The first ift launch throwing concrete everywhere sucked for everyone involved, birds and spacex. They have a real working launch pad water deluge system now, and the second tower will have a flame trench.

I am not a fan of elon musk and his disregard for authority, but realistically, traditional aerospace companies (nasa, boeing, ula) have been slowly plodding towards the overbudget disposable mess that is SLS for the past 2 decades, while spacex has designed, built, and flown an entirely new and different rocket, with crazy (but potentially doable) goals, in the past couple of years. It’s hard not to be excited for them, even though they really should care more about the state park they are next to.