EL-MASRI: Did it?

DAMANIS: A little. We hit the atmosphere and everything began to shake and move. I held on to my pallet strap, but even then I was being whipped back and forth as the strap rotated around its anchor. I’d be slammed to the floor of the container, whip around in an arc and be slammed down again on the other side. I curled into a ball as much as I could and put my arms around my head to protect it, but it wasn’t enough; I lost consciousness a couple of times in there. If I hadn’t wrapped the strap around my arm, I would have been flung up into the container with the others.

GANAS: What happened to the others?

DAMANIS: People began to be slammed into walls and the floor and into each other, harder and faster as we dropped. A couple of times people hit me, but I was down near the floor, so most of the time they were hitting each other or the walls. They were screaming as they were flying about, and every once in a while you would hear a snap and then someone’s screaming would either get louder or it would stop. After one really hard bump, a woman hit the floor next to me headfirst and I could hear her neck go. She stopped screaming. There were at least fifty of us in the container. I’d guess about ten or fifteen people died during reentry, and maybe that many others broke their arms or legs.

SPURLEA: It was a good thing you held on to that strap.

DAMANIS: [laughs] Look at my leg now, Doc. Tell me again how lucky I am.

GANAS: Is the ibuprofen helping now?

DAMANIS: A little. May I have some water now, please?

GANAS: Yes, of course.

EL-MASRI: Once you made it through the first part of the atmosphere, did things settle?

DAMANIS: Some. The autopilot kicked in and stabilized us, but then the parachutes deployed and everyone who was still floating was jammed to the floor of the container. That was more broken bones, but then at least everyone was on the floor of the container, because gravity had finally taken hold. Then there was a crashing sound, and everyone was thrown around. We were going through the trees, or whatever you have here for trees. Then there was a final crash, the container fell on its side, the doors flew open, and we were finally on the ground.

GANAS: Your water.

DAMANIS: Thank you.

SPURLEA: What was your physical condition at that point, Malik?

DAMANIS: I was hurt pretty badly. I’m pretty sure I had a concussion. But I could walk and I didn’t have any broken bones. I unwrapped myself from the pallet strap and I headed for the door, and as I got outside some of the crew who had gotten out before me were standing in a small clearing, looking up and pointing, so I looked up where they were looking.