itsfullofstars:

We’ve seen footage from rocket-mounted cameras before, but this is a particularly stunning example of the genre: cameras mounted on the solid-fuel rocket boosters that lifted the shuttle Discovery into space last week document their entire 30-minute voyage, from liftoff to splashdown. The ground recedes fast amid sparks and smoke; Discovery cuts loose and continues on its lonely voyage; the boosters capture some lovely shots of our planet as they spin and parachute and land safely in the ocean.

NASA could go a long way toward solving its budgetary issues if they charged audiences to watch amazing movies like this.

Source: Popsci.com

Progress does not need to be negative. It amazes me what tiny fraction of productive power is needed to produce something capable of the amazing feat of sending and retrieving people from space. I mean, if you think about it the Discovery, the shuttle pulling away from the rockets in this video is 27 years old. 27 fucking years old. My car is only 11 years old and it fucks up all the time and this thing takes people to space. With how much bullshit it takes to maintain my automobile, it amazes me that it doesn’t require an entire army just to take care of this thing. It makes me wonder, if this is what people can achieve when putting even just a fraction of their abilities towards curiosity, what awesome things could we be doing if we really pooled the resources?