This is an amazing story

[Category 5]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081003/ap_ ... ut_s_diary

The location where it was found is the ultimate irony.

[Cyclenall]

I don't understand what the irony is in this one. What is special about the field in Texas? What is remarkable is how it survived.

[TYNI]

I don't understand what the irony is in this one. What is special about the field in Texas? What is remarkable is how it survived.

Just outside Palestine, Texas ...

re: the Israeli/Palestinian conflicts of the past, if I'm not mistaken.

[bvigal]

"The diary belonged to Ilan Ramon, Israel's first astronaut and one of seven crew members killed when Columbia disintegrated upon re-entering the atmosphere on Feb. 1, 2003....
A little over two months after the shuttle explosion, NASA searchers found 37 pages from Ramon's diary, wet and crumpled, in a field just outside the U.S. town of Palestine, Texas. The diary survived extreme heat in the explosion, extreme atmospheric cold, and then "was attacked by microorganisms and insects" in the field where it fell, said museum curator Yigal Zalmona.

"It's almost a miracle that it survived — it's incredible," Zalmona said. There is "no rational explanation" for how it was recovered when most of the shuttle was not, he said."

This is truly amazing. Thanks for posting it for us!