|
John Epstein arrives
Our hangtest
is tentatively scheduled for December 6, although it may very likely be
pushed to the next day. The storm really took a toll on
everyone's progress and it may take a couple more days to get ourselves
entirely dug out.
Back in town tonight, our mechanical engineer, John
"Poppy" Epstein finally arrived after a 4-day stint in
Christchurch. The storms kept all planes from arriving moving in
and out of the McMurdo area. It's really great to have John here
again. At age 67, he has more years of experience than many of us
have had on this planet. He started doing scientific balloon
flights when he joined the staff at Washington University in
1961. The TIGER flight in 2001 - 2002 was scheduled to be his
last flight before he retired, although none of us really believed
it. His incredible recovery of the
payload after that flight touched down could very well have been a
wonderful note to end on, but his love of the game has brought him
back. And it's lucky for us since he is a brilliant and hard
worker.
John designed almost every component of the TIGER
payload from a mechanical standpoint, so that it can function optimally
as a particle detector and be easily transported before and after
launch. John is here just in time to put the final touches on the
instrument before the hangtest and launch. And with any luck,
he'll be out on the Ice again to recover TIGER after it touches down
this time.
|
