As a kid I hated reading. Dreaded the weekly book report in school. Then I read the Andromeda Strain (about 5th or 6th grade) and couldn't put it down. It was the book that kicked off a love of reading, especially sci-fi. That book will always have a special place.

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A couple of images from the sample return landing this morning. As for the size of the Sample Return Capsule, here is a brief blurb on it from one of the NASA pages:

"SRC is a blunt-nosed cone, 81 centimeters in diameter, 50 centimeters tall and comprised of five principal components: the heat shield, back shell, sample canister, parachute system, and avionics. The total mass of the capsule is approximately 46 Kilograms."

So, it is a little less than three feet in diameter. It was later wrapped in a net/sling kind of thing and hoisted by helicopter back to the main 'base' there at the Utah Test Range and will later be taken to Houston.

Earl

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Earl L. Cagle, Jr.
NAR# 29523
TRA# 962
SAM# 73
Owner/Producer
Point 39 Productions

Rocket-Brained Since 1970

If they had said 'Piedmont, Arizona" I would have found the nearest fallout shelter with micron air filters and locked myself in until Andromeda had run its course...

Scott probably would've beaten me there, though...

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Dean Fox
NAR #53946SR

---- "Wherever you go, there you are"

I'm not having my blood turn to dust!

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Scott D. Hansen
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And I don’t think we want to slit your wrists to find out, either!

Earl

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Earl L. Cagle, Jr.
NAR# 29523
TRA# 962
SAM# 73
Owner/Producer
Point 39 Productions

Rocket-Brained Since 1970

I saw most of it on TV in the mid 70's, but missed the last part when my dad made me go to bed, probably so they could watch something else. He didn't much care for SF or pretty much anything I wanted to watch. I finally streamed the whole thing a few years ago. lol

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I love sanding.

I was pretty young when The Andromeda Strain came to theaters...one of the things I remember is that it was the first time I learned about post-mortem lividity...where blood pools at the lowest points of the body after death. The whole plot point of Andromeda "flash clotting" the blood in situ, and thus causing no "pooling" of blood (as the blood was no longer a fluid and couldn't seek the lowest level of blood vessels) was a whole new thing to me. I've seen countless references to such lividity since (many times on NCIS, for example --- RIP David McCallum), but The Andromeda Strain taught me about it for the first time.

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Dean Fox
NAR #53946SR

---- "Wherever you go, there you are"