What does this say about the space program?
Does it say that commercial entities can contribute significantly to the space program and should be welcomed for the financial input? Or does it say that serious space exploration is definitely dead, and cartoonish events like this are just demeaning?
I watched it live. It took the two space walkers a lot of time and a lot of effort to even get the shot off. I came away with a new sense of how difficult it is to do anything in a spacesuit in orbit, especially building a station. I'll bet the video from the other angle which will be used for the commercial will look really cool.
Was it a sign that serious trans-oceanic exploration was dead in 1520 when Magellan's men put on coconut masks, grass skirts, danced a jig, dunked each other overboard, and proclaimed themselves "members of the Order of Neptune" when they crossed the equator?
Oh lighten up!
Besides, Americans did it first. Alan Shepard became the first man to hit a golfball on the Moon on Febuary 6, 1971.