NASA did switch to a view with some of the external cameras and sometimes some cockpit views. Their launch stream was pretty terrible. I had some family and friends (not space nerds) watching and asking a lot of questions because they were kind of interested but not getting much from the stream.
As far as "can it be automated", Boeing Starliner and a bunch of crashed lunar landers over the last few years are examples of where human improvisation beats flight software. This mission is also testing life support systems. It's pretty hard to make a good human simulator to test those.
While previous versions of the mixer used an electromechanical control system inside, the new Artisan Plus features a microcontroller-based system with a Hall effect sensor for more precision.
The new features sound nice, but the old system can last a lifetime. I don't need everything around me to be "smart" and have more points of failure.
A rotating station would also be really cool to try out long term Lunar and Martian gravity closer to home. Out bodies kinda hate 0G, but what about 1/6 or 1/3 G?
I agree that this announcement is just another Musk hype cycle, and I can't wait for a bunch of "AI" companies to crash and burn.
What I meant with the 5-10 year comment was that if people still insist on spending money on data centers, we might reach a point where falling launch costs, lighter radiator systems, and more available and cheap satellite components make it feasible for a space based server rack to have lower lifetime costs and be less of a headache than a terrestrial one.
A physics problem might be easier than a regulatory one. Big radiators are an acceptable solution if there are multiple reusable super heavy lift launch vehicles.
I'm actually starting to come around on the feasibility of space data centers. I don't think we're there yet, but in 5-10 years I feel like the equation might work. "Free" cooling from new lighter radiators and cooling loops, "free" solar power, no land acquisition, no building permits, no building construction, etc., is all worth something.
There are some beaches to the south that would probably work. I was working on base at the time and watched from somewhere on the north half of base that isn't open to the public.
Personally, I've only been to some very foggy Falcon 9 launches at Vandenberg and heard a Shuttle coming in to land in Florida.
The closest launch sites to me now are Spaceport America (more of an airport) and Blue Origin's suborbital site in Texas, but I didn't make it down there before they canceled the program.
I definitely need to make the trip to Starbase for a launch. I would also love to watch an SLS launch.
Spam hits just right sometimes. I've brought those spam singles camping and made spam and mashed potatoes in the backcountry and spam fried rice while car camping.
They used the biggest modules they could fit in a Shuttle. Or fit in a rocket fairing if they could fly themselves. That meant being stuck with 4.5m wide cans. The old Salyut stations were single modules, then MIR was a big modular one to get more space, crew, power, equipment, etc, and ISS is the evolution of that idea.
Skylab was a huge volume because they used a Saturn upper stage. Some new stations will have bigger single modules, like Orbital Reef and Voyager, because of the bigger fairing sizes on Starship and New Glenn. Inflatables are a little annoying to build out inside and they still need some dev work, so a lot of the next gen stations are big cans that might have some inflatable modules on the sides.
The cronyism feels unavoidable right now, but it doesn't seem like the new stations are as grifty as a lot of other programs across the government. Axiom, Vast, Voyager, and Blue have all been working on their concepts, and even some fabrication, since before this administration, and they aren't just random new shell corps with like Don Jr as CEO. You could argue that Axiom has a ton of connections to JSC and Blue has some powerful lobbying, but that's very different from the scams going on in other agencies.
The eclipse photo might be my favorite from the mission so far. That's an incredible shot.