Change in Outer Space: One Small Tweet for Mankind

A recent magazine ad for HP  reads:

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[Picture of astronaut.]

INTERNET IN

SPACE.

YES, SPACE.

When the International Space Station needed an internet connection, they talked to HP.  So despite the obvious challenges posed by their location, in space, astronauts can now surf the web, send email and, yes, update Twitter while in orbit.

Network your world at HP.com/go/space.

LET'S DO AMAZING  [HP logo]

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Hmmm... After rereading the ad, I thought about this for a bit and have a few questions and concerns...

It says the International Space Station needed an internet connection.  And that they talked to HP.  But, it doesn't say HP was the one that provided the solution, or, the only one capable of providing a solution- although the ad may like you to infer that.  I may be over analyzing, but that part doesn't really matter to me anyway...

It says astronauts can now surf the web, send email, and use Twitter while in orbit.  But, it doesn't say why the International Space Station needed an internet connection in the first place.  THAT, is my big question and concern...

I could understand a need for the International Space Station to need internet access for faster communications... or to look up the address for Mars... and I could understand the need for an astronaut to send his/her family an email to boost morale when they cannot catch that outdated wireless phone floating around... I just hope the need for internet in outer space wasn't so an astronaut could use Twitter.  Not that I don't believe in freedom of communication and the pursuit of tweets for all... I would just like to believe there are more serious things to take care of in space...

Don't get my wrong, I love outer space and the idea of "following" an astronaut in outer space is novel... reading hypothetical tweets like, "Just ate a delicious freeze-dried sandwich," or, "Totally blacked out on the moon last night," or even those cry-out-for-help tweets like, "I'm sick and tired of floating wanderously through life... I gotta get outta this space!"

As marvelous as that may be... it seems rather unnecessary... at least to me.

When HP says "Let's Do Amazing" with their slogan, I hope they're referring to more important and amazing things then tweeting in outer space...

If not, I'd say HP is one small tweet for man, and one giant twat for all mankind...

But what do I know... I'm just an Earthling...