Originally Posted by
B Fraser
Whatever happened to "the vehicle has cleared the tower" ?
Pedantic reply: it is no longer necessary for crewed launches. In NASA's day clearing the tower was formally the point at which the launch controllers at Cape Canaveral handed over control of the flight to the mission controllers in Houston. SpaceX control their flight operations for a lot longer for ISS flights and of course for the duration of private flights.
Subjective reply: no sensible person is going to object to hearing it. If you watch Spaceflight Now coverage of SpaceX crewed launches then the announcer says it because the tower is still there. Or, as of very recently, towers plural as two of their pads now have towers and crew access arms.
Personally I wish that all of the SpaceX presenters would learn that it is OK to shut up occasionally.