really unaware, SpaceX is a company led by PayPal founder Elon Musk whose goal is to make space transportation faster, and 10 times cheaper. They've had 2 other failed launches, but Musk is not giving up.

Wired Interview with Elon Musk

To be honest, the real reason I'm posting this is because of Elon's truly bad-ass quote about failure:

Wired.com: How do you maintain your optimism?

Musk: Do I sound optimistic?

Wired.com: Yeah, you always do.

Musk: Optimism, pessimism, fuck that; we're going to make it happen. As God is my bloody witness, I'm hell-bent on making it work.

I wish all CEOs were this awesome.