Victory has a thousand fathers....
I disagree with Friedman's decision to use a cheap ex-Soviet booster. However if he had gotten lucky and the thing actually worked then he'd now be a hero rather than a chump. A similar argument worked with Beagle 2. Beagle 2 probably had a 5% chance of actually working. If Beagle 2 had worked, Pillinger would now be esteemed as the Grand Master Genius of Aerospace with people flocking to his banner of cheap Mars exploration. Beagle 2 would still have been a crappy design but no one would have worried about that if it actually worked. Everyone loves a winner.
Gary