>live coverage of US spacewalks

...unless something odd appears in the background of the feed, then the coverage will mysteriously shut off for a while.

(Comment is a nod to the UFOlogists who claim this happens any time an ISS camera catches an unusual object or light in its feed)

Sounds like the "light cone" idea - that information hasn't reached a place yet.

I suspect the objection is that with the age of the Universe and potentially life-supporting star systems there should be advanced civs from well before us whose "light cone" of evidence has reached us.

The objection to THAT being, given possible differences in perceptions of time or lifespans between us and 'them', it could be we are all "ships in the night" missing each other by wide margins. Overwhelming radio evidence may have bathed our planet for a century...while the Roman Empire pushed north toward the British Isles.

Another civ may transmit loud and clear very frequently - by that they mean, once every 400 of our years.

Or they are aquatic or live under haze and don't actually know about space or other stars. Or their own star.

In the defense of many, when 'Starship Troopers' was released in theatres, the promos / trailers for it, ALL promoted it as a straight-up aci-fi action flick, "the next Star Wars".

I would be astounded if anyone went to see it knowing it was meant to be satire, with the marketing job the studio did.