WHY is it newsworthy to know what song the astronauts woke up to?

[tanyev]

Every single day the talking heads at Good Morning America tell us, in their top headlines of the day, what song was played as a wake-up call for the astronauts on the space shuttle. They are even kind enough to let us listen to a bit of it. Yesterday, "Daniel" by Elton John. Today, "Good Day, Sunshine" by the Beatles. Don't alarm clocks work in space? Surely NASA could make a special commemorative alarm clock for each astronaut to keep as a souvenir of their flight. Arrrgh!

:rant:

[JVS]

1. "Space Oddity" by David Bowie

[SacredCow]

2. I don't remember which network it was....

that said yesterday's selection of "Daniel" was by John Denver....

I guess the fact checker wasn't awake, either.

[frankenforpres]

3. at least it is mildly inspiring

for kids to think about people in space. i think i would like to know that if i was young. beats the shit out of 99% of the stuff the networks cover anyway

[tanyev]

4. It would bother me less if they talked about it at the end of the show--

in the last 5 minutes when they always do "human interest" features. But to put it in their top headlines every morning? They're telling me that one of the most important things about the shuttle flight is what music some geek at NASA picked to play every morning? It seems unprofessional.

[woo me with science]

5. I like hearing about it.

I like to imagine I am an astronaut sometimes, and it's interesting to me what their day is like.

[XNASA]

6. It's a ritual more than anything.

Most of the astros are up early, before the wake-up call anyway.

I mean, wouldn't you be if you were floating in space?

[tanyev]

7. That's what I figured.

It's more a show for the viewing audience, than anything else. I just find it strange that I am breathlessly informed that one of the NK missiles was headed toward the water near Hawaii, a plot to blow up the Holland Tunnel has been disrupted, and that the astronauts were awakened to the sounds of "Good Day, Sunshine."

[XNASA]

8. "Good Day Sunshine" has been used countless times.

Sometimes an esoteric crew member might suggest something like Radiohead's "Fake Plastic Trees" which was actually used once during the last flight of Columbia.

But most of the time, it's pretty stupid.