“By providing a basic FAQ addressing what are expected to be the most common questions asked by persons new to the sci.space.* heirarchy and/or those regulars who are only now finding out about the tragedy, it is hoped that the degradation of the groups’ signal-to-noise ratio that usually follows events of this nature will be curtailed to a tolerable level, as well as hopefully reduce the level of baseless and unfounded speculation that tragic events such as the loss of Columbia tend to foster.” —STS-107 “Columbia” Loss FAQGoogleGroups)

An Internet community devoted to space science posted this FAQ page in order to protect itself against the inevitable rush of newbies. Note — this FAQ page seems to have been compiled in advance of the onslaught of questions, which means that in this case, perhaps FAQ stands for “Fearfully Anticipated Questions”? (Found via Robot Wisdom.)

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Dennis G. Jerz

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