I'm definitley staying true to my albino-like skin tone from this next post, so beware. But, I find this very, very cool.
So, I've always LOVED space in a "I want to be an astronaut, until I realized in Grade 11 that I was slightly claustrophobic" kind of way. When I happened upon NASA's website around 5 years ago after watching a space launch, I was amazed at what I found. At the time, streaming video was still in its infancy, with lengthy buffering times and diluted pixels. But, not here. No, not only did NASA have excellent streaming video, it had LIVE coverage of it's space operations 24/hours...from SPACE! Yes, you are privy to all the conversations shared between Mission Control and astronauts in the space shuttle, as well as all interesting activities aboard the space shuttle. This includes watching/listening to astronauts performing space walks, dicey docking manuevers, incoming S-turns as the shuttle glides to Earth...am I losing you? And, today, the NASA TV function has only improved, with various multimedia for Educators, Students, Employees, and so forth.
For a program that is often critized for the amount of funding it receives (although most astronauts only make $50K a year!) I feel that this level of web presence and accessibility provides an excellent communication tool, and allows viewers to interact and engage in activities that promote its program, and will hopefully "fuel" its continuation.
The next space shuttle mission is scheduled to begin Feb. 12th, and I implore you to check out NASA TV over its 2 week duration, and see it for yourself!
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