Okay Paul, I'll fess up to not being a rocket scientist and any error re: the speed of light. However, my Dad was a real rocket scientist for a time (1951-1955); X-7, Mach 3, Lockheed, Holoman AFB (I was born in Alamagordo, NM). I guess it just didn't rub off on me!

Short story: My Dad used to call Duck Tape "Mach 3 tape". On a test launch (the X-7 was carried aloft under a B-29 and launched at altitude), someone forgot to remove duck tape used temporarily to hold something in place. The launch went haywire, and when they recovered the vehicle from the dunes of White Sands, they found that the friggin' tape held up against Mach 3 pressures, amazing everyone.

Another quicky: The X-7 had an extremely long, slim nose piece so it would stick up out of the sand after impact and the casing suffer minimal damage. They used Jeeps, Half Tracks and choppers to find 'em. There was a 2' water main running across the desert to supply water to Alamagordo. Would you believe that on one test launch, the missile hit that water main on impact? All that desert, and it managed to hit that 2' pipe! Murphy's law at its finest!

SGE