Bloodworth
Orbinoob
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2008
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Fri. April 14, 2045
Niven base, Jules Verne crater, lunar far side
(Reuters) The general feeling at Niven was celebratory as myself and a few VIP’s waited in a sheltered area outside the ATC dome in the minutes before the launch. The crews of Armstrong and the Enterprise had been aboard since last night. All nine domes of the base were opened and people lined the walkways to watch this historic event.
Mission control comm traffic was piped through the entire base and we listened in silence as technicians in the ATC went through checklist after checklist, declaring all systems were go, and counting down the minutes, then seconds till launch. At 30 seconds to 5pm we heard the air traffic controller announce no target tracks. Then came the words that made history. “…Armstrong, ATC reporting no contacts downrange and no targets in the vicinity…You are clear for upthrust.”
An instant later, at 5pm precisely, fire burst from underneath Armstrong as her 6 RSB-H1 hover engines came to life. In an earlier era this would have been accompanied by the deafening roar of the mighty engines and a giant cloud of smoke as she blasted into the sky. This, sadly, is not that bygone era I realized, as the giant Armstrong lifted gracefully into the lunar sky with a ghostly silence. Not even a dramatic dust cloud arose as all the pads and their immediate surroundings have been scrubbed clean down to the bare regolith. I watched in awe as her landing gear retracted into her body and she slowly rotated around to her departure heading.
At 4 kilometers altitude the Niven launch controller came on the link again: “Armstrong, local ATC and Brighton ATC confirm; no air traffic anywhere below twenty thousand K. The sky is yours; you are go for main engine start.”
With that, the Armstrong’s 6 RBK-H7 engines came to life, and the Armstrong, which had dwindled to a twinkle, became the second brightest object in the sky and rapidly accelerated away still gaining altitude and vanished over the horizon.
An hour later the scene was repeated as Enterprise lifted off and headed for a rendezvous with Armstrong. I was taken aback at how small and fragile looking Enterprise looked in comparison to her mother ship. I have to wonder how she can survive the plunge into Venus’s atmosphere.
In a few hours, the Armstrong, with Enterprise docked inside her, will perform an ejection burn which will sling her on a 3 day transit to Earth where she will take on more supplies and crew and undergo further flight testing while waiting the 6 months for her launch window to Venus.
Niven base, Jules Verne crater, lunar far side
(Reuters) The general feeling at Niven was celebratory as myself and a few VIP’s waited in a sheltered area outside the ATC dome in the minutes before the launch. The crews of Armstrong and the Enterprise had been aboard since last night. All nine domes of the base were opened and people lined the walkways to watch this historic event.
Mission control comm traffic was piped through the entire base and we listened in silence as technicians in the ATC went through checklist after checklist, declaring all systems were go, and counting down the minutes, then seconds till launch. At 30 seconds to 5pm we heard the air traffic controller announce no target tracks. Then came the words that made history. “…Armstrong, ATC reporting no contacts downrange and no targets in the vicinity…You are clear for upthrust.”
An instant later, at 5pm precisely, fire burst from underneath Armstrong as her 6 RSB-H1 hover engines came to life. In an earlier era this would have been accompanied by the deafening roar of the mighty engines and a giant cloud of smoke as she blasted into the sky. This, sadly, is not that bygone era I realized, as the giant Armstrong lifted gracefully into the lunar sky with a ghostly silence. Not even a dramatic dust cloud arose as all the pads and their immediate surroundings have been scrubbed clean down to the bare regolith. I watched in awe as her landing gear retracted into her body and she slowly rotated around to her departure heading.
At 4 kilometers altitude the Niven launch controller came on the link again: “Armstrong, local ATC and Brighton ATC confirm; no air traffic anywhere below twenty thousand K. The sky is yours; you are go for main engine start.”
With that, the Armstrong’s 6 RBK-H7 engines came to life, and the Armstrong, which had dwindled to a twinkle, became the second brightest object in the sky and rapidly accelerated away still gaining altitude and vanished over the horizon.
An hour later the scene was repeated as Enterprise lifted off and headed for a rendezvous with Armstrong. I was taken aback at how small and fragile looking Enterprise looked in comparison to her mother ship. I have to wonder how she can survive the plunge into Venus’s atmosphere.
In a few hours, the Armstrong, with Enterprise docked inside her, will perform an ejection burn which will sling her on a 3 day transit to Earth where she will take on more supplies and crew and undergo further flight testing while waiting the 6 months for her launch window to Venus.
