The ESA's Ariane 5 (predecessor of the VEGA rocket) had a very checkered history.
Ariane 5 is not the predecessor of Vega. They are two very different project, for different payloads. And look at the table of success and failure rate of the Ariane 5 itself http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arianne_5
SpaceX has had an amazing run in comparison to most other platforms.
Clearly that's not the case.
I think you'll find that political reasons are keeping NASA from buying more launches from SpaceX.
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Ariane 5 is not the predecessor of Vega. They are two very different project, for different payloads. And look at the table of success and failure rate of the Ariane 5 itself http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arianne_5
Clearly that's not the case.
From that interview: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/tesla-and-spacex-elon-musks-indu...
Elon Musk: NASA called and told us that we'd won a $1.5 billion contract. And I couldn't even hold the phone, I just blurted out, "I love you guys."
Scott Pelley: They saved you.
Elon Musk: Yeah, they did.
> Ariane 5 is not the predecessor of Vega.
I stand corrected. The point is that the ESA's rocket program is far from flawless as your "3 from 3" post above suggests.
>> SpaceX has had an amazing run in comparison to most other platforms.
> Clearly that's not the case.
From the article, this was a TEST flight. Exploding rockets is an expected part of the development process.
In that context, NASA was the customer. They didn't bail them out. It wasn't charity.