To understand what it takes to succeed I can’t think of a better example than Elon Musk‘s response during a Wired Magazine interview after his third attempt in a row at launching a privately funded rocket, the Falcon 1, into orbit failed:

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

Some would say that the sort of person who says things like that is just a fanatic. I’m pleased to report to those people that on SpaceX‘s very next launch the Falcon 1 successfully achieved orbit and their second generation rocket, the Falcon 9, has done so as well!