Perhaps they haven't gotten as good NASA contracts and subsidies as Space X.
Note also how "launching rockets" or even going to the moon and back, was something we routinely did 40 to 50 years ago.
Heck, we even tried reusable rockets, and even had space shuttles. They were cancelled for political reasons, just like moon missions and NASA programs were. Not for lack of progress or technology.
The shuttle being “reusable” is ridiculous when compare with falcon 9 or heavy. The entire booster pack was discarded and the shuttle basically needed to be heavily refurbished…
I’m amazed people in good faith will minimise what SpaceX has done and pretend like “no one else cares”.
NASA has basically zero capability anymore (given they just launch their only rocket) - which was completely disposed of.
Do people really think all these other programs/companies think it’s “better” to throw the rocket out?
Why are rocketlab and others working on recovery and reuse then? Why has blue origin failed to get to orbit? Surely we’ve been doing this for 40 years, what’s wrong with them?
The shuttle SRBs provided most of its thrust and they were certainly recovered, refurbished, and reused. As was the main engine, given that it was attached to the shuttle.
Note also how "launching rockets" or even going to the moon and back, was something we routinely did 40 to 50 years ago.
Heck, we even tried reusable rockets, and even had space shuttles. They were cancelled for political reasons, just like moon missions and NASA programs were. Not for lack of progress or technology.