It's not just about the odds of this project. Missions like these make the public interested again. We might very well be in the beginning stages of a public-private space race, with "space startups" popping up in multiple countries (SpaceX, Blueorigin, [sic] ULA, Onespace[0]). These things can snowball, especially if somebody finds a way to extract resources from the Moon and asteroids.

[0]https://www.space.com/40662-china-first-private-spaceflight-...

Missing deadlines by a year or two on something otherwise believed to be impossible is a great way to consistently “fail”, I think.

Which Elon project has failed?

Sure. Not a failure, though. I see them on the road almost daily. And I’m in a nondescript suburban town far from the Bay Area.

I'm in a suburb outside a city in Australia and see half a dozen Teslas when I walk to the park with my kids. It's absolutely mind blowing how far and fast they've reached.

Ha. If you were looking to win the "farthest from San Francisco" game, I think you just did.

It is amazing, isn't it? There's no guarantee that TSLA will still be around in ten years, but I bet their cars will be, along with the industry that was forced into existence by a non-incumbent player.

Well technically this one wins: http://www.whereisroadster.com

It'll outsell every luxury sedan in the US in its first year.

If that kind of outcome gets you implicated for failure, BMW must be distraught as it looks at those dwindling 3 series sales figures.

The lawsuit is completely unrelated to the rescue operation, and the rescue operation was never a Musk project.

FWIW all the people trapped in the cave were rescued.

I would take those odds for sure. Longbet?

Those are good odds in the grander timeline of space travel.