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Video: On orbit Intro for U2's "Its a Beautiful Day"

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
June 6, 2011
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Keith’s 5 June note : According to U2’s official YouTube site: U2 delivered a surprise to the crowds at Quest Field, Seattle last night with a video message from Commander Mark E. Kelly. Bono dedicated ‘Beautiful Day’ to Gabby Giffords, before asking, “Imagine a man looking down on us from 200 miles up. Looking down at our beautiful crowded planet… What would he say to us…? What is on your mind Commander Kelly?” Commander Kelly, on a 16-day mission with the Endeavour crew, recorded the message aboard the International Space Station, “Hello Seattle… from the International Space Station.” Before finishing on a line from David Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’ : “I’m looking forward to coming home. Tell my wife I love her very much… she knows.”
Keith’s 6 June 9:20 am update : More videos: Audience video with Bono’s intro.; Nice view from close to the stage; another view from the lower level; and another view from close up. This version includes Mark Kelly reciting some of the lyrics of the song.
What possesed these people who were in the audience to post this particular segment of the song to YouTube? There is a NASA astronaut in the video – so why hasn’t NASA done so yet? Oh well, I am told they will do so later. Given the agency’s habit of blocking YouTube some NASA employees won’t be able to see this until they get home.
Reader note: “Actually, JSC is not blocking access to YouTube videos (as long as they are not of an “adult” nature, I suppose). What happens is that a warning window with a yellow header shows up, warning the user that NASA has not “evaluated the content of this page” (or something like that). That’s what you see in the NASA Watch page every time you post a YouTube video, or a link to it. However, if you click on the “Proceed” button, it’ll let you go ahead to the site. Some people get intimidated by this warning window, though.”
Keith’s 9:30 update NASA has now posted something on Facebook and Twitter. I have to wonder why JSC did not bother to inform NASA Headquarters about something of this magnitude. Someone at JSC had to approve the video shooting in the first place. Typical NASA – no one talks to anyone else – everyone is in charge – and no one is in charge. Oh well: it is a cool video – you must play it loud.

U2360* has worked with NASA and the International Space Station throughout this tour – having previously linked up with Belgian astronaut Commander Frank De Winne, Michael Barratt of NASA, Bob Thirsk of the Canadian Space Agency, Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and Gennady Padalka and Roman Romanenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency as well as Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte during his visit to the International Space Station.

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.