by Richard R.
Back in the mid-1970s, I worked in the facility in
Sunnyvale that developed and produced the High Temperature Reusable Surface
Insulation (HRSI) tiles that covered two-thirds of the surface area of a Space
Shuttle. We had made about a dozen very special fragile tiles that were kept in
a locked cabinet awaiting shipment to NASA. On the day we were prepping them
for delivery, one of the workers suddenly got a funny look on his face and said
he had to go home right away. When queried as to why, he confided that he had
taken one of these delicate tiles home for his son to take to school for
"show and tell." Fortunately, he found it safe on the teacher's desk,
although it did have a few tiny fingerprints on its delicate surface.
