Tom and Iliya are the technicians who glued the optics together. They were both extremely competent and dedicated to their jobs, but personally they were as different as night and oranges.
"Glued the optics together" is a very minimal description of a much more complex activity. The epoxy, for example, had to be mixed under vacuum, to reduce air bubbles. Its linear density had to be tracked and the amount on each spacer recorded. Each pane of glass and each spacer had to be precisely located on the optics. Even though much of their jobs was as routine as mine, their days were longer and no doubt much more stressful.
Tom was the senior tech in the lab. He had helped build the optics for HEFT (High Energy Focusing Telescope), a balloon-launched telescope that preceded NuSTAR. He understood the lathes and the process and was a truly indispensable member of the team. He was really devoted to the project - he told me that he felt like it was his optic. He never failed, that I could see, to work hard and steadily.
Personally, probably the best word to describe Tom is 'incurious'. He lived in Elmsford (near Tarrytown) for about 16 months and had only been in New York City twice in his life - by his own description, he spent most of his non-work time in his apartment, smoking cigarettes and drinking Bud Light. He didn't own a computer and had little interest in them. His only interests, actually, seemed to be NuSTAR and himself. If I walked in and said, "Hey, Tom, I bought a new car last weekend!", his likely response would be something like, "Really? Well, I don't like having a car here because…." One other oddity - he has a long-term girlfriend, and every time he mentioned her he also told me, "I don't love her." Although I didn't feel a connection to Tom, we got along well until the end.
Iliya didn't have Tom's experience, but he was a really good worker and very competent. Personally, he was friendly and outgoing. He was as happy to listen to stories about my life as he was to glowingly describe his family to me. He is a very nice person whom I like.
When I first began to go to the lab early in the morning, Tom and Iliya were there for a half hour or so before I left. It was good to see them and hear what was going on on their side of the project. When the school year started at the end of the summer, though, a problem arose. There are two schools in the same location just a couple of miles from the lab, and the traffic backup became horrendous. There was usually a policeman there trying to make things smoother, but the road could only handle so much traffic. I started going into the lab a half hour earlier, so I didn't see the guys as much.
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