They're On The Launch Pad -- Start Counting Down

The following newspaper article appeared in Florida Today on November 20, 1996, when I still worked at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory:

Activists Vow to Stop 1997 Cassini Launch
By Todd Halvorson

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Anti-nuclear activists pledged Tuesday to wade across alligator-infested swamps and parachute onto a launch pad to stop the planned launch next year of a NASA plutonium-powered spacecraft....

Very shortly thereafter, the following "advertisement" circulated throughout NASA's e-mail system:

WANTED TO BUY: 10,000 alligators. No reasonable offer refused. Transportation costs negotiable.

Naturally, the "activists" failed, Cassini launched, and it's currently returning fabulous photos and research data from Saturn as this is being posted.

Posted June 21, 2005 10:58 AM

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