Boaters gatecrash SpaceX's 1st splashdown with astronauts. 'We need to do better,' NASA chief says

The Apollo capsules generally splashed down in the Pacific Ocean a long way from land. I guess one drawback of having the SpaceX Dragon capsule splash down in the Gulf of Mexico not far from Pensacola meant that quite a few sightseers in boats wanted to get a close up look. Rather stupid behaviour by the boaters, not only were they impeding the recovery effort but some were getting so close to the capsule that they both risked an inadvertent collision and ran the risk of being exposed to toxic fumes from the Draco thrusters that had not yet been purged (the Draco thrusters use monomethyl hydrazine fuel which is toxic and carcinogenic in small amounts, and nitrogen tetroxide oxidizer which is also highly toxic) . “With limited assets available and with no formal authority to establish zones that would stop boaters from entering the area, numerous boaters ignored the Coast Guard crews’ requests and decided to encroach the area, putting themselves and those involved in the operation in potential danger,” the Coast Guard said in a statement, adding that it would launch a “comprehensive review” of the operation with NASA and SpaceX . They'll need to have better control of intruding boats for future missions. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/08/02/spacex-return-updates/

Calling the behavior of boaters "stupid" is not how I see it. For one thing you classify them as "boaters". If they were standing on the land would you call them "standers"? They are people and people are curious or perhaps even interested! I do not see how they impeded the recovery effort. The Coast Guard appeared to keep them out of danger to themselves and the recovery crew. They did their job! They just didn't like it.

Regardless of where the splashdowns occur, said splashdowns are made public. Finding out where the splashdown will take place is easy enough to do even if it were not made public information. I suppose if NASA/Space X wanted it to be unattended by onlookers or secret, they might try not even suggesting when/where a splashdown might occur. Huh, imagine that, not having instant media coverage to protect these programs, whoda thunk it? Rocket science?

As far as a risk of being exposed to carcinogenic toxins, perhaps these rocket scientists need to either NOT USE these carcinogens or find a way to eliminate the possibility of them being released (highly unlikely). But I guess if we leave it to rocket scientists to fix these issues we shouldn't hold our breath or perhaps we should! The final frontier is the next phase in places we are going to ruin with our garbage, just like they have within our own solar system. Either way it is a lose/lose endeavor. But name calling is always a solution isn't it?

Some things to think about, science for example. We are curious creatures. We begin by wonder and by examination. We innovate and invent and eventually we explore, we do so at great risk and human sacrifice. Science seems to have disproved the theory of creationism and the theory of evolution has determined that the earth was here long before "human" life.

In the few thousand years we have existed, even with all of our great discoveries, still we have thick and empty heads. We are going to colonize other orbs? Or at least we think we are going to. Some think that human life is going to exist forever so we are going to explore the universe. This is laughable at best.

What we are doing is interrupting, if ever so minutely the natural evolution of the universe with our toxins and poisons and space junk. What we are doing is getting in our own way. We are literally standing on our own neckties and trying to stand up at the same time. In this position, bent over, we are eventually going to "get it" in the end!

But no really, name-calling is always the right thing to do!

Admin said:

SpaceX's first splashdown of NASA astronauts on a Crew Dragon capsule was gatecrashed by private boaters on Aug. 2, 2020.

Boaters gatecrash SpaceX's 1st splashdown with astronauts. 'We need to do better,' NASA chief says : Read more

Gatecrash? Really?

Jenny said:

Calling the behavior of boaters "stupid" is not how I see it. For one thing you classify them as "boaters". If they were standing on the land would you call them "standers"? They are people and people are curious or perhaps even interested! I do not see how they impeded the recovery effort. The Coast Guard appeared to keep them out of danger to themselves and the recovery crew. They did their job! They just didn't like it.

Regardless of where the splashdowns occur, said splashdowns are made public. Finding out where the splashdown will take place is easy enough to do even if it were not made public information. I suppose if NASA/Space X wanted it to be unattended by onlookers or secret, they might try not even suggesting when/where a splashdown might occur. Huh, imagine that, not having instant media coverage to protect these programs, whoda thunk it? Rocket science?

As far as a risk of being exposed to carcinogenic toxins, perhaps these rocket scientists need to either NOT USE these carcinogens or find a way to eliminate the possibility of them being released (highly unlikely). But I guess if we leave it to rocket scientists to fix these issues we shouldn't hold our breath or perhaps we should! The final frontier is the next phase in places we are going to ruin with our garbage, just like they have within our own solar system. Either way it is a lose/lose endeavor. But name calling is always a solution isn't it?

Some things to think about, science for example. We are curious creatures. We begin by wonder and by examination. We innovate and invent and eventually we explore, we do so at great risk and human sacrifice. Science seems to have disproved the theory of creationism and the theory of evolution has determined that the earth was here long before "human" life.

In the few thousand years we have existed, even with all of our great discoveries, still we have thick and empty heads. We are going to colonize other orbs? Or at least we think we are going to. Some think that human life is going to exist forever so we are going to explore the universe. This is laughable at best.

What we are doing is interrupting, if ever so minutely the natural evolution of the universe with our toxins and poisons and space junk. What we are doing is getting in our own way. We are literally standing on our own neckties and trying to stand up at the same time. In this position, bent over, we are eventually going to "get it" in the end!

But no really, name-calling is always the right thing to do!

Jenny, just two points. 1) You said I "classified them as boaters". I was merely using the term from the original Space.com article which called them "boaters". It seems a pretty reasonable accurate description of people who are in boats and as far as I'm concerned is in no way a derogatory term, just as people on (bi)cycles are cyclists. :) 2) Perhaps "stupid" was too strong a term, but getting so close was not a sensible thing to do for the reasons stated, if somebody does something which isn't sensible how best to describe them, perhaps "thoughtless" or "ignorant"?