Gotta hand out a BZ to OnTrack Data Recovery for managing to get 99% of the data off the Colombia’s hard drive.
BZ to the drive manufacturer, too. Freefall through 39 miles (the as the rock drops stright down measurement, btw) of atmosphere, with and IV (initial velocity) of 12,500 mph…and bring back the info. Tough stuff.
Update 5/8/2008: Just pointed out by a friend, but…it’s about the HD that fell from heaven…
And he said, when the lines were singled: “You did everything I’d do, but 30 seconds later.”
It is a real statement made to me, after morring at Naval Weapons Station, Yorktown, VA for an offload of ordnance.
about 45 minutes earlier, Captain Maixner asked “Have you ever taken one (SPRUANCE Class DD) to the pier without tugs?”
What brought this stroy back from the memory banks is the current events…of how one can sit and listen to someone for 20+ years, then decide what is being said is depicable…
More later…work calls…but…it is a good story about life aboard a Navy vessel…