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From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Recent Newsstand Magazine Articles
Message-ID: <1991Jan2.015229.2177@zoo.toronto.edu>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <4280@mindlink.UUCP> <1991Jan1.195102.7391@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU>
Date: Wed, 2 Jan 91 01:52:29 GMT

In article <1991Jan1.195102.7391@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> lhb6v@faraday.clas.Virginia.EDU (Laura Hayes Burchard) writes:
>"... a NASA investigator has confirmed suspicions that the 
>astronauts were conscious of their fate, and that among the last words
>from the craft were those of one astronaut saying to another, "Give me
>your hand."

I would class this as somewhat improbable, given that the recorder was not
battery powered and hence lost power immediately when the breakup began.

Such a request also strikes me as seriously out of character for the sort
of people who become astronauts.  Yes, even Christa McAuliffe.

Much more likely is the suggestion that Smith's "uh-oh" was really more
along the lines of "oh shit", apparently the most common "last words" in
such situations.
-- 
"The average pointer, statistically,    |Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
points somewhere in X." -Hugh Redelmeier| henry@zoo.toronto.edu   utzoo!henry