Anybody ever hear of this guy in the REAL space shuttle program?
Jim Oberg
'Millionaire' ex-space expert stuck in Kenya prison
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.eastandard.net/hm_news/news.php?articleid=1143950605 (has
bizarre photo of him there)
By Cyrus Kinyungu
Just leave if you don't have a cigarrette. I'm not talking to you if
you do not give me a cigarette now."
Those were the first words of Christopher Timothy Tanton, a former
shuttle designer with the American National Aeronautical and Space
Administration (NASA), at Industrial Area Prison.
An agitated Tanton was about to begin this interview on his experience
in the country that he has fallen in love with.
"I need to calm my nerves, do you have a cigarette? Are you deaf?"
repeated Tanton, who was in slippers, blue jeans, a pair of shorts, a
sleeveless brown khaki jacket and a dark blue striped T-shirt, looking
menacingly into my eyes.
He is a space scientist, but the 57-year-old Briton has faced more
difficulty in Kenya than he has in designing complicated space shuttles.
Tanton, who is waiting for deportation to Britain for being in the
country illegally, hopes that his "worst experience in life" will soon be
over.
"I will smoke any type of cigarettes," he says, a smile forming on his
lips hiding behind a moustache and long beards. His sunken eyes brighten
when asked what brand he wants.
True to his word, Tanton remains stubbornly silent, pacing up and down
the interview room as he refuses to talk or listen to anyone until the
prison authorities allow him to smoke.
To him, his work experience at the US premier space agency is nothing
to write about compared to his past few months in Kenya.
Indeed, he is looking forward to leaving jail to start scribbling the
first lines of what he believes would be "a very interesting book".
His story was highlighted in the media last week when two airlines
declined to fly him to his motherland on alleged fears of safety.
"I am an international traveller and a millionaire and I should not be
in jail. I have never been to jail before and this life is really
difficult," said the bearded man.
"My tribulations started while on my way to the airport in a taxi when
I lost my passport and other valuables," said Tanton, now a different man
altogether after he was assured of a puff.
After getting comfortable in a chair amid bluish-white smoke, Tanton
resumes his story. He says when he went to Central Police Station, Nairobi,
to report the loss of his passport, the officers just laughed at him.
"They just laughed at me saying this is another mzungu who has been
robbed," he said, adding that he walked out annoyed but hoping that he had
fulfilled a mandatory report to the police.
Tanton says he later went to the British High Commission where he made
a similar report and signed papers for the issuance of a new passport. But
they failed to give him an abstract.
Tanton says he had arrived in Africa on May 17, last year, on the
advice of doctors in England.
It was his first visit to the continent and he was accompanied by his
Kenyan girlfriend ,who lives in London, he says.
"My doctors in England advised me that because of my old age, the
possibility of cold winters in England were not good for my health because
of my activities like mountain climbing and sky diving," said Tanton.
The doctors, he says, advised him to consider moving to Africa where
there are no weather extremities like in Europe.
Tanton, who says he was then working as a freelance consultant design
engineer in London, adds that he had been suffering from bouts of arthritis
as a result of mountain climbing and sky diving.
"Sky diving is my main hobby," says a beaming Tanton, now puffing his
third cigarette.
In Kenya, he planned to put up a home, a church, a clinic and an
orphanage.
"I was preparing to go back to England and sell one of my three homes
and other properties before coming back to put up a home," he said, adding
that he also wanted to build another home in Tanzania.
He says he plans to seek Kenyan citizenship even after his
tribulations.
Tanton says that besides the three houses in England, he has about ten
top-of-the-range vehicles. He is also the proud owner of bank accounts in
America, Germany, England and Tanzania.
"The reason why I am saying that I am a millionaire is because if I
liquidate my property, I'll have a lot of money."
Born on June 10, 1948, at Lancashire in England, Tanton went to school
in same area before leaving to work in America and other parts of Europe.
"I was given a job by NASA because of my intelligence which they say
is higher above average. I was among the best ten in my area of specialty,"
brags Tanton.
But despite all that, he says he is "a humble man who likes to live a
free life".
That is why when he arrived in the country, he spent a month with his
friends in Dandora Phase Four, a poor neighbourhood in Nairobi, before
moving to Phase Five.
But his longest time in the country has been spent in police cells and
the Industrial Area remand prison.
Although he is not consistent about his stay in the cells, Tanton says
he has been shifting from Buru Buru police cells, Kenyatta National
Hospital, Airport police cells and the Industrial Area prison. These have
been his homes for the last six months.
The Briton is bitter with the British High Commission for neglecting
him at his hour of need.
"The British High Commission has done nothing to assist me," he says,
adding that he had seen officials there several times.
A Makadara magistrate, he says, did not find him guilty for being in
the country unlawfully, although the magistrate ordered his deportation last
November.
Last week, a senior Immigration official said attempts to deport him
failed when several airlines declined to fly him there. This was even after
tickets had been bought for him and those of his three escorts.
British Airways and Kenya Airways officials confirmed having turned
down the deportee.
Faced with the dilemma, the Immigration Department took Tanton to
prison where he will stay until they find an airline willing to fly him to
Britain.
British High Commission spokesman Mark Norton last week referred The
Standard's questions about Tanton to the Immigration Department. But he
expressed satisfaction with the way the Government was handling the Tanton
issue.
Reunite Gondwanaland (Mary Shafer)
<james...@houston.rr.com> wrote:
> Those were the first words of Christopher Timothy Tanton, a former
> shuttle designer with the American National Aeronautical and Space
> Administration (NASA), at Industrial Area Prison.
Highly unlikely, as he's a British citizen and NASA only hires US
citizens. He could, perhaps, have worked for Rockwell, but it would
have been back in the early '70s, so the timeline seems odd. He's too
young to have been a major designer, but he could have been designing
minor components, I guess.
He's a year or two younger than I am, meaning he got out of college in
about 1970, at which point the Orbiter was being designed. I refuse
to believe that a fresh-out, no matter how intelligent, was designing
anything of any importance on the Orbiter, either at NASA or at RI.
That's not how the world works.
Reading the whole story, I think the guy is a fake. He might believe
what he's saying, but I sure don't.
Mary
--
Mary Shafer Retired aerospace research engineer
We didn't just do weird stuff at Dryden, we wrote reports about it.
reunite....@gmail.com or mil...@qnet.com
Herb Schaltegger
wrote
(in article <k86d32d7c75n3t3v8...@4ax.com>):
> I refuse to believe that a fresh-out, no matter how intelligent, was
> designing anything of any importance on the Orbiter, either at NASA or at RI.
> That's not how the world works.
In the early 90's, a lot of us fresh-outs were doing fairly important
stuff on SSF.
That said, this guy's whole story sounds like the confabulations of a
delusional megalomaniac and quite possibly a pathological liar. I've
run into a few of these types in my professional career and they tend
to stand out to me. Anyone with a copy of the DSM IV handy can look up
those mental illnesses and see the signs in the story this guy is
trying to sell.
--
Herb
"Everything is controlled by a small evil group to which,
unfortunately, no one we know belongs."
~Anonymous
Scott Hedrick
"Herb Schaltegger" <herb.sch...@NOSPAMgmail.com.INVALID> wrote in
message news:0001HW.C05C07D0...@enews.newsguy.com...
>Anyone with a copy of the DSM IV handy can look up
> those mental illnesses and see the signs in the story this guy is
> trying to sell.
With Brad, Min, Stuffie, The Maxson Gang, Bbo Hallre and others here, I
ought to get a copy of that.
Herb Schaltegger
(in article <THyZf.3236$Mf....@bignews8.bellsouth.net>):
Your local library will probably have one. :-)
Joe Delphi
message news:0001HW.C05C07D0...@enews.newsguy.com...
>
> delusional megalomaniac and quite possibly a pathological liar. I've
> run into a few of these types in my professional career and they tend
> to stand out to me. Anyone with a copy of the DSM IV handy can look up
> those mental illnesses and see the signs in the story this guy is
> trying to sell.
>
I think "delusional" would be the proper term to describe this person.
JD
Pat Flannery
Reunite Gondwanaland (Mary Shafer) wrote:
>
>Reading the whole story, I think the guy is a fake. He might believe
>what he's saying, but I sure don't.
>
>
>
I like the part about him being too dangerous to fly on a airliner- you
would think if you strip-searched him and then shackled him he could be
moved in comparative safety. This makes it sound like they are afraid
he's a werewolf or something. :-)
Pat
Greg D. Moore (Strider)
"Herb Schaltegger" <herb.sch...@NOSPAMgmail.com.INVALID> wrote in
> On Fri, 7 Apr 2006 14:06:38 -0500, Scott Hedrick wrote
> (in article <THyZf.3236$Mf....@bignews8.bellsouth.net>):
>
> >
> > "Herb Schaltegger" <herb.sch...@NOSPAMgmail.com.INVALID> wrote in
> > message news:0001HW.C05C07D0...@enews.newsguy.com...
> >> Anyone with a copy of the DSM IV handy can look up
> >> those mental illnesses and see the signs in the story this guy is
> >> trying to sell.
> >
> > With Brad, Min, Stuffie, The Maxson Gang, Bbo Hallre and others here, I
> > ought to get a copy of that.
> >
> >
>
> Your local library will probably have one. :-)
>
Yes, but I'm sure we'd all find hints of our real character in there. :-)
Greg D. Moore (Strider)
"Pat Flannery" <fla...@daktel.com> wrote in message
news:123dr38...@corp.supernews.com...
>
>
> Reunite Gondwanaland (Mary Shafer) wrote:
>
> >
> >Reading the whole story, I think the guy is a fake. He might believe
> >what he's saying, but I sure don't.
> >
> >
> >
> I like the part about him being too dangerous to fly on a airliner- you
> would think if you strip-searched him and then shackled him he could be
> moved in comparative safety.
Shackle him? In a metal airplane, when clearly he has the vast powers of
Magento?
Jorge R. Frank
news:0HDZf.1587$sq5...@newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.net:
>
> "Pat Flannery" <fla...@daktel.com> wrote in message
> news:123dr38...@corp.supernews.com...
>>
>>
>> Reunite Gondwanaland (Mary Shafer) wrote:
>>
>> >
>> >Reading the whole story, I think the guy is a fake. He might believe
>> >what he's saying, but I sure don't.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> I like the part about him being too dangerous to fly on a airliner- you
>> would think if you strip-searched him and then shackled him he could be
>> moved in comparative safety.
>
> Shackle him? In a metal airplane, when clearly he has the vast powers of
> Magento?
Magento! The evil super villain with the terrible power to... transform
colors into a hideous shade of magenta?!? :-)
--
JRF
Reply-to address spam-proofed - to reply by E-mail,
check "Organization" (I am not assimilated) and
think one step ahead of IBM.
Greg D. Moore (Strider)
"Jorge R. Frank" <jrf...@ibm-pc.borg> wrote in message
news:Xns979ED7D1...@216.196.97.131...
>
> Magento! The evil super villain with the terrible power to... transform
> colors into a hideous shade of magenta?!? :-)
Yes, it's really a hideous power. I mean when he mixes magenta and mauve,
it's appalling.
But, they say he has great taste in show tunes at least.
Pat Flannery
Greg D. Moore (Strider) wrote:
>Shackle him? In a metal airplane, when clearly he has the vast powers of
>Magento?
>
>
Love that X-Men jet design.
Pat
Pat Flannery
Greg D. Moore (Strider) wrote:
>Yes, it's really a hideous power. I mean when he mixes magenta and mauve,
>it's appalling.
>
>But, they say he has great taste in show tunes at least.
>
>
Speaking of appalling, wouldn't it have been hilarious if they had tried
to do Wolverine's costume like the one in the comic?
I heard a rumor that Rhino is going to be in the next Spiderman movie;
this also needs a little costume modification:
http://www.dragonhero.com/graphics/marvel2/rhino.jpg
Pat
Julian Bordas
> Anybody ever hear of this guy in the REAL space shuttle program?
>
> 'Millionaire' ex-space expert stuck in Kenya prison
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> http://www.eastandard.net/hm_news/news.php?articleid=1143950605 (has
> bizarre photo of him there)
>
>
>
he's had a few too many G&T's
--
Julian Bordas
Rockets should land on their tails
as God and Heinlein intended
Pat Flannery
Julian Bordas wrote:
> He looks British in the photo, and fuck me drunk he is British. I
> think he's had a few too many G&T's
He looks like Steamboy's granddad; all he needs is the monocle. :-)
Pat
Henry Spencer
Reunite Gondwanaland (Mary Shafer) <reunite....@gmail.com> wrote:
>Highly unlikely, as he's a British citizen and NASA only hires US
Historically, that wasn't invariably true -- there was at least two cases
where NASA hired batches of non-US-citizens, and in one case some of them
were British -- but he's too young to have been part of those.
>Reading the whole story, I think the guy is a fake.
Yep, seems likely. A doctor advising him to move to equatorial Africa?!?
Advising him to move to a warmer and more stable climate, okay, but you
can get that in Arizona or Hawaii or northern Australia, or even the
Mediterranean or South Africa or Sri Lanka, without the problems and
risks of central Africa.
--
spsystems.net is temporarily off the air; | Henry Spencer
mail to henry at zoo.utoronto.ca instead. | he...@spsystems.net
Reunite Gondwanaland (Mary Shafer)
wrote:
> In article <k86d32d7c75n3t3v8...@4ax.com>,
> Reunite Gondwanaland (Mary Shafer) <reunite....@gmail.com> wrote:
> >Highly unlikely, as he's a British citizen and NASA only hires US
> >citizens...
>
> Historically, that wasn't invariably true -- there was at least two cases
> where NASA hired batches of non-US-citizens, and in one case some of them
> were British -- but he's too young to have been part of those.
Quite right, I should have been more specific about that being more
recent. NASA and other government agencies also hired permanent
residents in the process of obtaining citizenship, sort of assuming
that they'd become citizens.
> >Reading the whole story, I think the guy is a fake.
>
> Yep, seems likely. A doctor advising him to move to equatorial Africa?!?
> Advising him to move to a warmer and more stable climate, okay, but you
> can get that in Arizona or Hawaii or northern Australia, or even the
> Mediterranean or South Africa or Sri Lanka, without the problems and
> risks of central Africa.
I agree with you. The Mediterranean seems a lot more likely for
someone British; Costa del Sol has a lot of British people living
there. The advantages of the EU can't be overlooked.