In the shadow of the Earth #1
Note: I wanna thank Scav for letting me use some characters from SEP in the story. Thanks!
"We roger. Next manoever is T minus forty five minutes. How copy?"
"Solid copy control."
I leaned back in my chair, rubbing my face. Nine solid hours on console, doing nothing. Spaceflight was boring on the ground. One hour to go. Thank god.
Jack Baren tapped me on the shoulder, and I muted my mic and turned around.
"What's up?"
"When are you off console?"
"One hour."
"Meet me in my office."
"Alright."
He walked away, and I shrugged off the unusual visit. Something about pay probably. I leaned forward and flicked through the pages of the checklist I had in front of me.
As soon as my replacement came in, I handed off the duty and left Mission Control. I walked down the hall and found Jack's door. I knocked.
"Come in."
I opened the door and walked in.
"Close it."
I did as I was told.
"What's up Jack?"
"Something big. Remember those Mars lander plans that we floated around a while back?"
"Yeah. I thought they were turned down."
"They've been repurposed. Remove the atmospheric protection, and lose the long range antennae, and you have a viable lunar lander. We're talking something we could pack in a Five and shoot right up there."
I looked at him funny. He must have lost his damn mind. None of us, not even NASA, were planning a lunar landing for at least five years, officially.
"This is all nice, but who's gonna fly it?"
"You."
"Oh hell no."
"Why do you think I came back?"
"For something that'll probably get shot down by the board?"
"It's worth a shot."
"Whatever. If, and that's a big if, it gets moving, you can count on me to land it."
"That's the Pat I know."
I chuckled and walked out of the room. It was never going to be approved. In the back of my mind, I hoped it would be approved.
Well, two weeks later, ASTCF-16 was home, and the plans had been approved. Project Redwood is what it would be called for the time being. Jack, Brandon Hutchinson, and myself went down to Florida to talk with the NASA engineers about drawing up a prelim of the Edge VI. We had decided that the largest rocket we had, the Edge V, was not going to cut it for this mission.
We were gathered around a table with two engineers discussing how it would all fit together.
"Something like this hasn't been built since the 70's gentlemen. The fact that you want one launch to carry it all up there is a tall order." Said the first engineer.
"May not have been built since then, but the concept is there. That hab module only adds thirty tons to the whole package." I piped up.
"Yes, but there isn't a third stage with enough Delta V to make it to the Moon."
"Then design one." Said Brandon, who was looking over some plans.
"We'd love to, but if you haven't noticed, half the funding in the agency is going to the Shuttle reboot." Said the second engineer.
I rubbed my eyes and stepped away from the table while the others argued.
There's gotta be a way. What abo-- Shouting.
"Oh will you idiots shut the hell up!" I yelled. "Getting all worked up isn't going to solve the problem. Look, we'll come back tomorrow with fresh minds, and we'll see if we can crack this."
"Agreed." Said Jack. The rest agreed. This was going to take longer than we thought.
We came back the next day, and got right back into it. After a few more hours of deliberation and arguing, we had a basic concept of what we needed. We left around 3PM and made our way to the parking lot.
We passed a bunch of NASA astronauts on our way.
"Hey! You're that Patrick fellow aren't you." Said one.
"Indeed I am. You are?"
"Brian Adkinson, going up on number eight soon. You?"
"Nothing in the immediate future. Good luck!"
"Same to you."
As we parted ways, I felt a bit odd. Like a premonition of sorts. I shrugged it off, it was probably nothing. We turned a corner and the ground started to rumble. No one around was paying it any mind except us. I turned to look when I saw it. Consitution blasted over our heads, and turned to head out over the water again.
"I want one of those."
"No."
"We roger. Next manoever is T minus forty five minutes. How copy?"
"Solid copy control."
I leaned back in my chair, rubbing my face. Nine solid hours on console, doing nothing. Spaceflight was boring on the ground. One hour to go. Thank god.
Jack Baren tapped me on the shoulder, and I muted my mic and turned around.
"What's up?"
"When are you off console?"
"One hour."
"Meet me in my office."
"Alright."
He walked away, and I shrugged off the unusual visit. Something about pay probably. I leaned forward and flicked through the pages of the checklist I had in front of me.
As soon as my replacement came in, I handed off the duty and left Mission Control. I walked down the hall and found Jack's door. I knocked.
"Come in."
I opened the door and walked in.
"Close it."
I did as I was told.
"What's up Jack?"
"Something big. Remember those Mars lander plans that we floated around a while back?"
"Yeah. I thought they were turned down."
"They've been repurposed. Remove the atmospheric protection, and lose the long range antennae, and you have a viable lunar lander. We're talking something we could pack in a Five and shoot right up there."
I looked at him funny. He must have lost his damn mind. None of us, not even NASA, were planning a lunar landing for at least five years, officially.
"This is all nice, but who's gonna fly it?"
"You."
"Oh hell no."
"Why do you think I came back?"
"For something that'll probably get shot down by the board?"
"It's worth a shot."
"Whatever. If, and that's a big if, it gets moving, you can count on me to land it."
"That's the Pat I know."
I chuckled and walked out of the room. It was never going to be approved. In the back of my mind, I hoped it would be approved.
Well, two weeks later, ASTCF-16 was home, and the plans had been approved. Project Redwood is what it would be called for the time being. Jack, Brandon Hutchinson, and myself went down to Florida to talk with the NASA engineers about drawing up a prelim of the Edge VI. We had decided that the largest rocket we had, the Edge V, was not going to cut it for this mission.
We were gathered around a table with two engineers discussing how it would all fit together.
"Something like this hasn't been built since the 70's gentlemen. The fact that you want one launch to carry it all up there is a tall order." Said the first engineer.
"May not have been built since then, but the concept is there. That hab module only adds thirty tons to the whole package." I piped up.
"Yes, but there isn't a third stage with enough Delta V to make it to the Moon."
"Then design one." Said Brandon, who was looking over some plans.
"We'd love to, but if you haven't noticed, half the funding in the agency is going to the Shuttle reboot." Said the second engineer.
I rubbed my eyes and stepped away from the table while the others argued.
There's gotta be a way. What abo-- Shouting.
"Oh will you idiots shut the hell up!" I yelled. "Getting all worked up isn't going to solve the problem. Look, we'll come back tomorrow with fresh minds, and we'll see if we can crack this."
"Agreed." Said Jack. The rest agreed. This was going to take longer than we thought.
We came back the next day, and got right back into it. After a few more hours of deliberation and arguing, we had a basic concept of what we needed. We left around 3PM and made our way to the parking lot.
We passed a bunch of NASA astronauts on our way.
"Hey! You're that Patrick fellow aren't you." Said one.
"Indeed I am. You are?"
"Brian Adkinson, going up on number eight soon. You?"
"Nothing in the immediate future. Good luck!"
"Same to you."
As we parted ways, I felt a bit odd. Like a premonition of sorts. I shrugged it off, it was probably nothing. We turned a corner and the ground started to rumble. No one around was paying it any mind except us. I turned to look when I saw it. Consitution blasted over our heads, and turned to head out over the water again.
"I want one of those."
"No."
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