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re: School Project:What do you remember....
Gary — (archived)

I was in Goettingen, Germany working as an evening volunteer for the university's Classics Department. My day job was as an aerospace engineer working for the German Aerospace Authority (DFVLR). I was working with a university professor identifying and cataloging ancient coins. The building's janitor knew I was an aerospace engineer and came into the coin collection room to break the news. He told us both "auf Deutsch" about the disaster. I knew something awful had happened but wasn't certain (my German was and still is pretty terrible). The professor repeated the janitor's news in English. The janitor was convinced it was sabotage. I corrected him. I told him that the Shuttle was a complex system and sabotage was an unlikely possibility. I knew the accident would have a major impact upon the Space Program. However I was not really surprised that it had happened. A couple years earlier, I had seen Challenger when it was under construction in Palmdale, California. I walked through its cargo bay and chatted with the people who actually built Challenger. Challenger was somebody that I knew personally.

Gary

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