aeronautical engineering

Jim Paulsen and his team of rocket scientists didn't breathe for about 8 minutes the afternoon of May 11. Paulsen and scores of others were focused on watching the space shuttle Atlantis blast toward the heavens, carrying 7 astronauts and one of the most complicated and celebrated payloads in NASA history. As is the case with every launch, Paulsen doesn't sigh with relief until the shuttle's main engines, his baby for 25 years, shut down.