What SpaceX Launches Teach Me
As my daugher and I sat in our community pool with a neighbor’s family, we saw another plane fly over. “That’s Elon’s jet!” he exclaimed. “For real?!” I replied. I couldn’t believe it.
Fast forward 2 years to our home rumbling from the 33 raptor engines on the Starship, 20 miles away. A Boeing 747’s four engines produce about 230,000 pounds of thrust combined. Just 1 raptor engine is like three times that.
I didn’t realize when I moved to the Rio Grande Valley years ago, I’d be writing about takeaways from some company called SpaceX. But here we are.
Here are 5 things SpaceX’s launches are teaching me.
1. blow things up to learn.
Elon Musk and other employees have been open about this idea. Does it cost a fortune, of course. But Musk is playing the slow game. His aim is to get to Mars to make life multiplanetary. So, in Musk’s paradigm, it’s worth the cost (also…he’s rich).
Blowing things up helps us learn. We must have the freedom of play to see if what we make functions. I was recently helping my daughter make a dominos set up. This principle came to mind while she was getting frustrated with how her efforts kept failing. I reminded her of the bigger picture.
She learned to ask, “what did this teach me so I can improve next time?”
2. A mission moves you and others to stretch.
Musk is driven by missions. Whether it be population decline, interplanetary living, or reusable rockets. These missions lead him to set the bar high for employee output. Just follow his flight tracker, and you see what drives him.
Missions motivate. They help us endure pain. They create community.
3. compounding: play the slow game.
Thirteen years ago, I drove out to Boca Chica beach with my dad, then a year later with my brother. The 20 mile stretch seemed like the ends of the earth. No one around. The road ends at the sand (literally).
Fast forward a few years to a visit my wife and I made. There appeared to be one new-ish looking building with a fence and security guard. “No vehicles are allowed here,” he said. I didn’t realize it then. But this would become the site of Starbase.
Do not judge missional-thinking behavior by outward appearances alone! Before too long, you see the compounding effect.
4. Create moments with family.
Tim Urban wrote this piece on taking his toddler to view a recent SpaceX launch. I didn’t realize until seeing this that I am living in plain site of a historic moment in time. Our family has been able to watch nearly all the SpaceX launches from our driveway.
This continues to teach me an important lesson on remaining present and creating moments with loved ones.
5. Sometimes, explosions can be beautiful.
Few spectacles have made my jaw drop. This specific launch was one of them. Seeing this explosion live felt like watching visual effects in a movie but in real life.
Sometimes, what seems like our greatest hardships, God uses to weave something beautiful for us.
