On July 12, 1980, one of the main engines of the space shuttle was tested. Mort Künstler was there to see it and paint the event as part of a commission from Rockwell International, the prime contractor. Künstler said, “It is blistering hot in Mississippi in the middle of July, and when the engine fired I thought that if the heat did not get me, the sound would. The noise was almost deafening, even though I was standing several miles away.”