I think it’s a stretch to interpret it as petty when it probably just gave Trip a bit of focus and let his 8 year old nephew shout like “that’s my uncle!” or something. Real life astronauts get asked these questions all the time and they’re practically deified in our culture.
That trackpad was a game changer for playing KB+M games with a controller, but to be honest sometimes I really miss the right joystick. The trackpad can fake it, but it’s not the same.
If they ever do another standalone controller I’d want it to be like a screen-less Deck. Both joysticks and trackpads and a couple more grips.