LONG BEACH, Calif. — Addressing the timeline for the upcoming Neutron rocket, Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck offered a bold new strategy for the space industry: stop worrying about science and start blowing things up on purpose.

While discussing the need for NASA to “capture the public’s imagination,” Beck argued that the agency has spent too much time on “nerd stuff” like orbital mechanics and not enough time on pyrotechnics. The executive suggested that the delays facing the Neutron program were actually a strategic pause to ensure the rocket looks cooler when it launches.

“If you want to capture the public’s imagination, you don’t send a probe to look at rocks,” said Kyle Vroom, Rocket Lab’s Director of Awesome Stuff. “You send a monster truck to the moon and jump it over a crater. That is how you get funding. Nobody cares about soil samples if nothing catches on fire.”

The company reportedly advised NASA that safety is boring and that the risk of failure is the only reason people watch livestreams. Analysts say this new direction prioritizes “views” over “survival.”

“We looked at the charts,” said Jennifer Crash, VP of Visual Stimulation. “A successful satellite deployment gets zero clicks. But a rocket doing a backflip and exploding? That wins the internet. We are simply giving the people what they want.”

At publishing time, NASA engineers were seen nervously gluing giant spoilers and flame decals onto the Mars rover.

Inspired by actual events.