But did he really feel it or was he faking his moongasm?That was much more affecting than I expected. pic.twitter.com/641gB4OAbU
— Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) April 1, 2026
A viewer demanded I touch the grass behind me to prove it wasn’t CGI on a green screen. pic.twitter.com/XRDJhluMBY
— Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) April 2, 2026
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68 comments:
The whole rocket countdown ritual and launch was a strong cultural theme among boomers growing up. Then NASA went dormant, and it sort of fell away. It's great to see it back.
He discovered that the speed of sound is significantly slower than the speed of light.
Now THAT is funny! The fact that people are skeptical of live news events, humorous as it is, is perhaps a good sign. We should have healthy skepticism, especially toward news organizations who have been happily parroting the NYT narrative for years, through hoax after hoax.
The unsaid part is that AI is driving the skepticism. Good. Maybe the first tangible public benefit of the new technology.
I also appreciate the evolution of “touch grass” from dorky insult to live-shot proof of life.
Did Althouse just invent a new word? Moongasm?
I've seen it before is my feeling. This crap again.
In my gayest voice- Oh honey it’s been done…
Polarized sunglasses? No.
Box pinhole projector? Maybe.
He’s at least 12 miles away from that launch. I’ve been 300 yards from a SSME test. You can feel the overpressure, but it wasn’t as much a thump in the chest.
Was Mr. Noem preparing to attend?
The landing of the first space shuttle in '81 felt like a turning point after the miserable 70s, the Tehran hostages, and Reagan's shooting.
Watching a launch in person is an experience. You simply don’t understand the scale until you do.
The video is poorly lit. The lighting set up is simply an imitation of an indoor studio, which is a rookie mistake. In this situation, you would want to at least suggest an actual son and light heavily from the side a viewer would expect. these are the cues. The mind looks for to resolve ease in viewing the set up
AI is driving fuck all. AI is training itself on human beings. Therefore, ipso facto human beings are driving AI to embrace conspiracy theories and to keep people anxious and stressed out. How do you expect the billionaires to keep the crabs inside the pot unless they are willing to pull each other down?.
Michael Knowles is the most earnest commentator out there. He would never fake a moongasm.
I watched the liftoff— it was very cool! This is what Trump means when he says Make America Great Again. We used to do great things, and every American cheered. Waiting for Keith Ellison to announce that Artemis II is just a distraction from EPSTEIN.
I used to work on that program. Just got moved. I couldn't watch. Waited for condensed result for instant discovery. Too afraid it would blow up and it would be my fault.
People don't understand the immensity of that rocket. The stand to hold it up is incomprehensibly large to most people. It rolls and it is larger than most buildings you think of as tall buildings.
Yeah it was designed in a senate committee. That wasn't our fault. We could have done it better on our own. Those inefficiencies were forced on us. The "contractors" we had to use were the worst.
Boeing still managed to work around those constraints and that system works. It is more powerful than anything ever built and astronauts are farther from earth than they have ever been. I will point out that the moon landing vehicle was one of the major restraints for landing on the moon. So was building the lunar orbit platform. That wasn't our job.
Leland said...
He’s at least 12 miles away from that launch.
The press site is a little less than 4 miles from Pad 39B. I was due west of the pad in Titusville, about 11 miles away. Even at that distance, the roar and crackle of the engines was amazing. More than the Space Shuttle.
Rain and clouds had been moving onshore all day, but about 30 minutes before launch the skies began to clear, and the countdown only experienced one short hold. The cheers from the crowd as each countdown milestone passed added to the excitement as tension built, then they roared at lift off and followed with chants of "USA! USA! USA!" as Artemis slipped out of site and the boosters feel to earth. To finish the night, the full moon rose above the VAB less than an hour after launch. It couldn't have been any better. Simply amazing.
A different reaction:
https://x.com/i/status/2039443777719283920
The saturn 5 was originally an icbm
Howard said...
AI is driving fuck all. AI is training itself on human beings. Therefore, ipso facto human beings are driving AI to embrace conspiracy theories and to keep people anxious and stressed out. How do you expect the billionaires to keep the crabs inside the pot unless they are willing to pull each other down?.
People are not understanding what AI is and what AI is not.
We are able to extend human cognitive abilities with this tool. AI wont replace us. It will help (some of) us evolve. I don't know Rust programming. I know what Rust can do. I didn't know what direct memory access is or how modern cache systems work until I watched a video and asked some questions. I had a 20 minute discussion with the agent and did a lot of reading. In a few hours I had a design for a virtualized context management system and a memory cache system built. Implementing now. CVM and on demand paging already in place.
I "Learned" about these subjects in a matter of hours. I wont retain that knowledge in my grey matter. I will remember the summarized version biologically. I can bring up the specs and read them with perfect recall at any time. I am currently updating my institutional knowledge block library. It is an indexed memory system of skills, roles, subjects, constraints.
The key insight is that these machines learned non-deterministic behavior which is what used to be the one human super power.
The key to cognitive extension is mastering the the balance between deterministic behavior and non-deterministic behavior. Deterministic behavior gives electronic intelligence perfect memory, instant recall, fast execution, and infinite mental energy. But that lacked that other thing.
They gained Non-deterministic behavior by learning language. This allows them to ape what humans do well but that isn't the real insight. The key is understanding that language is the interface we can communicate with and is the interface.
I can write code easily1000 times faster today than 1 month ago. The systems I am building will make me faster tomorrow. Once this first release is done I will be working in app space. Right now I am working on the kernel and using the thing to build the thing causes most of my problems.
In a few days at most things are going to get really fucked up. I just completed the hello world test on my agent native runtime system. the claude cli was a mess and actually had poison pills in it to slow users down and waste tokens. This native runtime will also wrap the other models too.
The cost of writing software is now officially 0. Today with what I have built I know I could have done what I did over the last 5 years in a week at most.
People don't believe me. It doesn't really matter. We will know by Christmas one way or another. Things are moving so fast now.
I watched the liftoff with trepidation. So many nagging issues plagued this rocket. I was glad to see it go up. I was, at the same time, appalled by how poor the NASA feed was compared to what we get from SpaceX. That had been true for Artemis 1, and that inspired a lot of commentary. Surely, I thought that would be fixed before this flight. NIH syndrome in action, I guess. Maybe Jared will compare video from his SpaceX flights with that he's getting for Artemis 2 and make some changes.
I’ve only seen one launch in person. It was a relatively small Delta II launch carrying an NRO satellite out of Vandenberg. The thing that impressed me was the acceleration. When you watch a launch on TV, the camera stays on the rocket and there’s nothing to give a sense of speed as it climbs.
Back in 1966, I went on Redstone Arsenal and watch a Saturn V first stage static test. I was only 3 miles away (the closest they allowed anyone). The noise was incredible. Nine year old me was very impressed.
"The saturn 5 was originally an icbm"
The Atlas missile was our first ICBM. It was also the first Mercury booster capable of orbital missions. The Redstone used by Sheppard, Grissom, and Ham was a short-range ballistic missile, not an ICBM. The Atlas used highly refined kerosine and LOX as fuel, which meant that it basically sucked as a weapon, as it took many hours to prep the missile for launching giving the Russkies plenty of time to clobber us before our missiles could fly to Moscow. Atlas was replaced by the Titan ICBM family, which used storable hypergolic fuels. The Titan II was used by NASA as a man-rated orbital booster for the Gemini program and for launching satellites and probes. Titan III added two solid fuel strap-on stages for deep space missions. Titan was replaced by Minuteman, a solid-fueled ICBM which has not been adapted for use by NASA -- a weapon only.
Saturn was the first rocket family developed entirely NASA and the first NASA booster NOT derived from a military rocket program.
I stand corrected
I watched a Space Shuttle launch from near Cocoa Beach, the Jetty Park pier, which is about 25 miles from Pad 39B. You can feel it even that far away. It's the extreme low-frequency infrasound that causes the air your lungs to resonate.
2 white men, a woman and a black. That was carefully chosen. You still need the two white men so there's somebody felt to be competent in the crew in case of emergency. They can work together on a problem in the way white men do.
Hunter Thompson went to one of these launches and said about it, "They are running the biggest goddam massage parlor in the world!" or something like that.
The thing about using AI to help you think is that you have to put in serious effort, and push back where it doesn't make sense. You can't just prompt it for an answer and then accept that answer. You have to use the Socratic method, you might call it, where you are the teacher, and AI is the student, I know that that sounds backwards, but AI is, at bottom, kind of a simpleton.
As Scott Adams said of Trump, I believe Narciso is directionally correct if not factually accurate regarding the rocket.
AI fever amongst the few is driving AI skepticism among the many. Don’t let the reporter’s green screen comment distract from the beauty of the new phenomenon in which viewers can demand proof of reality during a broadcast.
I'm surprised Knowles hasn't been to Texas to watch a Starship launch. The full stack is even more impressive than the SLS and you can watch it launch from Isla Blanc Beach. (Boca Chica is almost entirely closed to visitors when SpaceX has scheduled a launch.) Rocket watchers often say those 33 Raptor 3 engines produce a unique experience.
I was trying to convey the force required for such s booster
I’m looking forward to Joe Rogan having someone on his show to explain how they’re faking it this time.
Back when we sent space shuttles - everyone who was able to see it from nearby had the same reactions.
“I’m sorry. If I see a Black pilot, I’m going to be like, ‘Boy, I hope he’s qualified.’” ~ Charlie Kirk
Victor Jerome Glover Jr. is a Black American test pilot and NASA astronaut. Glover is currently the pilot of NASA’s Artemis II mission — the first crewed flight of the Artemis program, which launched on April 1, 2026, for a lunar flyby. He is making history as the first Black astronaut (and first person of color) to travel beyond low Earth orbit and fly around the Moon.
He previously flew on SpaceX Crew-1 to the International Space Station (2020–2021), becoming the first Black astronaut to serve a long-duration mission there.In short: Victor Glover is the highly qualified Navy test pilot and astronaut assigned to pilot the Artemis II spacecraft.
The 7 year old in me felt mostly disgust at the wasted 58 years. The future was squandered on graft and bullshit.
If they're slingshotting around the Moon presumably they can take some high res photos of the original moon landing, to dispel the fake rumors?
“But did he really feel it or was he faking his moongasm?”
That attempt to convince us was pathetic. You couldn’t even see him actually touch the grass. It wouldn’t even be close to convincing unless he ripped up some grass and showed it to us in closeup. That he didn’t do that makes me even more suspicious.
You should give the entire Charlie Kirk quote about a black pilot in context, but I know that fairness is not your gig.
We drove down and watched in Titusville. We got home this morning at 4am. One of my sons is space obsessed so we went for him mostly. I did not expect to be so affected, but I actually cried. So yeah I don't think he's faking.
““I’m sorry. If I see a Black pilot, I’m going to be like, ‘Boy, I hope he’s qualified.’” ~ Charlie Kirk”
For this mission, being Black is the qualification.
I couldn't feel anything where we were, but it was very loud after I initially watched the rocket go up. And it was unbelievably bright. I still don't know why I cried, but I did.
The press site is a little less than 4 miles from Pad 39B
My bad... going off of memory and thinking from across the river. I watched the last STS night launch from the Saturn V area. The engine test was at Stennis.
The color of a crewman's skin? Really? That's what you think about in 2026? The color of the draperies versus the throw pillows in the crew cabin is more important.
This is still one of the most impressive human accomplishments and it would nice if the media cared.
In a highly dislocated world, it is good to remind us of the best of humankind and the best of America.
You can find competent blacks (think Thomas Sowell for an extreme instance) but they're rarer than competent whites at any high level so you have to begin a search. The more competent, the rarer. That's the tails of the bell curve in action. What's evidenced here is an intense search.
"BREAKING — Media Declares Artemis II Mission Failure Because It Hasn’t Finished Yet"
https://x.com/ProfMJCleveland/status/2039539277969670205
this ENDLESS mission has been going on, since LAST MONTH!
they (Dave Begley?) "claimed" that it would end.. SOMETIME.
and YET!
Not Only is the mission NOT Ending..
Every day (every hour) they are getting FURTHER from earth!
STOP THESE ENDLESS WARS AND MISSIONS!!
Birches said...
I did not expect to be so affected, but I actually cried.
I got a little water-eyed, but only after I felt like throwing up. It's difficult to explain, but growing on the Space Coast, you can't help but get that pit in your stomach for every manned launch. Heck, my mom still gets a little emotional when talking about the Apollo 1 disaster.
bagoh20 said...
"This is still one of the most impressive human accomplishments and it would nice if the media cared."
I scrolled through Yahoo News and the Bing homepage first thing this morning for an update and it's like the launch never happened.
The translunar injection burn to send them off to the Moon is scheduled for 7:49 p.m. EDT. Seems like news.
Misquoting the dead is a pussy move.
Yahoo is a maker of figments
"For this mission, being Black is the qualification."
Yeah, he's a Black Astronaut and he's our Black Astronaut and he put his Black Ass on top of a giant bomb to go to the Moon in furtherance of the US Space Program.
Go Fuck Yourself, Jackass.
This is waay better
https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/2039443777719283920?s=20
Little Excursion™️ said...
“If they're slingshotting around the Moon presumably they can take some high res photos of the original moon landing, to dispel the fake rumors?”
They’re not going to be close enough to the lunar surface to get good photos. Not to worry, though. Those Apollo landing sites were imaged from the US Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and also by an Indian satellite.
https://lroc.im-ldi.com/image_tags/Apollo
https://www.space.com/14874-apollo-11-landing-site-moon-photo.html
What is with Americans and premature orgasms?
Astronauts will be coming back April 10. They will have to enter Earth’s atmosphere at about 25,000 mph, faster than ever before. Godspeed to them and patience to us.
A long time ago I was on a shuttle bus to the airport in Florida. At one point, the driver stopped and told us we could get out to watch a lift off, which was very far from us. I thought "So long as I don't miss my plane." It was far more impressive and emotional than I expected, even though we didn't see anything until it was well up in the sky. Turned out my flight to New York was delayed, they held the flight for Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather in first class.
@ Wolfie: The provided quote is not a misquote of Charlie Kirk. He did say those words during a January 2024 episode of The Charlie Kirk Show, in a discussion about DEI initiatives in airline hiring. The words are accurate.
Chuck lies by not revealing the complete context of Kirk's perfectly reasonable statement.
You have to be a stupid asshole to do that.
LE said "the provided quote is a misquote of Charlie Kirk. He did not say those words during a January 2024 episode of the Charlie Kirk show. The words are accurate."
Every word written by LE (Chuck). This is the closest he's ever gotten to telling the truth.
Little Ex-
Stipulating that Mr Glover is highly qualified and has earned the right to command this mission due to his skill, hard work, and other positive attributes.
That makes Mr Glover and others like him the primary victims of DEI, Affirmative Action, and all of the other programs that insist that black people are incapable of high achievement without a Head Start or thumb on the scale.
People don't grasp the power of these things. Just for example, the Saturn V main engines, the F-1, produced roughly 1 million pounds of thrust. So what, you say. How about this: Each of those engines had a pump for the fuel and oxidizer, like the fuel pump in your car.
And each of those pump sets was driven by a turbine producing 50,000 horsepower. Just to run a pair of pumps.
There is little in the world more awe-inspiring than seeing a rocket launch -- I've done that once, at Canaveral. The one I saw was even more awesome because the booster rockets weren't discarded (Thanks Elon!) but they came back (supersonically!) to Earth.
The exit from Canaveral post-launch was a lot of traffic.
I rewatched the Apple TV series "For All Mankind" about the space program and NASA and exploration of Mars, etc. Part fact part fiction. What I learned inspired me to ask AI when the Artemis II will reach the moon, when the moon will come into view and the time to expect the best views as it flies by. Initially it told me 3-4 days but I got it to drill down to April 6 10:30AM- 2 PM PT for the best views before it goes behind the moon. I'll see how it works out.
Little Excursion™️ said...
“I’m sorry. If I see a Black pilot, I’m going to be like, ‘Boy, I hope he’s qualified.’” ~ Charlie Kirk
First he dances on Kirk's grave after one of his friends murders Kirk in front of his wife and children. This piece of shit drake the tears of Kirk's young children while they cried watching their father die.
Now he is back to misquote Kirk after his side murdered him in a vicious dishonest slander.
It is hard to describe what an absolute subhuman piece of shit this person is.
You are worse than the members of the Taliban. That is what you are now.
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