The BelugaX programme had three failures before it had one success. HANDOFF failed at stage separation. CASCADE failed in an engine cascade - multiple engines, sequential failure, vehicle loss. AEGIS failed at heatshield decouple - the heatshield separated from the vehicle at a point in flight where heatshield attachment is the entire job. Three vehicles. Three distinct failure modes. Zero crew on any of them, because all three were uncrewed.
METEOR - BelugaX-4 - flew clean. Full mission profile. Ocean recovery. The vehicle performed within parameters across every phase. NASA then approved crew launch on the BelugaX platform. TENDING and MUSTER - the two HESTIA crew launches - both used the BelugaX-derived OTS system. Both succeeded.
The Herald's assessment: the program accepted a vehicle with a 25% success rate for crewed operations after one clean flight. This is either confidence in corrective engineering or a schedule pressure the program has not disclosed. We have asked. We have received a PDF that contains the words "extensive recertification" and "corrective action plan" and very little else. We will continue to press.