It is baffling how many HNers in this thread don't understand what "test flight" means.
Yeah, for SpaceX, experimental hardware is expendable. Yeah, it is not very typical in space industry. But it is a tried-and-tested approach, which gave them the Falcon 9, the most reliable and technologically advanced launcher of today.
Yeah, for SpaceX, experimental hardware is expendable. Yeah, it is not very typical in space industry. But it is a tried-and-tested approach, which gave them the Falcon 9, the most reliable and technologically advanced launcher of today.