What struck me in the landing commentary was this tendency to present this like some dumb exotic adventure with lots of teambuilding slogans (also "insane" engineering?). I guess it has to be like that for reasons but it is icky.

This is just engineering on a field trip. We have been there before, we are trying to make it safe to go there again. Things are expected to work.

A lot of white bald men at the monitors but the presentation is diverse :-) NASA is doing its best.

Where's the ACTUAL "NASA's Perseverance rover approaching Mars" footage!?

Things are getting exciting now! So many things must go right.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm0b_ijaYMQ&feature=emb_logo

3:55 p.m.
The landing is expected at 3:55 p.m. EST (2055 GMT). At the time of Perseverance's landing attempt, Mars will be about 127 million miles (205 million kilometers) from Earth, NASA said in a mission description.8 hours ago

SUCCESS!

Congratulations NASA JPL!

Strong signal from the lander.

Your video, NASA's Perseverance rover approaching Mars, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

This achievement has earned you your "Pop Star" Level 9 Badge!

This makes me sad. I hope a new one can be built but they were having trouble even getting the funds to repair it along with everything else going on there. I remember watching something on PBS about this in the '80s and it and NASA had me hooked on all things space-related. I almost chose astronomy as my major in college, sorta wouldn't mind going back for it, space still intrigues me.

*beg for today's SpaceX crew's return as shown in http://www.nasa.gov/nasalive.

You could selectively choose events, including NASA launches that were cancelled just as easily.

"Much deadlier than the current one" how exactly can you determine that when the current pandemic is far from over.

Your video, NASA Explains Moon Return Plans in Stunning Animated Short, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

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http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/isslivestream.asx seems to be *dead.

*related=http://videosift.com/video/NASA-Live-Official-Stream-of-NASA-TV

NASA Live: Official Stream of NASA TV has been added as a related post - related requested by ant.

Having worked 5 years @ NASA (as a low-level worker), THIS is indeed common, and a skill we all learned.

Some serious abdications occur for this to be so endemic.

NASA definitely got their money's worth out of that rover...

Interesting.
Why can't we use hydrogen balloons to put instruments at the right levels above earth, I wonder?
Do they think the static fluctuations, including the rifts, can be attributed to the almost total lack of atmosphere, or the lack of magnetic field on MARS, or something else?
Maybe I should read the NASA release.....nope, no answers there, only a near verbatim transcript of the narration.
*quality scientific discoveries

When he enters the second shot he is 13 seconds to liftoff. Not so hard to time it right. Would be more impressive if it was one continuous take from start to finish.

42 Years, 3 Months, 4 Days, 6 hours since liftoff till now.
9.5 miles per second

https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status/