"Thomas"

"Thomas", with its makers plate enlarged as an inset.

By 8 am a group of photographers had gathered next to several ancient NASA buses in the News Center car park.

When I say bus, think 1950's or early 1960's, not your modern coach. Luxury is not a word one can ever link with NASA. The bus we most commonly used was made by a company called Thomas, and proudly displayed its manufacturer's nameplate. I dubbed it "Thomas the Tank Engine" after the children's story and in honour of Australian born NASA astronaut Andy Thomas. Like its namesakes, this bus was very experienced and kept on going.

To my surprise the drivers were sometimes older than the buses, and had been driving them since they were new. One of our drivers had been with NASA since its formation, and had seen all of the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Shuttle missions, not to mention countless unmanned ones.

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Text, images and audio Copyright to Andrew Rennnie, 2010