So, who welded the space shuttle?

Imagine the thrill of working on one of the highest technologies ever produced. That's the job of the welders at Lockheed-Martin's Michoud, Louisiana Assembly Plant. But since the 2003 Columbia tragedy, those guys have been working under a cloud, since it's there that the foam that caused the accident was applied.

According to the Houston Chronicle, workers there were elated at the launch of Discovery, but "shaken" by the detached foam that fell as the shuttle launched.

It took only a few hours for welder Dwaine Payne to swing from euphoria to despair over Tuesday's shuttle launch.

Payne has worked at Lockheed-Martin's Michoud Assembly Plant for 29 years, and has helped build the external fuel tank for every space shuttle launched. So when video of Tuesday's launch revealed a large piece of foam insulation shearing off the tank during launch — not unlike the incident that resulted in Columbia's destruction in 2003 — Payne took it personally.

"I watched the launch with everyone at the plant Tuesday morning," Payne recalled. "That was fantastic!

"At the time everybody was just elated," said the 50-year-old production welder. "A lot of people were crying. It touched everybody, because we had been down for two and a half years."

See the article over at the Chronicle website...