What's the best way to land on a spinning asteroid?

From: sailor.barsoom

> It has been suggested that one could build a habitat from an
iron
> asteroid by boring into the center, putting an insulated bottle
of
> water in the center, refilling the whole, and then using mirrors
to
> melt the whole thing. When the heat finally melts the container
of
> water, the expanding steam causes the asteroid to balloon out
into a
> steam-filled iron bubble.
>
> Seems a bit chancy to me. Instead, I'd suggest heating the
asteroid
> to melting, inserting a pipe, and gently adding nitrogen until
you
> have your bubble. More like a glass blower.

I wrote a short sf story where a group of colonist use the former method
to start on their first "quick and dirty" habitat:
http://writings.mike-combs.com/havnrock.htm . I even managed to work in
a quick reference to the "Cole technique".

If I were writing the story again today, though, I'd probably describe
the method more like the latter proposal than the former.

Many Regards,

Mike Combs