Commentary by Samuel Strait – June 23, 2023 While this article seems a bit out of the ordinary for this reporter, it is something that has occupied my time for the last couple of weeks and has some interest to all that occupy this place we call "Earth". Since the 1960's the Federal government has been experimenting with high speed projectiles in a vacuum. When I say high speed, I mean five times the speed of a rifle bullet, or approximately 5 kilometers per second. For us in this Country, it means about 5/8ths of a mile in one second. Pretty impressive. While the Ames Vertical Gun Range is but a small part of the NASA Research Center, it is where I found myself participating in a series of experiments involving the "gun" shooting projectiles at meteorites in a vacuum chamber. Dr. George Flynn and his team have been conducting these firings twice a year of a week's duration for the past twenty five years to collect data on each visit to the AVGR. The purpose is to determine the amount of energy required to deflect large space objects without shattering them from their impending collision with planet Earth. Historically there have been few catastrophic impacts on Earth while occupied by humans, perhaps less than five or six, yet that does not mean we can avoid them altogether. In the distant past, large objects from space have been known to have impacted the Earth causing wide spread damage and even climate altering episodes. The object of Dr. Flynn's work is to supply data from his impact experiments to safely supply data which can be used to intercept such future objects with a missile that does not shatter the object, but alters its trajectory to avoid impacting on planet Earth. Myself, a lowly assistant, Dr. Flynn, Dr. Melissa Strait, and Technical Assistant Taylor Pytet suspended various meteorites in a vacuum chamber to be shot by the Vertical Gun at approximately 5 km/sec. Each shot took but a few seconds, but the prep work lasted about two hours for each shot. Over the course of a week we managed eighteen shots of which all produced data except one. We set a lab record by managing five shots in one twelve hour session. Each session began at 4:45 in the am and concluded ten to twelve hours later. The gun crew of the AVGR was provided by the Research Center who have been keeping the gun operational for years. Chuck, the supervisor, Freddie, and Tom operated the gun, and JP Wiems was our data and photo wizard. Great team and a pleasure to work with for our time in Mountain View. After a week of exhausting labor the crew and I took in one of the Bay Area's three aircraft museums before sending Dr. Flynn by air to Arizona to report on our labors, and Taylor back to the east Coast. All in all it was a most interesting time to actually work in a NASA facility and earn the title as "Defender of the Earth". The ceremony not to be missed. As an aside, San Francisco is as advertised, a mess, but outlying areas remain mostly civilized. Crime is an issue and certain care should be taken. We drove to the facility via Highway 101 through downtown San Francisco, but elected to return at least part of the way along beautiful Highway 1. Weekend drives along the southern end of Highway 1 must contend with hoards of bicycles riders who seem to think they own the road. Makes for exciting driving on the narrow winding parts of the highway. In any event, it was great to return home to catch up on missed sleep and the welcome serenity of rural California. No pounding on hotel doors by frantic women in the middle of the night, or police chasing naked women in the parking lot at four o'clock in the morning. Somehow this is not this reporter's idea of entertainment, but what can one expect out of Governor Newsom's Progressive Paradise in the third world of California's urban centers.