Presented at the 6th West Coast Reliability Symposium, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, 20 February 1965.The development of a large liquid rocket engine can represent the expenditure of several hundred million dollars of effort. Before 30 percent of the contracted development funds have been expended, however, the engine will probably have operated for the mission duration. The capability to operate at least one successful test early in a development program is evidence of achieving a minimal reliability level, but the major objective of the development program is producing a design which performs reliably. A rocket engine reliability prediction must view reliability as a dynamic concept, constantly being altered by development effort.
