SpaceX: the videos Hacker News recommends
Not the channel's most viewed videos: the ones HN commenters kept linking with real commentary. The top pick, "How Not to Land an Orbital Rocket Booster", hN uses it as evidence that SpaceX iterated through visible failures and is open and humorous about them.
- 4 HN recommenders 3 months 2018–2026videoHN uses it as evidence that SpaceX iterated through visible failures and is open and humorous about them.
- 2 HN recommenders 2 months 2016–2017demoHN links it in SpaceX landing threads as the best first-person view of how hard a booster landing is.
- 1 HN recommenders 1 months 2014–2021demoUsed as the go-to clip showing SpaceX's reusable-rocket landing tests, often in comparisons with other vertical landing programs.
- cited 8× 0 months 2015–2018demoHN commenters cite it as evidence that Dragon's built-in launch escape system works and that a failed launch need not kill the crew.
- cited 3× 0 months 2020–2025talkReferenced as Musk's original statement of SpaceX's multiplanetary plan.
Questions
Which SpaceX video does Hacker News recommend most?
How Not to Land an Orbital Rocket Booster: recommended in 3 different months by 4 HN users between 2018 and 2026.
Is this every SpaceX video?
No. Only videos that at least three different HN users linked, in at least three different months, with at least a sentence of their own commentary. That filter is what makes the list useful.
Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.