Today's Daily Schadenfreude: NASA
As you may know if you've been reading Blast Off! for a while, I never miss an opportunity to pile on Brevard County. I'm pleased to have the opportunity again, for the second time in a week. Not only that, but it's my first chance to honor the partial inspiration for the very name of this blog.Our pals at NASA, up at the Kennedy Space Center north of Cocoa Beach, have a teensy literacy problem.
The first NASA sign at launch pad 39A encouraging the next launch of space shuttle Endeavour at Kennedy Space Center was misspelled and noticed by someone looking at the craft.
When the shuttle rolled out from the Vehicle Assembly Building Wednesday, a giant "Go Endeavour" sign was put on a fence in front of the craft.
However, one item was missing from the sign: the "u" in Endeavour.
[...]
The orbiter is named after HM Bark Endeavour, the ship commanded by 18th century explorer James Cook; the name also honored Endeavour, the Command Module of Apollo 15. This is why the name is spelled in the British English manner, according to Answers.com.
See, this is what schadenfreude is all about. How the hell do you misspell the name of the friggin' shuttle? The name is printed on the wing, for Jeebus' sake! All you have to do is look at it. It's not that difficult, is it? I mean, it's not rocket science, y'know?[rimshot]
Really, sometimes I don't know whether it's funny or just really, really sad. But one thing I do know is that it's schadenfreude! And so I'm pleased to congratulate NASA: today's Blast Off! Daily Schadenfreude is for you!
(click on image at left for larger version, showing the correctly-spelled name of the shuttle right on the friggin' wing ... and, yes, since it's Brevard County, it's the right wing)
Labels: Brevard County, Endeavour, NASA, schadenfreude, space shuttle, spelling
posted by Sinfonian at 6:04 PM
