The return to space by the United States’ aeronautics and space administration shuttle program this week was a certainly popular event, shattering records for the number of visitors viewing video streams of NASA TV during the launch.

Yahoo and Akamai Technologies – both NASA media partners – reported a peak in active video streams of 433,000 around launch time. In comparison, the Deep Impact mission on July 4 mustered 118,000 streams, and during the Mars exploration rover landings in January, just under 50,000 visitors watched.

"We've always known there was tremendous global interest in the U.S. space program, and this Web traffic confirms it," said David Mould, NASA's assistant administrator for public affairs.

An Alexa.com search reveals a sharp increase in the site’s daily reach per million on the date of the recent shuttle launch.

Throughout the launch and liftoff the shuttle, the space agency reports that data was being send out at a rate of more than 50 gigabits per second.

“This audience far exceeded our expectations and would have overwhelmed our previous capabilities,� said William Readdy, NASA's associate administrator for space operations.