I couldn’t disagree more completely with both of your sentiments. These aren’t rubes like me out with a cell phone camera. They were professionals, and some of what they were doing was very good work.
But it is dangerous. No doubt about it. Mountain climbers are doing it for themselves. These guys may have been doing it for much the same reason, but it yielded more than a picture on a mountaintop.
Excellent comparison. As I mentioned in another post...they were like astronauts in a sense. They loved what they did...but it was dangerous and it was beneficial to humanity. Glenn and Shepard strapped on the rocket for the ride...but also to find out what space was like. Samaras was there for the tornado...but also to figure out what made it tick.