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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS"Houston. It's been a long way, but we're here". Those are the words of Alan B. Shepard, America's first astronaut in space, as he firmly planted his first footprint into the Moon's surface. They are seemingly unpoetic words from a man experiencing no less than walking on another world and seeing his insignificant home planet floating in black nothingness through the tears in his eyes. But, for him, and for the few that knew him, the words are deep in meaning. Following his first and only spaceflight, Shepard had been grounded for 10 years with the incurable Meniere's syndrome and was told he would never fly in space again. He never gave up his dream, subjected himself to a risky inner ear operation, and promptly got himself command of an Apollo mission. And that was only the first hurdle.
While in translunar flight, the Lunar Module (LEM) docking latch would not capture with that of the Command Module. No capture, no Moon walk. Shepard suggested a dicey space walk in which he would manually pull the two craft together-- anything to complete his Mission, to walk on the Moon. The space walk was overruled by Houston, but-- after several agonizing hours of repeated docking attempts-- the latch finally captured. Fate, luck, or raw persistence, whatever one wants to call it, had played a hand and his Mission was "GO".
Days later, Shepard and Mitchell were descending to the surface of the Moon in the LEM, when two more show stopper hit. While going through the the checklist for the LEM's systems, it was noticed that the descent engine abort light was on. This could have been a bad breaker or many other things, but it was determined to be a loose piece sauder that was closing the abort circuit. Clearly thi ruled out a descent, which would automatically engage an abort sequence. While Shepard and Mitchell went around the Moon's far they a had only one Lunar orbit to fix the proplem or the descent window would be passed. The MIT programmers reprogrammed the descent subroutine to ignore the abort command and the new commands were transmitted to the LEM computer. Problem solved. Then, the landing radar was locked on infinity (nobody knew it at the time) and there was no local data on the LEM's position and velocity. Mission rules mandated an abort at 13,000 feet if the radar was still malfunctioning. With something less than a 1000 feet before the required abort, a young engineer monitoring a console in Houston "worked the problem". The radar breaker was recycled and a lock on the lunar surface was obtained. Shepard was "GO" for powered descent.
Finally, after 10 years and three abort threats, Al Shepard was standing on the edge of forever and must have experienced that surreal sensation as one realizes a hard won dream is happening-- this is reality. Indeed, the Moon is a long way, but that had little to do with what Al Shepard said to those in Houston who had witnessed his Journey.
I think there are a few analogies to Shepard's story (which is the romantic stuff of history) and the making of my Ph.D. (which will go down quietly and anonymously).
The first is that, one Shepard's Mission was started, it could not be completed alone. In fact, it would have completely failed several times over without a capable and dedicated support network. So it is true for this work. Many times during the stresses of graduate student life, such as no health insurance for dependents, low income in the face if unforeseen disasters, my support network was there for me.
It begins with my parent's, William and Carol Churchill, who would never allow me to fail simply because events had forced the issue to quit and get a decent paying job without finishing my dissertation. Behind almost every success story there is the most important institution ever devised by humans-- the family. Thanks to them, I never had to abort my mission. This work would not have been completed without their decades of loving care, financial support, and deep belief in their only son.
A key member of the support network is Dr. Jane Charlton (Penn State), whom I met at an ESO meeting in November 1994, just before that glorious January Keck run. As funds dried up to carry on QSO research at Lick Observatory, she hired me long distance and supported my research. She has also served as a uniquely inspiring collaborator who has played a central role in my "coming of age" as a scientist. In the spirit of a young NASA engineer, she "worked the problem'' (many times over) with a do-or-die zeal and never accepted even the possibility of a "mission abort".
Another key member of my support network is my advisor, Dr. Steven Vogt. Without Steve, the mission could not even be dreamed. He built the HIRES spectrograph, and then placed his faith in me and donated his entire Keck allotment for 1995, and part for 1996, to my dissertation. He even sent me to Keck alone, while he observed remotely from Santa Cruz. I hope he can say with no reservation, that his faith was not misplaced. Because of the blessings of three long wintery clear skies, we obtained the data necessary to really go after the nature of these Mg II absorbers. With data in hand, he continued to place his faith in me to pull out the information hiding in every pixel. He took a healthy "hands-off attitude", wisely counseled me, and nurtured me through this research with the clear goal of allowing me to become an autonomous research scientist. I would like to think he has succeeded. However, through all of it, I must say that a most enjoyable time for me was when Steve and I went to Keck and observed together. In the three years that I had worked for/with Steve, that was the only time we observed together. Thanks for the support and guidance, Steve. I hope you find many planets with Marcy and Butler!
And finally, I owe it all to my wife, Deneyse. She gave herself to this effort even more than I. For five years she has almost single handedly nurtured our children into healthy, happy, and loving young people and has managed our household on nothing more than a financial shoestring. In a sense, her job has been far more important and challenging than mine and she has been even more successful (to see that all you need to do is meet our children!). Without her devoted self sacrifice for them and for me, this work would likely have never been completed.
To these people, I too can say, "It's been a long way, but we're here", and they all know exactly what that means.
I would also like to acknowledge several of my fellow graduate students for their support and friendship over the years at Santa Cruz. Natalie Stout and family have been wonderful companions and friends. I wish them well in their life in Brazil. It was always enjoyable to chat with Matthew Shetrone about the nitty-gritty details of echelle data reduction. I owe a great deal to Steve Allen, who had a correct answer for every computer related question I ever threw at him. I also enjoyed knowing Debra Fisher, Ian Walker, Kathrine Wu, Romeel Dave', Scott Trager, Dan Kelson, Jennifer Johnson, and Jarita Holbrook. I wish them all well in their careers. That I was not a big participant in the "extra curricular" activities of the graduate students was only because of my duties as a family man.
I also mention Tony Misch, who taught me the ABC's of observing at Lick Observatory. Those were fun and exciting days for me and I thoroughly enjoyed his companionship at the telescope and his wonderful family. There will always be a special place in my heart for Dr. Graeme Smith and for Dr. Frank Drake. I have immensely enjoyed knowing them and working with them. They each have served as personal counselor and a source of inspiration, both in their upstanding characters and their professional abilities.
To Joe, Chris, and James, I say thanks for the sharing in the making of some mighty fine music. Playing drums for Mojave Green was one of my favorite "other life" experiences-- particularly the late night San Francisco club scenes!
I cannot conclude without mentioning Frank Timmes and Melinda Weil-- I will never forget, but do forgive, what they tried, and failed, to do. How does the old saying go? -- "to err is human..." For Dr. Stan Woosley, I have the deepest admiration and gratitude for his wisdom and humanity.
And finally, special thanks to Dr. Chuck Steidel and Dr. Ken Lanzetta. It all started when I read their 1992 PASP articles on QSO metal-line absorption systems (once Mike Keane turned me on to the "Mg II problem-- thanks Mike!). I sent each of them email to make contact with the leaders in the field. Both of them were very friendly and forthcoming. Their responses made all the difference in the world to a young unknown graduate student in search of a beginning. I thank them both for their continued support of my young career.
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