Semantics drift over time. Whether we like it or not, spectacular and awesome both mean something different today than they did 100 years ago. It's hard to argue that "spectacular" doesn't have a positive connotation today.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/09/10/september-1...
"These ‘gut-wrenching, scary, spectacular’ photos capture 9/11’s trauma"
https://www.chicagotribune.com/1991/03/10/us-to-iraq-no-pois...
"Given a long, slow flyover of Kuwait City and its environs by his Air Force pilots, Baker saw firsthand the awesome destruction allied and Iraqi forces unleashed on the emirate, sweeping past scores of scorched Iraqi tanks and the hundreds of burning oil wells that blackened large portions of the afternoon sky."
Like 9/11, by a national news outlet: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/09/10/september-1...