Viktor smiled, then reached over into his bag and after a while fumbling through it pulled up a small picture and gazed at it.
Peter asked, “Is that Maria?”
Viktor nodded. “I brought as you said. I put Velcro on back.” He pulled a checklist off the control panel in front of him and moved it to the side. He attached his wife’s picture in its place, so he could look right at her. He stared at the picture. “It one of my favorite pictures of Maria. It at Dmitri’s wedding when she so happy.”
Peter watched his partner lovingly stroke the picture. Sensing he was having a private moment, Peter said nothing and looked out the window in front of him, watching the clouds pass over, thinking of Anya.
Out of the corner of his eye, Peter saw Viktor fumbling in his bag again. The old man pulled out another picture and said, “This for you so don’t see me whole trip.” He handed the photo to Peter.
Peter grabbed the small picture and looked at a glamorous head shot of Anya looking like a model. Her dark hair was blowing back, her face showing her natural beauty with just the right amount of make-up. Peter smiled and asked, “Where was this done?”
“Russia, few years ago. She do some model pictures for charity. She shy at first. One put in their magazine. She gave and I put on my desk.”
Peter lightly rubbed his finger over the picture. “Thank you. This is great. She is definitely easier on the eyes.”
Viktor chuckled as Peter rearranged his checklists and put Anya right in front of him. Now both men had their ladies front and center.
“LAUNCH DIRECTOR has given a go for launch. The countdown will proceed from the nine-minute hold mark. Now T-minus 8 minutes, 45 seconds and counting,” said Floyd of Launch Control.
This is it! The rocket’s pre-valves had opened and the liquid oxygen was flowing from the rocket’s tanks down to the first stage engines at the bottom of the rocket. For the first time, the rocket began to shake as the computer started testing the steering of those nine massive engines, toggling them back and forth. The beast was coming alive, stretching its muscles. Peter’s heart began to pound in his chest and his mouth felt like it was full of cotton; he was scared and the reaction surprised him. The fact was starting to settle in that he was sitting on top of a roman candle filled with over 100,000 gallons of fuel ready to ignite, and he and Viktor were the first crazy fools to ride such a monster. It had been easy for Peter to have confidence in the rocket before, but now, sitting on top of this bottle rocket ready to explode, he was having second thoughts.
He wasn’t scared of dying. Shit, he was already going to die. He was scared of not being able to complete the mission, of letting his country and his father down. He was scared of dying for nothing.
Sweat began to drip down his face as he tried to stay focused and do his final checks. He looked over at Viktor, who was smiling, whistling and enjoying himself. Lucky son-of-a-bitch.
“Newton 9.…close visors,” said Launch Control.
Peter needed to repeat the order confirming he had heard it, but his mouth was too dry to talk. He struggled to get it out, “RRRRoger…closing visors.”
Viktor flashed him the “okay” sign, questioning if everything was all right. Peter flashed the sign back, hoping to convince his partner he was calm before closing his visor. He locked his visor, and a cool flow of oxygen began swirling around his face, helping to cool him off and eliminate the sweat.
“T-minus 5 minutes, 15 seconds, and the computers have taken over the countdown.”
Peter knew from being on backup Shuttle crews this was the point in the countdown where crew members would be reviewing their emergency escape procedures, which only reminded him…there was no emergency escape plan for this rocket. If anything happened—a fire, an explosion, or a thousand other potential catastrophes prior to launch—he and Viktor would be shit out of luck. They would be stuck in the capsule to die. His heart started pounding even harder and his breathing increased. With his visor closed, his breathing roared in the sealed helmet.
“T-minus 2 minutes, 10 seconds. Ground safety officer has enabled ignition. All systems remain go for launch,” said Launch Control.
Peter put his gloved hand to his chest, and pressed his suit where his dad’s locket was hanging around his neck. Sorry I’m scared, Dad…I just want to make sure we get this right. He did his last check of the monitors. Everything looked fine. From this point on, he and Viktor were along for the ride. They just needed to sit back and enjoy it.
“T-minus 55 seconds. Water deluge system is activated. Men of Newton 9, we wish you good luck and Godspeed,” said Floyd.
Peter answered, “Thank you, Launch Control.”
He took one last look at Viktor, who gave him a thumbs-up.
Peter focused on Anya’s picture, hoping her image would calm him. Looking up at the monitor, he saw they had less than twenty seconds until launch. He grabbed on to his seat and pushed back, preparing for the ride of his life.
“10…9…8…7…6… main engine start.”
The nine liquid-fueled engines ignited in a split second ripple fire effect sending a sudden loud, deafening noise crashing through the cockpit like a shockwave. A growling, wrenching vibration began to shake Peter. Shit, I hope this baby holds together…shit, I hope I hold together!
“5…4…3…”
The engines began to ramp up to full power, causing the vibration to strengthen. Peter gripped the arm rests with all of his might, trying to steady himself to read the monitors, but it was impossible. He just had to sit back and trust the system, and the machine. The computer was doing its final check of the engines’ power before it would release the rocket. Only the computer had the power to do so. C’mon baby, let her go.
“2…1…zero…WE HAVE LIFT OFF!”
The four hydraulic clamps holding the rocket snapped back and freed her, like taking the chains off of a pissed off King Kong. The noise was incredible! Peter was shoved back into his seat by a million pounds of thrust exerting two times the force of gravity on his body. Peter could barely hear Launch Control say their last announcement, “The towers are cleared,” before passing command of the rocket over to Mission Control in California.
Peter allowed himself a quick sigh of relief, thinking the first major hurdle of clearing the tower was over. With the loud noise still happening, Peter shouted into his microphone, “Roger. We got roll program.”
“Roger. Roll,” said Bernie in Mission Control California.
Peter was informing Mission Control the roll and pitch program had put them on their proper heading. He was feeling a little less scared and little more excited about the ride. Struggling to see the monitor, he noticed the engines were reducing power, meaning the rocket must have been accelerating too fast and the computers had to slow it down to prevent the rocket from breaking apart in the thick atmosphere. This was a good sign indicating the computers were doing their job, insuring Peter and Viktor a safe ride into space.
Shock waves began to form on the nose of the rocket as they approached the sound barrier, which added to the shaking. Quickly they passed through the barrier and supersonic air started howling around their machine. Surprisingly, the vibrations got worse as the engines returned to full power and Peter was again pushed back in his seat. Peter did a recheck of the monitors and though his head was shaking all over the place, he was still able to get a quick reading. Everything looked normal.
Peter felt like he was in a paint shaker machine, holding on for dear life. He then noticed something odd; Anya’s pendant started to bounce slightly up and down. Why is it doing that? It should just be hanging, not bouncing. With the heavy pull of gravity it should hang, maybe some jostling side to side, but it shouldn’t bounce! Then the answer hit him—the rocket was starting to “pogo,” the phenomenon that happens when the fuel is passing through the pipes and a resonance frequency develops, causing the rocket to vibrate longitudinally, like a pogo stick going up and down. Not good! Many rockets in the past had ha
d this problem, and if the frequency was just right, it could feed on itself until becoming so bad it would break up the rocket.
“We are experiencing pogo,” shouted Peter into his microphone.
“Roger, we are studying the data,” said Bernie.
Peter watched Anya’s pendant continue to worsen its wild bounce and feared it might snap the chain. He could now feel the oscillation from the “pogo” through all of the other shaking happening around him.
“Pogo is continuing to get worse!” yelled Peter, as he struggled to remain objective.
“Roger, still studying the data.”
ANYA SAT ALONE on the rooftop of Launch Control, squeezing her sweaty hands nervously together as she stared up at the corkscrewed contrail left in the sky by the rocket, which was now high above the clouds and out of sight. She’d witnessed a perfect blast-off, but was now concerned. The speakers were keeping her informed on the status of the flight and she could hear panic in Peter’s voice as he discussed with Mission Control the problem they were experiencing. Anya bent her head down and did a quick prayer for her men. Lord, please guide them safely into space!
PETER WAS GETTING ALARMED. If the pogo continued to worsen, there was no way they would make it into orbit. The rocket would tear itself apart. Something had to happen and fast. Anya’s necklace was now oscillating up and down the full chain length. Peter tried to lean forward and uncoil the necklace from around the knob, but with all of the shaking and high g-forces they were experiencing, there was no way. Damn. He watched the chain violently whip up and down. Then to his disappointment, the pendant snapped the chain in half and went flying past him. Viktor turned to Peter with a concerned look.
Peter shouted back to Mission Control, “Bernie this is getting serious, we are shaking uncontrollably!”
“Roger, we are shutting down Engine 5,” replied Bernie.
The number 5 engine was the center engine of the nine, and the rocket could still fly safely after losing one engine. But by shutting it off, they’d lost their insurance policy if anything happened to any of the other engines. Losing any one of the eight would prevent them from reaching orbit.
“Roger,” said Peter as he observed the engine being shut down on his monitor. He looked at the broken necklace, now two separate strands bouncing up and down. He studied them for awhile; the bouncing seemed to be reducing.
“Mission Control, the vibration seems to be subsiding,” said Peter with relief in his voice.
“Roger. Reaching altitude of thirty miles with inertia velocity of 3300 mph,” said Mission Control.
Peter glanced at Viktor who was monitoring his instruments. The oscillating had greatly reduced, allowing him a brief sigh of relief to have overcome the problem. All remaining eight engines were at full power. The rocket was reaching above the thick atmosphere, and the ride started to slowly smooth out.
A magical sight unfolded in front of him outside his window; the sky was slowly changing from blue to black. The view reminded him of looking out a window at night back home, seeing stars in the deep black sky, yet sunlight still filled their cockpit from the two windows. Reconciling the two was an odd sensation.
“Altitude is seventy-five miles with an inertia velocity of 6,000 mph,” said Mission Control.
With everything going on, Peter had not noticed the noise had diminished. He suddenly realized all was quiet in the cabin. Damn, I can’t believe the noise is already gone? They were now at an altitude where the air was so thin, they could no longer hear the noise of the engines or the air rushing by the cockpit. The ride was becoming as smooth as glass. They were approaching the final push of the main engines; the gauge said most of the fuel was gone. Surprisingly, they were going faster and faster, and the force of gravity was increasing—he was now experiencing three times the force of gravity at sea level. He wanted to inform Mission Control the engines were throttling, but found with the high g-force, he had to grunt out his observation. “Engines throttling.”
“Roger, approaching MECO,” said Mission Control.
Peter checked his monitor; twenty seconds until MECO, main engine cut-off. He was expecting to be shoved forward when the engines cut off, the opposite of what he had been experiencing so far. He looked at Viktor, who had already tightly gripped his armrests in preparation for MECO. He did the same as he watched the countdown on his monitor, 3…2…1…zero. The crushing force on his chest was instantly gone and he and Viktor were flung forward as if shot from a sling shot, their seatbelt straps keeping them from flying into the control panel. An eerie calm and silence filled the cockpit as the rocket coasted without any engine power. Suddenly he felt the cockpit shake, and was relieved to see on the monitor it was the first stage engine separating from the rocket, having done its job. “We have stage separation,” radioed Peter.
“Roger, stage separation is confirmed,” said Mission Control.
Peter looked at Anya’s broken necklace and the two chains looked like snakes in the air. They’re floating! We’re in space! A big grin came across his face. Soon he was pushed back in his seat again as the second stage engine fired. Peter had to get back to business. “Stage 2 has fired,” radioed Peter.
“Roger, stage two power and avionics systems are performing nominally. Altitude is eighty-seven miles,” said Mission Control.
As the rocket rolled, the edge of the earth started to penetrate the blackness of his window. It continued to creep into his window until the planet completely engulfed his view. Wow, what a beautiful sight! Peter couldn’t help but just stare, overtaken by the beauty of the dominating blue ocean and scattered white clouds sprinkled about. With the black backdrop, Earth was a magnificent sight. He thought back to the many times his dad had described seeing the earth from space, but words could not describe it….it was just too beautiful. Sadness seeped in when he realized he would never walk on that planet again.
Mission Control interrupted his thoughts. “Second Stage is approaching SECO.”
Peter focused on the monitors in front of him. “Roger.” SECO was the second stage engine cut-off. Once they reached their desired orbit, the engine would shut off. The countdown for SECO was 5 seconds, 4…3…2…1…zero, engine shutdown. “We have engine shutdown,” radioed Peter.
“Roger, engine shutdown,” said Mission Control.
Peter no longer felt any force on his body. He was now weightless, his body floating underneath his seatbelt. A weird sensation and something he had always dreamt about. His arms started to float up. This is cool!
STILL ALONE ON THE ROOFTOP, Anya heard Bernie say over the speakers, “Newton 9 is successfully in orbit and on course to intercept the International Space Station. Good job, everyone!”
Relieved, Anya took a deep breath and stood from the couch. She started clapping as she looked skyward. Good job, Peter! She said a quick thanks to God for once again answering her prayer before walking to the exit. With Peter and her dad safely in space, she needed to catch the earliest flight to Moscow. She hoped to support her men from Russia’s mission control once they hijacked the Soyuz.
PETER LOOKED OVER AT VIKTOR. “Wow, what a ride.”
Viktor smiled. “Yep. Good job handling pogo problem.”
“Thanks, that was a little intense.”
“Were you scared?”
Peter took awhile to think how to answer; he should be honest. “You know, Viktor, I was scared during launch. Not from dying, but from not being able to finish what we set out to do.”
Viktor smiled. “You not be normal if not scared. Every astronaut is scared during launch.”
“Were you scared?” asked Peter.
“Well, I not shit in my diaper…so not too scared,” said Viktor with a light chuckle.
Peter laughed. He saw something floating out of the corner of his eye. He was happy to see it was Anya’s pendant, slowly floating past. He smiled as he looked at it for awhile floating in front of his face, thinking of Anya. He reached out and grabbed the small trinket. I’
m thinking of you too. He turned to Viktor. “Let’s go catch us a space station!”
27
DOCKING
Sie was fidgeting with his pencil. It was early morning in his office, and he was nervous. He’d just learned the Americans launched the Newton 9 rocket, after he was so sure they wouldn’t, and now those astronauts were orbiting the earth. Why? What are they hoping to accomplish? He couldn’t figure out what the Americans were hoping to achieve. To him, it made no sense. He was so sure the rocket was put on the pad simply to be a decoy, but obviously, he was wrong. He was worried about the repercussions from his ill recommendations to Kuang. Was the private company flying against their government’s wishes, or were they working with the American government and this was just a ploy to get CNSA to fuel their rocket? Sie did not have the answers and knew he’d better come up with some before he was questioned. He turned and looked out his window. His train of thought was interrupted by the ringing of his phone. Expecting it to be Kuang, he straightened in his chair and cleared his throat. “Hello.”
“Sie, this is Kuang,” said his boss’ disturbed voice on the other end.
“Good morning, sir,” said Sie, firming his voice.
“Did you hear the Americans launched that rocket last night?”
Sie blinked. “Yes, sir, I just learned.”
“You said they wouldn’t launch, that it was just a decoy to get us to fuel ours,” said Kuang.
“I am surprised, sir. I am mystified as to what they are doing, especially going against UN sanctions,” said Sie.
“Have you ordered our rocket fueled?” asked Kuang.
Sie feared the United States was still trying to trick them. “Sir, I still think this rocket is a decoy. We know it can’t fly to the moon. They are trying to bait us into fueling.”
Sie listened for a response from Kuang, but dead silence came over the phone. He waited.
Finally Kuang spoke up. “If you are right and it is a decoy, what will they do in orbit?”
Moon Hoax (Hoax Trilogy Book 1) Page 26