I was flipping across channels tonight and saw that the Science Channel was covering the landing of the Phoenix spacecraft on Mars. It turns out it was a replay of the landing, which took place four hours earlier at 7:53 PM (EDT). The craft landed safely and appears to be working normally. It touched down in the arctic with the hopes of finding frozen water to study.
It is remarkable that space exploration has reached the point where we, as the general public, are mostly blasé about it. I follow space exploration, but have not kept up with it much in the last year. I was unaware that the landing was scheduled for today. I heard nothing about it on-line or through regular news channels, although admittedly I haven’t watched the news this weekend because of a visiting friend. But even if it shows up on cable news channels, it will not create a big stir.
This is so different than when I was a kid. I learned to climb out of my crib the night Apollo 11 landed on the moon. I have heard stories of this from my parents, who had friends over that night to watch the moon landing. It was a moment shared by the entire nation. I remember in grade school gathering in the gym to view the first shuttle launch. And I remember how full the news was when the Viking spacecraft landed on Mars.
But tonight, we landed on Mars and America yawned.
I just checked CNN. The main story on their home page is about tornadoes that touched down in Iowa and Minnesota. The Phoenix landing is mentioned in a sidebar. The FoxNews website has the tornadoes, a report about Hillary still being in the race, a California family that was murdered, and the Phoenix mission. I am not sure how all of those stories can be treated as if they were on the same level. I suspect the news channels will talk about Phoenix for a day or two, giving it thirty seconds in their hourly updates and showing cool pictures, and then they will let it fade into the background.
By the way, for those who have forgotten, the Mars rovers (Spirit and Opportunity) are still active on the Martian surface. Originally designed to be active for three months, they have now been active for four years and four months.
Meanwhile, reality TV continues its futile quest for signs of intelligent life on this planet.