You'd be amazed how a simple experiement can be fun. These guys work on this enormous vacuum chamber to build space ship things, and that's their day job. As in, at some point, it gets routine and a bit dull. (Ever find high power lasers boring? You will after your safety training...)

Now, they are recreating an experiment last performed at this scale on the moon. It's an unusual break from the norm, and I'm sure half of their grins were the phenomenal waste of power to perform such a silly experiment. (Seriously, that chamber was hauled down to a couple torr in three zarking hours!) Professionally goofing off is immensely fun.

(Tiddlywinks with a forklift would be another, and there was a guy who used the armor coating a Blackbird uses in a robot wars competition.)

I agree you're being a bit cynical.

They are used to the chamber and with experiments in the chamber, but this simple experiment with a feather and a iron ball is very different from what they usually see.

They probably usually see only heavy objects and mechanisms for space projects being tested there. Such a graphic and basic experiment must be well outside the norm.

Perhaps their excitement no longer stems from the experiment itself, but from the reactions of the newcomers. Probably a terrible analogy, but sort of like witnessing a child's first experience hearing a musical instrument live. It can be energizing.

>They already had some sort of apparatus set up to do the simultaneous drops.

Why do you say that? They could have easily made the apparatus for this experiment.

The button he pressed when dropping had a label that said something like "launch jet sequence" (don't remember exactly). They probably have a modular set of actuator and rigs they can easily mess around with . :)