That's why I used the phrase 'global general public'. Your average citizen in India, China or many other places is only going to see egg on Uncle Sam's face here.

I do agree that it makes SpaceX look better, especially in terms of Falcon 9. But their fate is so closely tied to Starship now that if it runs into serious problems and/or has to go back to the drawing board, the company's very viability could be threatened and it would be yet another big blow to the national image. Our hopes are riding on a lot of untested stuff right now, and the hype magnifies every failure along the way.