"Well, we have assumed it was real all along, and NASA is making progress. There is an upside to whether or not it is real. Even if the Mars project fails, the work being done to get us there will make a successful Moon landing much more likely. It's a win-win for us."
"You could be the first president in history to deal with little green men from outer space, sir."
Johnson laughed, "You think that would help me get reelected?"
They both smiled at the obvious.
–––––––
15 July, 1966
J. Edgar Hoover sat stiffly across the desk of the president in the Oval Office. He was clearly irritated.
"Mr. President. We have a leak."
"What? Who?"
"It's that blasted Senator from the South. He is trying to make a name for himself, I think. My people have bugged his office and overheard him discussing the project with a stringer at the Washington Post."
Johnson said, "I had to bring the Senator in on the project, since he started asking questions about the greatly increased NASA budget. I tried to hide the numbers in the Moon-landing bill, but he's too sharp for his own good."
"How far has it gone?"
"I think, Mr. President, that the reporter is still a bit skeptical. There should be time to contain it. I suggest you have Helms take care of the Senator. Can you handle the reporter?"
"I can do that. Graham owes me a favor at the Post."
Hoover left the Oval Office as rapidly as he came in. He wasn’t one for chit chat.
"Marvin?"
"Yes, Mr. President?"
"Get Helms in here."
"Right away, sir."
–––––––––
Senator XXX (classified) was greeted in his office the next day by the Director of the CIA himself. The Director sat down in front of a very defiant Senator's desk with a calm look on his face.
Helms sat quietly. Then he said, "Senator, we need to talk."
"I know what you are going to say Helms. Frankly, I think this is bigger than the White House, and it needs to be told to the world. It's just too important."
"That isn't going to happen Senator. Once word gets out, the Russians, the Europeans, the Japanese, and the Chinese are going to want in, and we cannot allow that."
“I'm not going to stand by and watch this be pushed under the rug until Johnson has had his political run with it. I owe it to my constituents."
Helms paused for a moment. He looked the U.S. Senator up and down and said slowly. "Do you remember a couple of years ago at the National Convention in Atlantic City where you were alone, while your wife was home having a baby? A boy, Tommy, I believe?"
"Yeah. What about it?"
"Lana told me to tell you she misses you,” Helms said.
"What? How did you…"
"Never mind, Senator. I'm sure it was just a onetime indiscretion on your part."
"You wouldn't!” The Senator was visibly shaken.
"I already have,” Helms said. “All it takes is a phone call and your mistress and the little daughter you never knew will finally get to meet your family. I am sure your wife would be very understanding."
The Senator sat in his chair, his face sagging visibly. He paused for a long while, then offered meekly, “I think you may be right, Mr. Director." He hesitated, obviously trying to save face. Then, looking as Presidential as he could muster, he added, "Maybe the world is not ready for this, yet."
"I'm glad you see it our way, Senator."
The Director got up from his chair and turned to the door, “By the way Senator, I have a friend in New York who is serious about supporting your bid for reelection next time. I'll have him call you next week.”
The Director turned to the Senator and said, “Don’t worry, Senator. Things will turn out just fine.
The Senator put his forehead on his desk.
Helms walked out of the office whistling. "I love my job," he said to himself.
–––––––
Back at NASA things were progressing at breakneck speed. The main crew cabin was undergoing reviews and upgrade modifications. Drawings were not possible at this stage since there were far too many details to be worked out still, but in a few months, all of these ideas and designs would have to be committed to paper for manufacturing. Manufacturing could hold up the whole process, if they didn't have accurate drawings. They need detailed mechanical, electrical, and ventilation drawings before they could begin. Plus, there were items that didn’t fall into any category. After all, space travel was not even a decade old!
Dr. Kranz was sitting at his desk going over all the reports that he was getting from his various teams. He called Dr. Jerry Probert into his office.
“Jerry, there are a lot of unresolved issues here, and I am not sure we have covered them all. Stresses and pressures dominate each mechanical element. As you know, being launched into space is no balloon ride. The vibrations are enormous. They tend to tear everything apart upon takeoff. The flexing and bending forces are beyond challenging. Going from zero to 17,500 miles per hour in mere minutes is challenging our best engineers to the edge, and a single mistake could bring the whole thing down. We haven’t done anything like this on such a large scale. I seriously don’t know if we can do it.” Kranz was not having a good day.
Jerry Probert looked at his boss sitting at his desk looking defeated. He smiled and said, “Sir, I know how bad this looks right now, but we are making great progress. I know the old Gemini capsules were miniature compared to what is needed for a Moon landing. We all know Mars is in another league completely. I also acknowledge that there is much left to do before we are ready to risk men’s lives but, this is why we are here. We are the pioneers of space travel and, you, sir, are the Wagon Master.”
“Thanks for your confidence, Jerry,” Kranz said. He looked at Jerry and said, smiling, “No pressure, huh?”
–––––––
The issues were enormous! For example, how would the human body react to long-term weightlessness? How could they shield for radiation which was ubiquitous in space, especially the Van Allen Radiation Belt? Even the little things like vision. Were the eyes affected by launch vibrations? When the space program was first underway, they hired Stanford Research Institute, International in California to research the visual psychophysics of the human ocular motor function of the eyes. They had never studied the issue with space travel in mind before. Since they did not understand the forces the astronauts would be under nor how the mechanism of the eye worked under these kinds of forces, they had to find out if the astronauts would be able to see properly under these extreme conditions. This was only one aspect of space travel that had never been considered before.
There was still a lot of basic research to be done. So much depended upon slide rules and what little actual computing power they had. Almost everything they did was groundbreaking! Every line, every support, every screw, and every rivet had to be challenged. Would it endure takeoff pressures? Would there be damage from the vibrations? Could humans survive the forces with all the additional mass on board? Would the pressure seals leak and wash all of the oxygen out into space? The list was endless!
Then there were the non-critical items that made the trip tolerable. Communications was one. The CIA had decided to have them replace the standard X-band transceiver and use a CIA-provided set of radios–one for the Apollo, one for Mission Control in Florida, and one for Mission Control in Houston. NASA and Florida Mission Control would share one radio. These systems were highly-encrypted. They had been successfully used against the Russians and Chinese for years. The main console of the ship had to be modified for it to fit, but that was easily done. The antenna would be the same one used by the original radio. The switch box for the antenna was being placed behind the CO2 scrubber, since there would never even be any need to get into it, probably. Every contingency was being considered, but they were sure something would be missed. They just hoped it wouldn't be some
thing critical. The original radio would be disconnected, kept in the auxiliary control box and secured.
The encrypted radio had another advantage. It had an alpha-numeric display with 4 lines of 20 characters each. There was a keyboard for entering data. It would be laborious to use, but it was the only thing available at the time. It would have been better to incorporate such a display on the flight computer, but that would require years of development. It would not be possible for this project.
Dr. Kranz went out to the cubicles where the engineers were working. Jerry went to his work area and was immediately surrounded by men and women, all talking at once, trying to get his attention. Dr. Kranz stood in the back to hear what was going on.
One of the mechanical engineers was speaking, "Clinton Brott here, Dr. Probert. We have three main stress points on Module A, all in the crew quarters. I don't think we have resolved the vibration problem fully. As you see, the moment arm of the largest beam- oh, Dr. Kranz. Maybe you could take a look at this?”
Dr. Kranz stepped forward a bit and said, “If you are talking about the stress problem, I was looking over your report and I think I may have a solution. Have you considered a modified I-beam with openings periodically to pass wiring and vents? There is a new alloy of aluminum available that I just read about. I think I can get you some samples to test. It might help solve the vibration problem, or at least dampen it."
"Wow! That would be great. We were only working with the materials we had available in stock. I didn't think about going outside of NASA."
"Well Mr. Brott,” Dr. Kranz said with a twinkle in his eye, “There's a brave new world out there, son. You should get out more after this project."
"There's a world outside of here, sir?" Jerry Probert added with fake seriousness.
Dr. Kranz shook his head with false frustration. "Get back to work you guys and gals. We have a lot to do!"
There were a number of ‘yes, sir’s’ heard around the circle.
Dr. Kranz wasn’t in his office for very long before there was another knock on the door.
"Dr. Kranz. I have a problem."
"Come in, Bill. How's the bio lab business these days. Busy?"
Dr. Bill Williams, a member of the Bioengineering Lab, knew Dr. Kranz was just kidding. Yet, he was also right on.
"Dr. Kranz, we have been doing research with freeze-drying foods of various types in the lab. We were told that this method would only work with vegetable matter. I beg to differ, but I am getting so little support from the head of my department that I am ready to scream!"
"Have you explained your theory to Dr. Everhart?" Gene asked.
"Yes, but he insists that we need to stick to vegetables; they are proven. However I fear that the astronauts’ protein requirements won't be met with just vegetables. We cannot grow enough vegetables of sufficient variety to meet their basic nutritional requirements."
Dr. Kranz thought a minute. "Have you tried freeze-drying meat, yourself?"
Bill hesitated. "Well, Dr. Everhart pretty much threatened to fire me if I tried. He said it would be a waste of time and money. But I KNOW it will work!” Bill looked a little nervous bringing up his experimenting with meat.
Dr. Kranz paused a minute. "Let me talk to Howard. I won't mention this discussion, so don't worry. I will do a review of his program and get back with you."
"Thanks Chief. I appreciate it."
"Patience, grasshopper," Gene added with a smile.
Bill walked out of the office grinning.
Gene soon walked down to the bio lab intentionally in a different direction than that from which Bill came. He walked to the head of the bio lab's office, knocked, and went in.
"Howard Everhart. My favorite geek! How are things down here? Sorry I haven't checked in, but things are crazy everywhere, as you know."
"Dr. Kranz! This is a surprise. Sit down and I will bring you up to date."
For the next 30 minutes Dr. Howard Everhart showed Gene his progress in the food production and preservation program. It was 30 minutes the Director of NASA didn't have, but it was an investment.
Dr. Kranz looked pensive and asked, "Howard, I'm looking over your menu, and I don’t see any meat or dairy products. Am I missing something?"
"Actually, no. I decided we didn't have the time or resources necessary to deal with anything other than plant matter."
"You do realize that this is a nine-month mission or longer, right?"
"I understand that, sir. So?"
"Do you really think this small garden plus freeze-dried vegetables is able to support all of the astronauts’ nutritional needs for nine months? These boys are going to need some concentrated protein from meat and dairy. We need you to provide that. I know how busy you are, and of the wonderful groundbreaking work you have done so far, but we need you and your team to make whatever sacrifices are necessary to make this happen. I trust you, Howard. You are the best in your field. If you need more personnel or equipment to make this happen, just ask. We can't wait another decade for a breakthrough. We need it now."
Gene felt a little dirty manipulating his friend and colleague.
"Well Gene, if you want it, you will get it! I think Bill Williams may have been working on some things on the side. He isn't as sneaky as he thinks he is, but he's a young fellow full of ideas. Let me see if I can get him to run with this. He is pretty busy, but I think I can persuade him."
"Excellent! I'm glad your team has people like him on board. We need a whole lot more initiative from everybody before this project is over."
With that, Dr. Kranz shook Howard's hand and quickly left his office. He could see Howard on the phone as he walked by the office window.
That turned out better than I thought it would, Kranz said to himself. Now, who else can I manipulate today? Kranz said to himself grinning.
Chapter 5- Apollo 6 Comes Together
It was early morning in Washington, D.C. on the 1st of December, 1966. A winter storm had descended upon the D.C. area, and much of it was shut down. The President of the United States had the advantage over most of the people who worked in D.C. He lived where he worked.
"Marvin? Dr. Hornig wants to meet with me. Please clear my calendar."
"Are you kidding me, sir? No one is coming in with this snow storm. Your calendar is clear."
"I know, Marvin. I just enjoyed hearing you say it. However, Hornig is expected, though. Send him in when he gets here. And by the way, you might have a hard time getting home tonight. How would you like to spend the night in the Lincoln bedroom?"
“Really, sir?” he replied excitedly.
“No, Marvin. Just kidding.”
Johnson chuckled to himself. “Just let me know when Hornig is here.”
"Yes, sir. I will." Marvin sounded deflated.
Johnson chuckled again.
Twenty minutes later, the intercom announced Hornig's arrival.
Hornig came in and nodded to Johnson.
"Sit down Donald."
Donald Hornig was visibly affected. The President of the United States had never called him by his first name before.
He hesitated, and then proceeded. "Sir, we have intercepted another message from Mars and this one is even more specific than the last."
"Well, what does it say, Doctor?"
"They reiterated that they want a face-to-face meeting with humans, and they want candy bars."
"Candy bars. Are you serious?"
"Yes, Mr. President. Candy bars. It seems the Martians, or whatever they are, have a sweet tooth. They also reiterated that they wanted Captain Jason Hotson to be on the astronaut team going to Mars."
"Were they any more specific?"
"Yes, sir. They are asking for Milky Way bars and Skittles."
"No, idiot! Were they specific about why they wanted Captain Hotson besides candy bars?" Johnson said impatiently.
"No, sir. They just mentioned him by name."
"Who is this Jason Hotson?"
"He's an ast
ronaut, sir, and he is also a full Navy Captain. He rose quickly through the ranks because of the war. He is a decorated Vietnam vet, a pilot–one of the best. And he has a Purple Heart from the war, sir. NASA has a stable of military astronauts, and he is one of them."
"I'll ask Hoover to find out what he can about this Captain."
"Is there anything else they wanted?" Johnson asked.
"Actually, sir, they just wanted Hotson and some candy bars. Oh yes, they also threw in some kind of chemical formula. I think NASA will be able to figure it out. I don't get it."
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