Memorial Day thoughts: Veterans, space probes, and a CSI Fellow

In the many years I’ve been working with the College of Fellows, I often have considered writing about the Fellows who served in World War II and other conflicts. Given the years the US was involved in WWII (1941-1945) and in the Korean War (1950-1953), it’s not surprising that many of the early Fellows served. I usually think about this in April or May, just before Memorial Day, but a more appropriate time would be Veterans Day, which honors everyone who has served. 

This year, I again thought about writing an article about Fellows who served, and again wrote nothing. I did post Memorial Day profile and cover photos on Facebook, though, and the photo of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial reminded me of an interesting way the people named on that wall were honored. 

On 7 February 1999, NASA’s Stardust space probe was launched from Cape Canaveral. This mission was designed to collect interstellar dust, collect dust from the comet Wild 2, and return the capsule of samples to Earth. The mission required three orbits of the sun, visiting comet Annefrank in 2002, capturing samples from Wild 2 in 2004, and returning the samples to Earth in 2006. The probe itself remained in space, put into hibernation after the samples were delivered. It was reactivated in 2007 as Stardust/NExT, then sent to visit another comet in 2011, after which it was shut down permanently. The probe remains in orbit, but the capsule containing the samples is on display at the Smithsonian.

Late in 1997, The Planetary Society, working with JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), collected names to be placed on a microchip that would be mounted inside Stardust. 136,000 names were collected and etched onto the chip. The “Send Your Name to a Comet” drive was so popular that more names were collected. The first chip had already been mounted in the probe, so a second one was created. Two copies of each chip were made; one pair is in the capsule at the Smithsonian, along with a list of all the names on the chips, and the other pair will remain in orbit about the Sun for a very long time.

“That’s interesting,” you’re thinking, “but what does that have to do with Memorial Day?”

Among the names etched into one of each pair of chips are the names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall. The names on the chips in the probe will remain in solar orbit, honoring the fallen forever.

Finally, to tie this back to CSI, the names etched into the chips also include Robert E. Vansant, Distinguished Member, FCSI, Class of 1970.

Vansant is one of my favorite Fellows. Although I never met him, he was an important influence in my early days as an architect. He wrote a column that appeared in A/E Concepts in Wood Design (a wonderful magazine!) and other places, titled "Vansant’s Law,” which he used to discuss bidding, site conditions, change orders, site safety, liquidated damages, arbitration, the infamous stopping of the Work, and various other specifications issues.

In 2010, Vansant became the subject of an article I wrote in October 2010, titled “The Price of Gold.” Briefly, Vansant’s CSI medals appeared on eBay, with no indication of whose medals they were. The College of Fellows bought the medals and sent them to the CSI office for public display. How this happened is an interesting story, I encourage you to read it online at https://swconstructivethoughts.blogspot.com/2010/10/price-of-gold.html.