Very few rocket launches end with any kind of soft landing, let alone main boosters.
Soft-landing a small payload, or in the case of the shuttle, a winged reentry vehicle, is the exception. (And yes, the Shuttle also soft-ish watered its SRBs underr chutes.)
Retrorocket-soft-landing intact boosters from production launches fully upright was science fiction until four years ago.
I think they're saying we've come to expect SpaceX rockets to successfully land, so much so that one not doing so is noteworthy. Something nigh unfathomable 10yrs ago
The person who posted the grandparent comment (beginning "It says something...") to the person (ansible) who mentioned their name, and also the poster of the the great-great grandparent to this comment.
Soft-landing a small payload, or in the case of the shuttle, a winged reentry vehicle, is the exception. (And yes, the Shuttle also soft-ish watered its SRBs underr chutes.)
Retrorocket-soft-landing intact boosters from production launches fully upright was science fiction until four years ago.
https://geekologie.com/2016/04/unreal-video-of-spacexs-first...
The test platform was first hopped in 2012, only 8 years ago.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=pzXlUw2WhcE
(I'm not a Musk fanboi,I thought the powered landing was nuts, he proved me wrong.)