The pictures from Pluto by New Horizon are amazing, but Philae and Curiosity are what really stand out for me in recent times.
It was mid-afternoon local time when Curiosity landed and I was watching a live stream from mission control. It just struck me how amazing it was that I can watch something happening in the control room of a space vehicle in REAL time and see images being sent from the fucking surface of Mars AS IT HAPPENED! I'd spent a bit of time before hand looking at videos and reading articles about how the landing would be achieved and wondering how they could actually conceive and plan such a crazy solution? It seemed too far-fetched. Watching the stages unfold and the reactions of the people in the control room who had no further ability to control the action, basically watch and pray that all those years of hard work would pay off and seeing the first image of the wheel appear was absolutely mind-blowing. What a fucking time to be alive.
Similarly for Philae that they could send a craft to intercept a DAMN comet as it hurtles through the solar system and land it on the surface and send pictures back and we get to see that as it unfolds.
The pictures from Pluto by New Horizon are amazing, but Philae and Curiosity are what really stand out for me in recent times.
It was mid-afternoon local time when Curiosity landed and I was watching a live stream from mission control. It just struck me how amazing it was that I can watch something happening in the control room of a space vehicle in REAL time and see images being sent from the fucking surface of Mars AS IT HAPPENED! I'd spent a bit of time before hand looking at videos and reading articles about how the landing would be achieved and wondering how they could actually conceive and plan such a crazy solution? It seemed too far-fetched. Watching the stages unfold and the reactions of the people in the control room who had no further ability to control the action, basically watch and pray that all those years of hard work would pay off and seeing the first image of the wheel appear was absolutely mind-blowing. What a fucking time to be alive.
Similarly for Philae that they could send a craft to intercept a DAMN comet as it hurtles through the solar system and land it on the surface and send pictures back and we get to see that as it unfolds.