<story><title>Orion Flight Test Live Launch</title><url>http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/#.VIGQsGTF9d0</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Arjuna</author><text>This is &lt;i&gt;awesome&lt;/i&gt;. Two thoughts spring to mind:&lt;p&gt;1. This is the equivalent of the Apollo 4 mission in that it also flew without a crew, and was used to prove, validate and verify that Saturn V and associated systems were fully mission-capable.&lt;p&gt;2. Events like this represent our future. Events like this are the catalysts for our future generation. The children around the world (perhaps one or more of your own) that are viewing this event are the ones that will be galvanized to dream, to explore, to go into astrophysics, computer science, mathematics, etc. Just imagine the seeds that are being planted with every event, be it brought to us by ESA, ISRO, NASA, SpaceX, etc. Our 5 year old is asking questions: what makes a rocket launch? Why is the explosion so big? I mean, we&amp;#x27;re already having conversations that start to tear me up a little, partly because that connection brings me back in touch with my own passion for technology, and partly because it is a small glimpse that represents &lt;i&gt;Our&lt;/i&gt; collective future.&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;I&amp;#x27;m stoked.&lt;/i&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>organsnyder</author><text>I sat and watched the countdown (the video cut out at T-00:15) with my 3.5-year-old son this morning. He was extremely excited, to the point that he was able to sit still for a half-hour just listening to the announcements of various system checks. Even without being able to watch the actual launch live (we watched a taped version a few minutes later), he still seemed to be catching quite a bit of excitement, and asked a myriad of questions (&amp;quot;How does the rocket return to earth?&amp;quot; &amp;quot;What&amp;#x27;s that flame?&amp;quot;).&lt;p&gt;When I was in grade-school in the early-mid 90&amp;#x27;s, I brought a news clipping of a Shuttle launch in for a &amp;quot;current events&amp;quot; classroom segment. Many of my classmates responded with disinterest: &amp;quot;Why do you care? There are Shuttle launches all the time.&amp;quot; We were young enough not to remember Challenger, so space-flight seemed routine and boring. As tragic and disappointing as the Columbia disaster and end of the Shuttle program were, I think they actually reminded us not to take manned spaceflight for granted.&lt;p&gt;I work with an astronomer and physicist with a PhD from MIT. She was actually less excited about today&amp;#x27;s launch than I expected, mainly because she&amp;#x27;s more interested in the science being done by robotic missions. I&amp;#x27;m sure she&amp;#x27;s right that they&amp;#x27;re much more cost-effective and able to deliver almost as many results, but I&amp;#x27;d place a small wager that manned spaceflight was at least partially responsible for her interests and career path.&lt;p&gt;Also, I realized this morning (while looking at diagrams comparing the sizes of various launch configurations) that just seeing a picture of a Space Shuttle with its rockets still makes me a bit emotional. I can&amp;#x27;t say for sure what effect it had on me growing up, but I&amp;#x27;m sure that it played a part in my development as a civic- and tech-minded individual.</text></comment>
<story><title>Orion Flight Test Live Launch</title><url>http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/#.VIGQsGTF9d0</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Arjuna</author><text>This is &lt;i&gt;awesome&lt;/i&gt;. Two thoughts spring to mind:&lt;p&gt;1. This is the equivalent of the Apollo 4 mission in that it also flew without a crew, and was used to prove, validate and verify that Saturn V and associated systems were fully mission-capable.&lt;p&gt;2. Events like this represent our future. Events like this are the catalysts for our future generation. The children around the world (perhaps one or more of your own) that are viewing this event are the ones that will be galvanized to dream, to explore, to go into astrophysics, computer science, mathematics, etc. Just imagine the seeds that are being planted with every event, be it brought to us by ESA, ISRO, NASA, SpaceX, etc. Our 5 year old is asking questions: what makes a rocket launch? Why is the explosion so big? I mean, we&amp;#x27;re already having conversations that start to tear me up a little, partly because that connection brings me back in touch with my own passion for technology, and partly because it is a small glimpse that represents &lt;i&gt;Our&lt;/i&gt; collective future.&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;I&amp;#x27;m stoked.&lt;/i&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>robbiep</author><text>I only wish that this had of been able to attract more publicity. New capsules are always cool and NASA is the king of them all... But as a government body in a tech 2.0 world it doesn&amp;#x27;t attract the attention or respect that is worthy of its (occasionally bloated, cost-overrun, but nonetheless amazing and awe-inspiring) achievements&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;/i&gt; edit: my apologies, incorrectly thought this was a first flight of the Orion launch system and not capsule</text></comment>