S8 Ep256: THE STRUGGLE TO BUILD AND TRANSPORT THE FIRST FALCON 9 Colleague Eric Berger. Moving from the single-engine Falcon 1 to the nine-engine Falcon 9 involved a "long hot summer" of grueling 100-

THE STRUGGLE TO BUILD AND TRANSPORT THE FIRST FALCON 9 Colleague Eric Berger. Moving from the single-engine Falcon 1 to the nine-engine Falcon 9 involved a "long hot summer" of grueling 100-hour weeks for young engineers in Texas. The team faced immense challenges integrating complex plumbing and flight computers for the first time. Lacking a ship or large aircraft, SpaceX transported the massive rocket to Florida on a trailer, a "road trip from Hades" that resulted in the rocket crashing into a building during a tight turn. Despite dead crickets in the fuselage and storm damage to antennas, Musk pushed for a successful launch in 2010. NUMBER 2 JANUARY 1951