[sarreph]

I absolutely love the fact that SpaceX is so open and public about their rocket launches, however, I couldn't help but get the feeling that they were in full 'PR backlash' mode [over the core booster] when ending the live stream, and from skimming many of the instantaneous press releases.

Does anyone else think that they were overly quiet on the core booster landing on purpose, in order to minimise negative PR on the whole operation; or was it simply that they did not have enough information on what happened (seems slightly implausible to me)?

This all being said, what happened today was nothing short of magic.

[globuous]

Agreed, at the very end of the feed actually, the 2 presentators didn't really know what to say about the status of the core booster. A space X employee showed up (I assume a PR or an engineer previously briefed by PR, all he had was a SpaceX polo). The guy essentially said: 'best test ever, everything went smooth yadi yadi yada, oh and also, we gotta figure out about that last booster. Otherwise, everything went perfect !"

Which is very true. But it was clearly a move to divert away the audience from that last booster. Which is understandable. it'd be a shame if everyone focused on a lost booster when the everything else was nothing short of magic like you say ;)

Congrats spaceX, guys guys are magicians.

[Sammi]

"A space X employee showed up (I assume a PR or an engineer previously briefed by PR, all he had was a SpaceX polo)"

I think you're talking about John Insprucker: https://twitter.com/jinsprucker?lang=en

He's a senior engineer who was present for the whole cast. Look at it again.

[gnarbarian]

They were, but I understand. It was the last thing to happen and they didn't want THAT to be the story or the thing that sticks in people's minds. delaying it a couple hours was smart from a PR perspective.

That said I can't wait to see the video.

[alexeckermann]

They were prepared for it to RUD right there on the pad, losing one booster is pretty much one away from a flawless mission. I've been on previous live streams when an anomaly occurs, this was no different and what I come to expect — the moment they didn't cut back to a video feed it was very obvious what had happened and that they'd need time to figure it out.

Doubt any thought of 'Public Relations' went through the minds of any of the presenting engineers. Clearing the launch tower was a massive achievement, everything else was a bonus. Loved seeing the engineers all beaming at the end with John joining in — away from a desk!

[debt]

They definitely did go into full PR mode after they lost signal to the drone ship. But I think they did that in part because this launch had so many moving parts that if someone had just tuned in to that moment and seen a massive rocket exploding against the drone ship they may have thought that the launch had fail.

And considering that the core booster landing on the drone ship was a mere side benefit of the overall launch it was probably the best thing to do.

[rphlx]

They are clearly in an unenviable position but I think they would have come off better with a more honest, direct acknowledgement of the failure of a tertiary objective, rather than that "oh noes, might derail the emotive hype-train, let's awkwardly pretend we don't know what happened and just hope the audience forgets", which is fairly patronizing and not particularly effective at achieving its intended goal. An awkward, ineffective cover-up is worse than just telling the truth and moving on.

[paunchy]

Yes. This was a very minor failure in comparison to the overall launch. But this lack of transparency played right into the undercurrent of sleaziness that seems to hang around Elon Musk industries.

I'm a big fan of SpaceX and of Musk as well, but he's still winning even if he fesses up to the minor setbacks.

[hyperpallium]

If even a big fan thinks it, it must be very true indeed.