I've always loved Penn Jilette's account of attending a space shuttle launch:
https://web.archive.org/web/20221026023636/https://www.tumbl...
$ w3m -dump https://web.archive.org/web/20221026023636/https://www.tumblr.com/symftr/5987695109/nasas-successful-quantifying-of-comedy-timing-by > wayback.txt > I finagled my way onto Rockwell's V.I.P. bus for my next
> few shuttle launches. My first Rockwell party before a launch, I thought I had
> been around. I'd seen a few launches, I'd hung with the Good Sams. I had seen a
> few go up. I was chatting. I was asking people, "Have you ever seen a night
> launch before?" One guy answered, "Not from the outside, no." You have to be
> careful about trying to be cool at a Rockwell party.