And even truly failing there would be irrelevant. Spruce Goose flew once, yet Hughes isn't a failure. Goddard developed his engines alone and didn't get too far - after initial successes, but he's not a failure at all. You just have to push enough to get high grades - possibly even once, after which you have that "mark". Not too many know what Max Plank did beside quantum hypotheses, but his name is on scientific centers.
The guy who failed at Neuralink and the Boring Company?
Might have to add Tesla to the above sentence, depending on if they run out of cash this year or not.