Entry 13 - The Sky Is Falling!

October 22, 2007

Entry 13 - Space Games Headquarters, Farmington, UT

Well, not fifteen minutes after we went back out on the field after deciding to stay (see our previous entry for more wonderful details!) ... the Kansas City Space Pirates went out on the field and were just about to clamp their climber on the tether when the tether itself snapped at the bottom. This has never happened before at the games.

Dan considred running again, but decided against it (most likely because he didn't want to be written about a second time in our entries). The end of the 400-foot long tether was whipping around in the wind some 200 feet away from the crane and 75 or 100 feet above the ground. Attached to the end of the tether was a large metal rectangular clamp that soon began to unfurl. After just a few seconds it flew off the end, tumbled through the air, hit the top of a lamp post (a one in a hundred shot, if you saw it), and flew down into the ground about four feet away from Travis, who was operating our boom mic.

You know, there's a funny thing about wearing hard hats while large metal objects are falling from the sky. When people shout "heads up!" ... you effectively remove your head protection by tilting your head back. Yesterday one of the MIT Tether Pull comeptition team members was hit in the shoulder by 3/4 inch nut that fell from 400 feet. not a pretty sight.

OK ... HAVE TO RUN!