I stayed up and watched the Mars landing when it happened in May of 2018, which is saying something for me since it didn't happen until 1:30 a.m. my time. Despite being hyped as '7 minutes of terror', everything went smoothly. Even though nothing blew up, nothing failed, nothing crashed, and no fights broke out, it was worth watching - and here's why.
I'm of an age that I remember what I was doing when we put a man on the moon. We were out on Grapevine Lake in our little 14 foot motorboat. The weather was hot. The landing was cool. I think this is gonna turn about to be one of those things you will remember what you were doing when we landed on Mars. I hope I am alive and kickin' when we put a human up there.
I'm also of an age that grew up watching the original Star Trek television series. I honestly don't remember if I liked space before that, or if that series ignited my interest in space. It was hard not to love all things space, growing up in the 60s with the space race, moon landing, Apollo program, etc. Space topics were the Facebook of that era. It was all around you and everybody indulged.
In addition to real life scenarios playing out on a regular basis, we feasted on some of the finest literary sci-fi ever known. Personal favorites Heinlein, Asimov, Bradbury, Dick, Clarke, and many others dominated my library check-out list. It was an embarrassment of riches.
So it's no wonder I am a space nut. When I heard a promo for the upcoming landing on NPR two weeks ago, I plugged it into my calendar.
In an age of mind-blowing technological achievements of which this may be the new leader, it was charming on the verge of quaint to watch the coverage of the JPL command center. Gradually ascending rows of JPL employees, all sporting their jaunty light blue Curiosity Landing logo'd golf shirts, sat peering at their computer screens. Many were fitted with snazzy Madonna-esque headsets (although interestingly, only a handful seemed to be connected to the TV feed). Occasionally you would hear a voice calmly asking this or directing that in uber cool rocket scientist lingo. It was difficult to tell who was talking, because so many of them had headsets and they were all wearing the same shirt.
The coverage was pretty low-key. It consisted of a female commentator who was nice enough but wasn't exactly going for depth;, plus a few cameramen roaming around trying to get different angles, which had to be a challenge considering the long rectangular room was lacking in visual excitement (not to mention difficult to move around in with a big camera weighing you down in addition to the 30 extra ell bees that seemed de rigeur for said cameramen). Stationery cameras were parked at corners of the room, capturing the event as it unfolded. There were long periods of nothing much going on other than flickering screens and murmuring scientists.
I turned it on about an hour before touchdown, so I had plenty of time to observe the participants. It was an interesting mix. Mostly men, of course, but within that demographic, there was a wide range of types. Several graying/balding older men; a few young pups. Most looked like your average middle-aged government or academic employee. Some were definitely on the outer edge. One swarthy young fellow had a wicked Mohawk, complete with a patch of hair dyed dark red. And I mean the color red, not the hair tint. Mars Red. One of the bosses had not one but two small hoop earrings in his left ear. Another older dude had graying hair long past his shoulders, plus the facial hair worthy of a Sons of Anarchy extra.
There were a few women sprinkled in, maybe a half dozen or so. All were in the 30-40 age range. None had gotten especially dolled up for their big moment, at least that I could tell. And good for them. If I were a rocket scientist of that caliber, I wouldn't give two hoots about getting my hair and nails did for the biggest night of my life, either. Wait, who am I kidding - of course I would! But these gals probably would have been hooted out of the room if they had showed up looking anything different than their daily science nerd selves. So brava, ladies of Mars Landing, brava!
This got me to wondering about the preparation the employees must have had for their big television debut. Remember, there are at least 30-40 people in this room watching what may be the most important event of their career, their life. But there are also several strangers invading their sanctum sanctorum, broadcasting their every move to millions of homes around the world. I can just imagine that staff meeting. Probably included a PowerPoint entitled Top 10 Things Not To Do While We Are On Live Television, No Matter How Often We Let You Do It When We Are Not On Live Television:
- Chew Gum
- Smoke
- Indicate nerves, fear, anxiety or any other negative emotion by frowning, grimacing, or covering face with hands
- Pick Nose
- Pick Seat
- Pick Teeth
- Scratch Crotch
- Curse
- Wave and Say 'Hi Mom'
- Hold Up Homemade Signs Or Any Other Overt Nerd Hijinx
A word about #10: I Am Not Making This Up - about 6 minutes into their touchdown celebration, one of the female staffers can be seen urging a male coworker to retrieve something from underneath the desk area. He complies, pulling out a weird little homemade paper doll. From the neck down it looks like my 8 year old Labrador sketched out a human on some white copy paper. The feet look more like flippers. He is nude except for a red swim suit/pair of shorts. I say 'he' because the oversize head is a cutout photo of someone I cannot recognize. Youngish man with dark hair and a nice smile. This doll has a narrow wooden strip to support it so it can stand upright. The two staff waved this paper doll around briefly but it disappeared soon afterward. Dying to know what that was about.
Aside from the weird paper doll episode, for such an epic event I must say the staff remained quite calm, even poker-faced, applauding each progression with admirable restraint and hiding any anxiety they were feeling extremely well. I noticed one Asian fellow who was obviously a high up mucky-muck (he had one of the live headsets) was cool as a cucumber from the waist up - but had an extreme case of Jiggle Leg. A few pencils were tapped silly; a few chins rubbed in that way guys do when they are nervous. All was Calm on the Space Front until of course the actual touchdown, when the staff was allowed to let loose for ten minutes or so. Complete chaos! Lots of hugs, grown men crying like toddlers, very touching.
I couldn't help but marvel at the brain power contained in that room. The creme de la creme, the pinnacle of human evolution who had sweated blood to get that project funded, built, and across 350 million miles in one (or two) pieces successfully. I hope other worthy projects are getting the same level of financial and mental resources. Also wonder how the discontinuation of the shuttle program may have helped financially with Curiosity. I miss the shuttles, but if this is their replacement - 7 minutes of terror, paper dolls and mohawks - let's rock on!
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