I don't remember this much excitement over the 2004 landings. This is pure speculation, but I would like to think the Internet is partly responsible for this shift. It provides a more democratic way of deciding (as a culture) what is important and newsworthy.
There's that, and also that this is a pretty interesting landing compared to previous landing methods. There's been a lot of hype over just the landing gear. I've got non-techie friends who are tuning in just to see the engineering feat.
I find myself more excited because of the complexity of this task. 7 minutes of terror? Rockets fighting Gs while crane is lowering the vehicle down? All done by computer with none help from humans (as you know in flying computers are awesome at straight flying (autopilot) but horrible on landing, something here seems to be all about).
Looking forward seeing this mission succeed. And wouldn't be surprise to see some of those grownup man at the cockpit letting some loose. I know if I was in charge of this mission, I would pee all over myself, if succeed!
