The Last One

[Jolly]

And it may have just been sent to the boneyard...

Link to video

[Copper]

I knew the guy who invented that Pegasus rocket launched from the belly of the L-1011. Before that he worked on the Space Shuttle avionics.

I checked him out in our flight school simulator and flew with him. He has several degrees from MIT.

[Jolly]

Did he seem "normal"? That's a lot of smart in one package.

[Copper]

Yes, he is a good guy. He has a sense of humor, a friendly guy. He likes telling the story of how he got the idea for the Pegasus in a hotel lobby across the street from the Smithsonian Udvar-Hazy museum. Which, by coincidence, is now the home of a Pegasus rocket.

My primary care physician, back in Herndon, was another MIT product. Before med school, he was on the team that sat in a back room in Houston calculating orbital paths for the Apollo spacecraft. He was another guy I could spend a lot of time talking with, very friendly and full of interesting information.

I think really smart guys tend to be normal, with maybe a few quirks.