Over the weekend, I watched all five episodes of “Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space” on Netflix. If you haven’t heard by now, it is a series on the recent SpaceX “Inspiration4” spaceflight which carried four non-astronaut civilians and no one else. I enjoyed the series mainly for the insights it gave me, however varnished, of SpaceX. It was also great to see 27-year-old women in high roles within the company including leading training of the civilians, mission communications with the capsule and quality control immediately prior to the flight.
It quickly became clear how brilliant it was of SpaceX to give us all a peek into their company and how these all-civilian flights progress. It will, after all, become space transit for other civilians at some point. Most of the SpaceX people speaking on camera were well versed on the company’s visionary message of “humans becoming an interplanetary species.” As a marketer, I love that line. It wasn’t about “inhabiting” another planet, but rather about us humans being in multiple places in addition to our earth paradise. It is perhaps a subtle difference, but communications is all about nuance. Sure, other companies hint at that, but the “interplanetary species” line sums it up so well.
It also struck me that even though people tend to poke fun, me included, at the billionaire’s (Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson) race to space, these men are incredibly visionary and making things happen. Yes, I know that is an immense understatement, each has proven himself multiple times. Maybe it’s time we let go of some of the petty, jealous comments and appreciate all that these men have done to forward the space effort.
When asked on one of his few cameos in “Countdown” about if we perhaps should be spending all that money on earth’s issues, Musk was ready. He calmly said something like, yes, we should be spending 99% of the earth’s money on earth’s issues. But to spend the rest on exploring space was a worthy endeavor. (I am purposely not putting that in quotes marks as I am paraphrasing.) It was a strongly messaged and well-executed answer.
In other smart marketing moves, they tied this all to major fundraising for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, an extremely worthy cause indeed.
As someone who grew up watching episodes of the The Jetsons, I am loving all the documentary series about space and “Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space” was no exception.
Photo courtesy of SpaceX via UnSplash. It is of the Falcon 09 launch in January 2018.
