SpaceX recently launched its 10th Starship flight from Starbase in South Texas. This proved to be the most successful Starship flight yet, with the vehicle making a (mostly) intact water landing. Starship is the most powerful heavy-lift launch vehicle ever built and it’s making some progress amid numerous high-profile failures and one test stand explosion this year. So I should be happy, right? Yeah, um, no. I have been a space fan for pretty much all of my life, yet I couldn’t find the enthusiasm even to watch the launch and mission unfold. 

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Emily Carney is a space historian and lives in Saint Petersburg, Florida. She is the author of “Star Bound: A Beginner’s Guide to the American Space Program, from Goddard’s Rockets to Goldilocks Planets and Everything in Between” along with Bruce...