So I’m sitting here watching the Artemis I launch from this morning and feeling pretty excited as the countdown reaches zero and the main engines ignite. Then NASA Mission Control announcer guy drops this line as the rocket begins to rise off the launchpad:

“We rise together! Back to the moon, and beyond!”

It was a small thing and entirely irrelevant to the success and meaning of the launch. Nonetheless, it kind of spoiled the whole thing for me.

I really miss the business-like, quietly competent NASA of years gone by. I guess they feel like they have to compete for mindshare with SpaceX and other companies now, but that phrase sounds like it was workshopped by some marketing team and handed to the announcer on a sheet of paper.