Yeah, I thought this would be my asteroid post, but it seems like I don't understand binary either!<br /><br />However, I am going to link John Young, landing the Orbiter, and my experiences in a particularly pleasing way (to me at least) in what should have been my asteroid post.<br /><br />Some who recall my occasional rantings on here will remember I was going to a space exhibition at NZ's national museum earlier this year. Part of this exhibition involved what turned out to be a glorified video game whereby you attempted to land the Orbiter back at KSC. Although I thought a did a pretty fair job, I didn't get wheels down until at least half way down the runway, then proceeded (with the help of a pathetically unresponsive joystick) to lift the nose up again. Had this been a real landing, they would have been picking a couple of SSME's off the tarmac. An American voice then informed me I had 'tanked' the landing.<br /><br />However, the undoubted highlights of the exhibition for me were a collection of items in two small glass cases. The first contained a piece of moon rock, encased in a sphere of plastic I guess, gifted to the people of NZ from the people of the US. It was from Apollo 17, and the certificate was signed by Nixon. It case also contained a small NZ flag which apparently also flew on that mission.<br /><br />The second glass case had another of the same small NZ flags (poorly screenprinted, NASA should look for a better supplier for those!), along with a certificate to say it had flown on STS-1. The certificate was signed by the aforementioned John Young and Bob Crippen. Another gift from the people of the US to us over here. I have to say, absolutely awe-inspiring to see those items. I would have taken photos but they seemed quite neo-nazi about doing that, which was disappointing as it wasn't like you could buy postcards with those items on at the gift shop.<br /><br />So, there you have it. Bad landings and John Young all in one post! Sorry for <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em><font size="2" color="#ff0000">Who is this superhero? Henry, the mild-mannered janitor ... could be!</font></em></p><p><em><font size="2">-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</font></em></p><p><font size="5">Bring Back The Black!</font></p> </div>