My grandfather worked on missile guidance systems back in the 50's and 60's. A famous (well in our family at least) quote of his comes to mind right now:
"If you've seen one launch, you've seen 'em all."
That's really pretty accurate. Most of the time the rocket goes up, does it's thing and drops back down in the ocean somewhere. Every once in a while one blows up on the pad or shortly after takeoff, but that's extremely rare.
-AZ