In industry, the Critical Design Review is the final review of the design portion of a project ('point of no return'). Its purpose is to fully solidify the design, and only pass designs that can meet the requirements.

Typically, it is then followed by some kind of a Manufacturing Readiness Review, which solidifies the plan to manufacture the design at the desired quantities or scale.

CDR on Rocket Team

Rocket Team doesn't make products at scale, so CDR has historically been the final review for Rocket Team. It was typically used to present changes to the design since PDR.

Testing Review (TR) on Rocket Team

In 2016-2017, Rocket Team decided to try a different approach, and used the name 'testing review' to emphasize the focus on testing. The purpose is to validate all the hand-calcs done in PDR empirically. Therefore, every component should be tested by its Testing Review as close to flight conditions as reasonably possible.

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