Spotlights on BEACON

Confessions of a Lifelong Space Enthusiast with Dr. Marc Rayman

BY SARA BOND

Earlier this year, we had the pleasure of hosting Dr. Marc Rayman, the JPL chief engineer for mission operations and science, at the JPL Library. He gave a talk called “Confessions of a Lifelong Space Enthusiast” that focused on his space memorabilia collection. We recorded the talk and have made it available on JPL Tube here. After his talk, I had the chance to ask, if you had to choose any item in your collection to take with you in an emergency, what would it be?

Dr. Rayman:

“There are so many things in my collection that mean a lot to me, if it were destroyed, I'd be devastated. However, years ago, just for the sake of being definite and not being slowed by indecision in an emergency, I decided it would be:

- my NASA medals,

- a framed certificate from when I was in the second grade showing I supported space exploration by saving up to buy a savings bond, and

- my file of autographs.

The last item may seem ironic given what I said (during the talk) about autographs. But that collection is less easily replaced than most other things, and it is lightweight and easily transportable.”