[Az-Geocaching] NASA in mourning

[listserv@azgeocaching.com]

Yeah, Andromeda Strain, that's what I had in mind! (And Star Trek....)
Thanks Jim for the reminder about the Space Program(s). That's why my original note mentioned "mourning" as in sad it had a problem rather than critical of the whole adventure.
Well, I guess I was a BIT critical about the darn CHUTE, seems like that is a minor part of a 4 year mission and to have THAT fail after all that was done...well, sad AND critical!

Trisha 
Lightning

----- Original Message -----
From: Jim Scotti <jscotti@pirl.lpl.Arizona.EDU>
Date: Wed, 8 Sep 2004 15:14:55 -0700 (MST)
To: listserv@azgeocaching.com
Subject: Re: [Az-Geocaching] NASA in mourning

> While talking about the Genesis mission a week or two ago, a couple friends
> and I reminded ourselves that this is "Project Scoop".  If that sounds
> familiar, it should if you are a sci-fi fan - a young Michael Crichton wrote
> the novel that the 1971 movie "The Andromeda Strain" was based on.  It's been
> a couple years since I last saw that movie - I need to go rent it.  It is
> about an unmanned U.S. spacecraft that lands near Peidmont Arizona (is that a
> real place?  I should go visit there if so!) with some unknown biohazard that
> wipes out all but two of the citizens of the small town.  Excellent story and
> gave me the creeps the first time I saw it when I was about 11 or 12,
> especially when the first team rolls into poor ol' Peidmont and discovers all
> the dead residents....
> 
> Seriously, though, there were some potential hazards on Genesis that needed
> to be addressed before they can finish recovering the remains of the
> spacecraft, all of them man-made.  First, there is a pyrotechnic mortar
> device that apparently did not fire that would have deployed the drogue chute
> - it was presumably still live and would need to be safed.  Also there are
> some batteries on board that could have leaked hazardous material and perhaps
> a few other items that went unmentioned in the press conference this morning.  
> They had contingency procedures already in place that they unfortunately had
> to dust off and make use of, so they'd already thought about this scenario.  
> I did see one guy with a mask on as he approached the spacecraft.  Not the
> first guy, though.
> 
> Jim.
> 
> On Wed, 8 Sep 2004 trisha@brasher.com wrote:
> 
> > Agreed with all of that. I watched the video also. I especially liked the
> > first guy on the scene, carefully edging up to it, half crouching....I'm
> > thinking....does the guy need a special suit to approach that thing that
> > was just in space?
> > (Too Much Star Trek!)
> > Trisha
> > 
> 
> Jim Scotti
> Lunar & Planetary Laboratory
> University of Arizona
> Tucson, AZ 85721 USA                 http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~jscotti/    
> 
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