This SpaceX 360 rocket landing video is great for SpaceX, even better for YouTube and Facebook

Earlier this month, SpaceX successfully landed one of its rockets on a drone ship in the middle of the ocean, a critical step for the company’s bid to improve efficiency in space travel.

It also makes nice marketing. Rockets are awesome!

What better way to show this off than with full 360-degree video. That’s what SpaceX did, releasing its first footage on Facebook and YouTube, letting viewers take in the landing from all angles. The tech giants are pushing this immersive video format hard, since it is an important stepping stone toward virtual reality — a big aspiration for them both.

Here’s the rocket landing on Facebook:

And here’s YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDK5TF2BOhQ

As of Sunday morning, Facebook had the numbers lead with nearly 1.4 million views. But YouTube wasn’t too far behind — just shy of 900,000. It’s a respectable showing for Google’s video arm, which is often trounced by Facebook in viewership of the same videos.

Two weeks ago, YouTube followed Facebook in granting 360-degree video live-stream capabilities. Maybe next time SpaceX launches a rocket, it will display it in 360 degrees, live. Of course, the Falcon 9 drone ship landing was only SpaceX’s second successful touchdown, after earlier crashes.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?

Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple reasons that we can't rely only on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on.

First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.

Second, we’re not in the subscriptions business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. We can’t do that if we have a paywall.

That’s why we also turn to you, our readers, to help us keep Vox free. If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today?

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via