Space Voyage #1

[Jay-qu]

well if he knows ask him.. we have to go soon! need to have all crew accounted for. BigDog has gone to take a nap (hes had a long day so far) and will be back in no time :confused:

[arkain101]

___While things progressed for our burn to the moon I took the time to take in all of what was happening.

 

___It wasnt just the fact I had left the home mankind has been stuck to for tens of thousands of years where so much diverse history and growth of knowledge had transpired. I felt free and almost godlike to know where I was and where everyone and everything we have ever known was. I couldnt begin to explain just how fortunate I felt to be here knowing how many others will NEVER have the opportunity to be where I am and to do what I and my crew are about to do.

 

___It wasnt only the feeling I got when looking at the view of the planet or remembering the exillerating and dangerous launch from our planets surface, which did seem like getting in the biggest drag race car of your life and hanging on for minutes on end.

 

___It was yet still not only the fact that we were about to travel the cosmos -a place so far from what we know on earth that it feel like a sci-fi movie- for the first time.

 

___It was just the combination of everything I could think of, being up here at the climax of my life and humans evolution. I was shaking and had all kinds of emotions and thoughts as I took my time alone to absorb this moment like it was my last.

 

___Not much long after these moments is when I felt a need to go lay down. My body felt like it had just ran a 100m sprint! and needed a few hours to simmer down and relax, not to mention in SPACE!

[Jay-qu]

We just shifted the threshold of what is considered science fiction :unlove:

[arkain101]

:unlove:

 

I wonder if we should have a place for the storyline only to keep things clean and orderly. Anyone want to get on that?

There is such a mix of posts in here it can be difficult to find what was where.

[Tormod]

:unlove:

 

I wonder if we should have a place for the storyline only to keep things clean and orderly. Anyone want to get on that?

There is such a mix of posts in here it can be difficult to find what was where.

 

We can open a separate forum for it where only the participants can post. Or we can create a blog.

[ronthepon]

You mean like the lounge? That will be somewhat nice.

 

But the 'gossip' thread should be nearby, just a bottom-of-the-page link away.

 

And I'd love this place if such interesting activities will be held in the future, after we land back on earth.

[TheBigDog]

When does the documentary movie about the preparation come out?

Bit by bit. I plan on convering the ten years buildup as rememberances that will explain the process. Others are welcome to join in the process. We may end up recalling the specifics differently, but that is just like life, isn't it?

 

Bill

[ronthepon]

Ten years?

 

Ten years?

 

Ten Years?!!

 

:unlove:

[TheBigDog]

:unlove:

 

I wonder if we should have a place for the storyline only to keep things clean and orderly. Anyone want to get on that?

There is such a mix of posts in here it can be difficult to find what was where.

I am selectivly collecting the posts into a cohesive linear storyline. I will post that growing document periodically, including illustrations. In the short term lets keep going like we are going. :cat: But we can keep up the discussions about how we can keep the storyline clean.

 

Bill

[TheBigDog]

Ten years?

 

Ten years?

 

Ten Years?!!

 

:unlove:

Time is our plaything. :cat:

 

Bill

[ronthepon]

Oho! SO we're gonna be in cryogenic states for extended periods of time!

 

Aha!

 

Pure excellence!

 

Or is it going to be simple cut!s in the movie scene?

[TheFaithfulStone]

I heard RonThePon squealing and bouncing out in the hallway, but I barely even looked up.

 

I was hard at work replacing malfunctioning hydraulic cylinders with shape metal alloys and nitrogen gas muscles. I had been at it for almost fourteen hours straight - but I was nearly done, just about ready to stow the bots for launch.

 

At least the gravity was working again! It's a pain in the *** to find a screwdriver when it's floating around among ten thousand robotic components.

 

I could here everyone else out in the hallway, whooping and hollering, getting ready for the launch. But I, procrastinating as always, had left the bot tending to the last minute. It didn't help matters that my experimental ferromagnetic shape alloys hadn't arrived until the last shuttle.

 

The mini CNT factory and the injection molder were also in poor condition - they'd just been used to fab-up some plows for the bots I'd refitted for ag-duty. I hope I got those back soon - but I wasn't harboring any illusions.

 

I didn't know if there would be time to properly clean up the shop before it was off to the moon, but I was almost finished getting the last bot in working order.

 

I sealed "him" up and stowed him in his little garden-shed sized closet. Each of the bots had an individual "bedroom" like that, which kept them from getting jostled around on the ship unless they were actually doing something.

 

I kept trying to buzz ag and tell them to put away my babies, but they weren't answering the intercom. Typical farmers.:warped:

 

Anyway, everything finally got done. I washed the hydraulic fluid and silicon grease off of my hands and tried to straighten up a little.

 

Then I headed up to the bridge - I wanted to see the take off from a better viewpoint than the garage.

 

TFS

[TheBigDog]

FINAL COUNTDOWN

 

Like the past ten years, the hours leading to our break from earth’s orbit were well planned, expertly executed, and appeared to outsiders to be complete chaos. But that ability to function in absolute calm under the most frantic conditions was exactly the quality I had been looking for in this crew. And at this moment in time they all had their “A” game going.

 

I had looked through the applications and personnel jackets of every member of the crew. And there had been evaluations from my senior staff on all of them over the past years as we narrowed down the crew that would be on the maiden voyage. Tough decisions had been made, but those were all behind me now. This was our moment of glory. And this was also the first time I was meeting many of them face to face. They were a sight to behold. Most of the crew had been onboard for five or six months already. Life onboard was natural to them now, as it would be for me quickly enough. The leadership who had been working ungodly hours for the past years, and had been the creative energy behind the series of successes that had come to define the Prophesy had been on earth for the sendoff party. And I had the opportunity to spend time with them during that raucous affair and unwind as we gave the world the first of several spectacles to remember. But everyone had quickly returned to the ship and gotten back to the serious business of making their dreams into reality. And here we were, just 3 hours from leaving for the moon, and at the climactic moment of our shared existence.

 

But first the details. Always the details that are the real magic behind the seemingly miraculous. It was time to step out of my behind the scenes role I had played on earth, and step into being a member of the crew.

 

“Pyro, where are we on the checklist?” I asked as I wiggled out of the bulky space suite I was wearing. I had my crew uniform on underneath. It seemed totally natural to be in either suit here on the ship. Even as I was stepping out of the last leg RonThePon was mysteriously at my side to carry it away to my quarters. He also had a pair of Chuck Taylor’s from my luggage with him. The kid was on the ball.

 

“Well, we are running about 15 minutes behind right now. But we anticipate leaving orbit as scheduled.”

 

We were in the command and control module. It was a uniquely designed area of the ship. Open space that was broadened even further by the Hi-def monitors that covered the walls. All vital ship operations could be monitored from this room. It was the nerve center. And the command staff was the brain.

 

In the center of the room along one wall was the command console itself. This was a huge panoramic monitor. Below the monitor were two operator consoles. Seated here were two red-shirts who responded to commander’s requests to bring up different information on the panoramic screen. The commanders used this terminal to coordinate complex ship operations and to plan hypothetical mission changes via simulation. There were three of these consoles in this module, but the others did not have the operator’s consoles. They had just the simpler command controls and were for more for planning, not actual command and control.

 

We were standing at the rail of the main command post. The panoramic screen before us was 2 meters high and 4 meters wide. Every inch of it glorious high def resolution. On the screen was a computer generated of the Prophesy with the earth below. This image while simulated and compiled from live cameras was being rendered in real time to show the ship. With a simple selection the ship could be made transparent, and the extra vehicular children (MEL, MEUS, Wrangler) highlighted. Selecting a ship lets you see its real time diagnostics and telemetry, or communicate directly with the pilot. The screen can be split any number of ways to provide multiple views. And everything is rendered in 3D, allowing you to turn, twist and zoom to see the view from any angle you choose. Alternately you can see the planned and projected course of the ship. And compare the actual path to what the planned path had been. The collision warning and avoidance also is displayed graphically. It provides views of probably collision targets and their projected paths in relation to the ship’s own path, calculates alternatives, and lets the commander on deck choose the option for evasion that should be taken.

 

“Con, lets see our flight plan.” The operator in seat one quickly changed the view. Half of the screen remained the view of the Prophesy above the earth. The other half was a wide view of the earth. A digital line wrapped around it, part blue, part green. At the point where the two colors met was a tiny 3D image of the Prophesy. The line showed her projected path in green, and where she had traveled in blue. There were less than two orbits remaining and the line green line began to move away from the earth.

 

“Con, lets see the milestones.” Almost immediately markers appeared along the path. On the rail in front of me was a touch screen that listed the markers seen above. Alongside each was detailed information about that milestone. I could choose to display that information on the main screen with a touch of my finger. Or…

“Con, set the countdown to each milestone. And I want to see where we are behind the clock.” A second later it was done. There was a ticker next to each milestone counting down time. Currently they were all in a green box, except one. It was in a yellow box and showed two counters. In addition to the projected time it displayed a second number showing that it was 13:41 behind schedule.

 

“See, they already made up a minute twenty while we were getting you onboard. It is not a linked event, so if it runs late it should not impact our timing for leaving orbit.” Pyro had been monitoring all of this very closely while not dragging me though the ship to my station. And he continued to do so.

 

“Is that KickAssClown handling the Wrangler out there?” This was the ship currently highlighted in yellow.

 

“Yeah.” Pyro gave me sideways grin. “That is why I am not worried about the schedule.” This gave us both a chuckle. More than one time KAC’s skill in the seat of a Wrangler had kept us on schedule during the construction of the ship. The contractors were really pissed when they lost him to the crew.

 

Forcing myself to relax, I eased back into one of the command chairs and took in the well orchestrated operation like a show. Pyro had the operation at his skilled fingertips, and I would just be in the way if I tried to assert myself into the operation. The two con operators seemed to be extensions of his mind. Bringing up requested information seemingly before the words had left his lips.

 

The first business at hand was cycling up the hydraulics for the main engine shock absorbers. I am not an engineer, so my explanation of these would not be the best. Suffice to say that without the hydraulic shocks the ship would be shaken to pieces when the series of nuclear explosions used to push it through space are being set off in series just behind the push plate. I just know that if they don’t warm up the hydraulic fluid before ignition it is not good. I leave the rest to the real engineers. They currently have some plans for improving this even while we are underway. These guys are fantastic.

 

As the hydraulic temperature climbs to the prescribed level, my attention changes to the attached capsule. It is being loaded with people still onboard who will not be coming with us to the moon. The final contractors who have been outfitting the ship and ensuring everything is as ordered. Gahd has been relentlessly making sure that there are no maintenance surprises. On the screen I can see the count of people loaded into the capsule. A Wrangler was mounted to the capsule to bring it clear of the ship for reentry. Crew in zeroG were insuring that all the equipment was stowed correctly and ready for the change in acceleration. As they completed their checklists on their electronic work pads the status was immediately updated on the main control panel. There were no issues.

 

Only one MEL remained in operation. It was prepared to take the crew from zeroG back to the main ring. During engine burn everyone needs to be in the main ring. This is a safety precaution. During drift if you get separated from the ship you will stay in position relative to the ship. A wrangler can be sent out to retrieve you within a few minutes. But during acceleration if you get separated from the ship it will begin to outdistance you. And you will soon be exposed to the raw nuclear detonations from the main engine. Not a good place to be. So we have a strict rule of no extravehicular traffic during main engine burns.

 

The extent of the activity is compelling. I sit and continue to watch events unfold around me. The capsule that I had arrived on is being pushed off from the ship. The Wrangler piloted by KAC is maneuvering it away from the ship where it will begin its descent back to the earth. Once below the ship and oriented correctly it will fire its small engine to slow into a descent orbit. The last thing it does before separating from the Wrangler is transport fuel to top off the ship that maneuvered it. This method of keeping the Wranglers filled has kept us from needing to tap into the Prophesy’s main fuel reserves for any extravehicular missions to this date. Of course once free from earth the gigantic main tanks will become one of the limiting factors for how long we can remain in deep space doing our research. Something we need to consider for each extravehicular mission that we plan. Once the fuel transfer is complete the Wrangler frees itself and begins moving back to the ship. At the nose of the ship it attaches to the docking bay and locks on. This is the “ready Wrangler”. During transits it stays locked to the docking bay. In just a few minutes a crewman can make his way to it for any kind of emergency mission that may be required.

 

On another window I watch as the capsule I had arrived upon counts down and fires its small engine. It begins its descent back to earth exactly on schedule. And all the markers are green again. I begin to really relax and enjoy the work of the professionals I that have gathered together to become this spectacular team.

 

The last capsule is on its way to the main ring. Onboard are the last crew members who buttoned down zeroG for our engine burn that will bring us out of orbit. After securing the capsule the MEL attaches itself to the bottom of the ring so that its operator can get back onboard the ship. MEL’s are always stowed on the bottom of the rings. They can bring a single crewmember to zeroG, or they can carry an 8 man capsule to zeroG. They also carry equipment out of the main cargo bays. Other craft are kept in the cargo bays and the crew must get there by way of a MEL.

 

My trance is broken by a tap on the shoulder. “BD, we have some sandwiches and soup. Get ‘em while they last.”

 

“Thanks Boerseun. What’s on the menu tonight?”

 

“Don’t worry about the menu. Just show up with an appetite.”

 

“Wilco. Thanks Mullet.” Even our crewmember nicknames are several layers think sometimes.

 

Back to the big screen as I munch a plate with a variety of finger sandwiches. My big plastic 7/11 cup has also found its way to my side filled with ice water. The sandwiches are delicious. But I am ravenous for the view on the screen. The flurry of events has dwindled. We have completed everything on our checklists except for one thing. We have not reached the point of our orbit where we light the engine and leave the security of earths orbit. There are still some unanswered questions about the engines. The answers will be coming quickly.

 

“Where is the crew gathering” I asked Pyro.

 

“They are mainly in the canteen. Our guests are there with them.” How he knew this I have no idea. I had been watching the same information and listening to the same conversations. It would take some time to get in tune with the pulse of commanding the ship. But there is plenty of time for that.

 

“Have you got any surprises for us this evening?” I ask with a half grin while shooting a sideways glance at my command companion.

 

Without breaking his attention from the main board he replies with his own grin, “You’ll have to stick around and find out.”

 

“Can we get a visual of the canteen? I want to see what is going on down there.” The monitor on the right hand of my command chair lights up with a view inside the canteen. I can see our guests sitting at the long tables. Food plates with the remains of meals left for picking are scattered about. Everyone is fixated on the screens that cover the walls. They have the same view that we do. The graphical mission schedule with the tiny Prophesy slowly making her last orbit of the earth.

 

“Lets give them something to get them excited.” Pyro says this as dry as you can expect. But it is loaded. I know that he has something planned for right now.

 

“Crew of the Prophesy, and people of the world. We have waited long enough. The computer has given us an alternative solution. We fire the engines in one minute.”

 

You could have heard a pin drop for about a tenth of a second. Then the Pyro touched his screen and the view changed. There was a new line on the screen, and a large graphic that began counting down… “58… 57… 56…” The crew was on their feet and cheering along with the countdown. Pyro turned to me and says shaking his head. “Everything is ready. No point waiting any longer”

 

“Isn’t this being telecast world wide?” I ask. PR is always a concern.

 

“They better get out of commercials then.”

 

“47… 46… 45…” Everyone onboard was counting down. Everyone on earth was counting down.

 

“42… 41… 40… 30…” Everybody sees it, but nobody quite gets it. On the screen the countdown continues, “20… 10… FIRE ENGINES” Pyro and I start laughing so hard that our sides hurt. There are screams from the canteen. Some of fright and some of pure delight. Everyone has jumped to their feet. The screams of the crew are echoed all over the world as the engines of the Prophesy are throttled up. The next giant leap into the future had begun.

 

Bill (takeoff)

[CraigD]

Via ground-based RADAR (real world: via the gravity simulator I used in another thread, slightly enhanced to support propulsion), I made The Prophesy passing the orbit of the Moon like a bat out of hell at an distance above Earth of 400130988 m, velocity 12789.2 m/s, at about 1441 EST. Max velocity 13049.6 m/s at DAE 91429242 m was at 0800 EST, at engine cutoff, following her 3.5 hr, .98 m.s^2 burn. Pre-burn low earth orbital velocity was 7690 m/s at DAE 400000 m.

 

I’m a little perplexed, as I’d heard she intended to orbit the Moon, but apparently she’d decided to stretch her legs a bit. Wow. :)

[TheFaithfulStone]

There are screams from the canteen. Some of freight and some of pure delight.

 

I am very concerned that the freight is screaming. :)

 

TFS

[TheBigDog]

I am very concerned that the freight is screaming. :(

 

TFS

:)

[Jay-qu]

I will have to get Pyro to check the calculations, a mid flight course change may be in order :)

 

We can open a separate forum for it where only the participants can post. Or we can create a blog.

Can we do this please :( Then there will be a whole lot of cleaning up to do! and can you make me a BigDog mods of the forum, thanks ;)

 

Also I just got half life, so when you have a map sorta ready I would like to try it :)