Designing groundbreaking missions requires navigating complex technical and programmatic realities. This session offers a forum to discuss science and technical decisions that shape spaceflight science missions, moving beyond idealized concepts to examine successes, failures, and applied knowledge from modern missions across Heliophysics, Planetary, Astrophysics, and Earth Science.

We invite engineers, managers, and scientists to share mission anecdotes that translate into actionable best practices. Topics include:

• Reflections on hardware development, including the impacts of science requirements on cost, schedule, and technical risk.
• Discussions on novel engineering for science or operations-driven requirements versus simple solutions—or alternatives that avoided requirements altogether.
• Case studies showing how experiences have changed tools, design philosophies, or risk postures to get us "faster to science."
• Strategies to improve alignment during formulation, ensuring science objectives are met without triggering unsustainable engineering solutions.

This session fosters dialogue to reduce barriers between dreaming and building future explorations across the solar system.