It's not my problem

Last September, I went to a party where I met a guy who was in aerospace. I thought that was pretty cool, so I asked, "What exactly do you do in the aerospace field?" He says, "I design deceleration systems for when space probes enter atmospheres. It's kind of tricky."

I was pretty impressed. Being kinda' up on science news, I mentioned the genesis Space Probe was about to come back to earth. The genesis was satellite designed to collect solar particles in space, and then come back so scientists could study pure pieces of the sun here on earth. Mission controllers got worried that even a regular landing, at the speed of parachute, might be enough to damage the collectors, so the hired a team of hollywood stunt pilots to catch the descending probe in mid-air with a big hook, suspended under a chopper. They would then lower the probe to earth very, very gently.

The fellow said, "I didn't work on that project, so if something goes wrong, it's not my problem." I laughed. A week or so later, the genesis space probe entered the earth's atmosphere, and it's deceleration systems failed. The hollywood stunt pilots watched from their choppers, as genesis fell at terminal velocity from space - stopping abruptly when it smashed into the Nevada desert.

What poor rocket scientist was actually responsible for that? I never found out that tidbit, but I do sort of wonder where he's working now. Yesterday there was a happy ending of sorts...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4313611.stm