On Mon, Feb 03, 2003 at 06:12:00PM -0800, Michael Wallis wrote:
> Hi ...
>
> Steve Traugott just called to say he and former ERPS member Ian Kluft
> are on the front page of today's SF Chronicle - talking about seeing
> Columbia pass overhead Saturday am on it way to history. It also talks
> about DC-X and other means of getting people to and from orbit.
It's been a hectic day. I had no idea why we were getting so much
media attention today until I went to the newspaper box tonight -- I
could see the headline from 20 feet away. I thought they would have
buried it somewhere in the middle of the section. (We're not exactly
"on" the front page; to be specific, we're both quoted later in the
lead front page story.)
The reporter misquoted me -- he thought I said some blather about "a
larger sheet" of tank insulation having been installed. What I said
was they "changed the composition or application" of the foam to
reduce the popcorning effect which Dittemore described. No worries --
I expected some level of mistranslation. I wrote him later telling
him it was a good article, and he apologized for his own
misunderstanding.
Our interest was in seeing that JSC was aware that trouble had been
spotted from the ground this early in the trajectory. I think what
Ian saw was likely burning hydraulic fluid or tires -- it's the only
thing which would create the volume of smoke he describes. Between
this article, JSC's call to me on Sunday, and the astronomy groups'
apparent release of the video to FOX today (I haven't seen it --
anyone?), I think we can say "mission accomplished".
Ian's writeup is at:
http://www.kluft.com/~ikluft/shuttle/sts107.html
Steve
--
Stephen G. Traugott (KG6HDQ)
UNIX/Linux Infrastructure Architect, TerraLuna Aerospace LLC
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.stevegt.com -- http://Infrastructures.Org
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