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 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/ > > ____________________________________________________________ > Az-Geocaching mailing list listserv@azgeocaching.com > To edit your setting, subscribe or unsubscribe visit: > http://listserv.azgeocaching.com/mailman/listinfo/az-geocaching > > Arizona's Geocaching Resource > http://www.azgeocaching.com