In article <5f2ca7$1g7@nntp5.u.washington.edu>, Rolf Aalto
writes

>In article ,
>Helmut Faugel TE wrote:
>>On Tue, 25 Feb 1997, Thomas Edward Witte wrote:
>>> [..]
>>> I rolled ontop of the F5 for about 30yards.
>>
>>I joined a simular situation with my Minolta X-700. I think rolling
>>ontop of camera is not the same stress as if the are going into the air.
>
>Well I happen to work for NASA. The other day I was outside updating
>optics/electronics on the Hubble Space Telescope and, since the view was
>great, brought along both my Nikon F5 and EOS 1n (the latter, of course,
>provided by NASA's Earth Observing System program). After taking a few
>shots, I clipped them onto the end of the control arm, and completed my
>work.
>
>Unfortunately, when returning to the shuttle cabin, I forgot to retreive
>my cameras, and they ended up dangling outside the cargo bay on their long
>teather. Since we had to begin our descent immediately to follow the
>proper flight path, we closed the doors and fired up the main engines for
>descent. Looking at the external video monitor, I saw they had slid aft,
>and were both roasting in the engine exhaust. The straps promply vaporized,
>and both cameras entered the atmosphere on trajectories similar to ours.
>
>NASA flight control tracking systems show that the heaver F5 bored through
>the atmosphere at a much higher velocity than the lighter EOS 1n. The F5
>eventually impacted a private residence outside of Las Vegas at approximately
>350mph, killing two residence and maiming a third. I had left the set-focus
>distance auto trigger on in the F5, and it snapped a shot of the victims a
>mere fraction of a second before the tragic accident. The 3-D color
>matrix evaluative exposure choose exactly the right shutter speed and
>aperture -- details are tack-sharp, exposure is perfect, and the attached
>SB-26 flash provided balanced fill flash for shadow detail. Unfortunately, t
he
>victim's lawyer has obtained these pictures, and NASA stands to loose the
>case as a result. Besides that, the F5's internal shutter diagnostics show
>that the shutter speed is no longer properly calibrated.
>
>On the other hand, the lighter EOS 1n deployed it`s built-in, auto-pop-up
>flash umbrella (special NASA modification), and drifted gently down to
>earth in downtown Las Vegas, where it bounced gently off the pavement into
>the suprised hands of none other than Siegfried, of Siegfried and Roy.
>Siegfried inadvertently snapped a few shots of Roy's performance, catching, b
y
>the dint of the 1n's rapid autofocus and fast f1.0 lens, Roy performing
>a trickly sleight-of-hand manuever. Siegfried has agreed to pay NASA an
>undisclosed sum to keep these photos out of general circulation, thus
>partially compensating the cost of the F5 lawsuit.
>
>As you might expect, NASA now has a policy of only allowing polycarbonate
>cameras on future shuttle missions.