I pulled over on the side of the street to watch this with my kiddo on my phone. It was a historic moment that I didn't want to miss.

I really wish that we didn't have to make EVERY experience ultra casual these days though...it was disorienting to keep hearing the astronauts referred to as "Bob and Doug". These are veteran Air Force and Marine pilots. They deserve their honorifics being honored if anyone does.

I think this is a change of the line between respect and approachability. By personalising the astronauts we make it easier for someone to aspire to be like these other, fellow human beings.

From what I've read and watched of the modern-era astronauts they are very keen to be inspirational to their successors and seem to have a more personable demeanour. I think this is a positive change and not so much a disrespect.

What really grinds my gears is science fiction that puts a group of people onboard some long space-faring mission where nobody is at all respectable, professional or suitable. I can believe warp drive, green aliens and Dyson spheres but not psychopaths and 18-year old children being put out to space to work. I have near-yelled at my screen more than once saying "You don't deserve to be there, you are a discredit!" :-)

I have you know Bob and Doug are important people up here in Canada, they showed us how to get a case of beer for free.

NASA hosted a (remote) movie night as a sendoff for Bob and Doug last week; the movie selected by the pair, of course, was Strange Brew.

Which part of it was historic? The part that we'd already done before, or all of the other parts that we'd already done before?

I guess if you consider funding coming from a source other than the government historic, then the launch was borderline mind boggling.

Agreed about "Bob and Doug". But then again the bravery, training, and talent of the astronauts weren't the focus of this launch. This was all about Elon and SpaceX.

> brown-nosing speech towards the end of broadcast

Was there any truth to the claims made that Trump has been exceptional in space support?

What does exceptional mean in this context? The Trump Admin has pushed for increasing NASA funding. Their funding had barely budged for the better part of a decade until Trump became president.

From $19.2b the last Obama year (they got $18.7b in 2010, to show how little increase they received) to a requested $25.2b for 2021 (typically they get more than is requested). If that request sum comes through, much less higher, it'll be the single largest funding increase year to year in decades.

This is nothing compared to increases under Kennedy administration.

He certainly isn't compared to mid-century administrations.

I made my wife and kids sit and watch it with me.

Oddly enough, I think the first time they landed the rocket booster felt more significant to me.

SpaceX launches have made space flight ordinary in a way that is pretty remarkable.

The double-booster landing and Tesla launch was more impressive, even if the third core went boom. Once you can safely launch over and over, replacing your payload with a human terrarium is neat but very much an already-been-done thing. Not like they were flying it—I imagine the only thing they had control over was a manual “uh oh” lever. Landing boosters, on the other hand, is some crazy Ray Bradbury-looking shit, and seeing two touch down in sync on land was nuts.

In a way I think landing the boosters is harder, and certainly was more of a first-time thing when SpaceX did it. I was bummed that the cameras cut out for the booster landing on this mission.

The droneship landings always cut out. The rocket interferes with the radio link transmitting the video feed.

At this point I was expecting the drone to simply retry to transmit the video a few seconds or minutes later.

I guess we just don't have the technology.

Yeah same with me...first booster landed was significant. I was hoping to see it this time as I was watching it with my family and they never saw it before...and it's too bad both live feeds (on the rocket, and boat) cut out...and the next shot the rocket magically is there.

I was in a cab and made my wife watch the livestream on my phone. I'm not even into spaceflight; I just can't help but watch and marvel at the fact that we can put a person into space on a rocket... and then land the rocket. It's insane. And if they didn't do it over and over again with eyewitnesses I would refuse to believe it.

Me too, and I'm not even an American (but live in the US)! Would have wished they would make it a little bit less "good for the US" and a little bit more "good for the free world".

As a Brit that sometimes finds USA patriotism a little excessive, I have to admit that I grant them an exception when it comes to feats like spaceflight. USA! USA!