Light at the end of the tunnel - first fringes with the VLTI

Early in 2000, activities started on a large scale. Containers arrived in front of the VLTI control building and equipment disappeared inside, like in the hold of a cargo ship. Inside the tunnel, hundreds of holes were drilled, cables were installed and the computer network was configured. An ante room was built at the entrance of the VLTI beam combination laboratory to properly seal off the tunnel and the laboratory as clean rooms. With the installation of computers and telephones the VLTI control building looked more and more like a real control centre. In the middle of the year, the first piece of high-tech equipment arrived when the installation of the Delay Lines started. After the Delay Line Integration Team had spent the better part of last year in the tunnel, the first three Delay Line Systems were commissioned (see Fig. 2). For the installation of the rails of