The event happened in the past. My interest is still there. "is" vs. "was"

Question

When I talked with a native speaker, I said

SpaceX Demo-2 was scheduled for launch to the International Space Station on 27 May 2020. NASA live streamed at launch. I off work early to specifically watch that. When I got home, I found that the launch was canceled, which made me a little bit upset. But the whole thing is interesting

He suggests

... But the whole thing was interesting

I understand that's because we need to keep the tense consistent. However, my interest to the launch is still there. I will watch that launch at 30 May, which is the rescheduled time.

In this particular situation, should I use "is" or "was"?

Answer 1

You are talking about a past event. Even though it is cancelled and postponed, it is still in the past nonetheless. Since you are talking about the event that was suppose to happen on May 27th, you should use was interesting. However if you are talking about the SpaceX Demo-2 without a date, you can say: The whole thing is interesting overall" or "The whole thing is interesting in general". You have to consider the fluidity of the language. The usage of certain words could change with the context.