Most of you probably don't remember. I don't, besides that I was
in residency. I bet you have no idea how close you came to dying
(it was 2 minutes). Or, if you didn't die, having your life
dramatically altered. A Black Brant is a type of goose. It's
also the name of a Canadian rocket routinely used for
atmospheric experiments. It's launched with a bunch of
instruments (depending on what's being studied) and the
instruments are monitored during the flight. They then parachute
back to Earth and are recovered for further data. Black Brants
are commonly used by Canada, the U.S., and several other
countries for research. And so it was on this day in 1995. A
team of U.S. and Norwegian scientists launched a Black Brant
from northwest Norway to study the Aurora Borealis. It contained
standard scientific instruments. But things - almost - went
horribly wrong. Routine notification of scientific and test
launches is customary, and this one was no exception. 30
countries were told, including Russia. But due to layers of