Launch (9 page)

Final preparations for
Origin
’s launch
began in April of 2050. Team Thunder arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base and
began intensive starship flight training using a new and complex maneuvering
simulator. When the astronauts were not flying the simulator, they were in
classrooms learning to anticipate every possible flight situation. They also
monitored the final assembly and checks on
Origin
. Cougar Flight, or
whoever might replace them as primary crew, needed to have a full understanding
of and confidence in the ship.

Joanne and Michael owned a house in the
mountains near Santa Barbara, and they invited Claire and David to stay there.
To avoid long drives to and from Vandenberg every day, Cougar Flight chartered
a helicopter. It was expensive, but it was the last time they would ever spend
with their friends.

▼

Origin
’s
first test flight was scheduled for the morning of Friday, May 4, 2050. Claire
and David made sure the pockets of their flight suits were empty before leaving
their bedroom. Then David picked a quarter up from the top of the bureau, said,
“Call it,” and flipped the coin.

She called heads while it was in the air, and it
was heads up when it landed on their bed.

“Your choice,” he said. “If you fly today, I’ll
fly the second flight, and so on.”

She smiled. “I’ll fly today. Thank you, Buni.”

▼

Under clear blue skies, a crew bus dropped Cougar
Flight off beside
Origin
, and then drove off, leaving them alone. Being
alone was part of their test. They would be completely alone for years in
interstellar space.

Because of the noise
Origin
would
generate during launch, it sat on a pad off by itself near the Pacific Ocean.
Midmorning sun threw the top of the giant pyramid’s shadow onto ocean waves. The
starship’s triangular base and the pad it sat on were bigger than several city
blocks. Three fusion engines extended over pits that would channel the intense exhaust
heat away.

After Claire and David entered the nearby door
in the middle of a down edge, she closed and locked it. They ignored steps that
seemed to go up forever and stood on an elevator platform that lifted them up
the stairway to an airlock. They passed through that, through a storeroom
passageway, and through another airlock to emerge into the cabin. Everything
was familiar. It was like the quarters they had lived in for more than two
years.

Claire lifted the red safety cover at the
shirtsleeve control console and flipped the master electrical power switch from
ground power mode to all systems available. The console lit up, and the ship
seemed to thrive, as if anxious to leap into the cold, dark vacuum of space.

Cougar Flight completed their initial tasks.
Then David spoke to NASA for the first time, “Ground checklist complete.”

A controller responded, “Roger. We concur.”

Claire and David went into their maneuvering
control compartments behind the shirtsleeve control compartment and helped each
other into their spacesuits. After final suit checks, they belted themselves
into their individual maneuvering control couches. Claire used her console
controls to close all doors, including the door between the maneuvering compartments.
Each would be physically alone during launches, landings, and during critical
maneuvers in space. Isolation of each compartment from the other was a safety
feature. If one was damaged, the other could still function.

After the before-start checklists were
complete, David transmitted, “Ready for engine start.”

“Roger. Cleared to start.”

Claire started the engines. In the cabin,
surrounded by fuel tanks, sound insulation, and storerooms, the sound was
barely audible. Outside, she knew, each engine sounded like a horrendous
thunderclap that did not stop.

NASA cleared the ship for launch, and Claire smoothly
increased all four engines to full power. Quad Fusion Thunder became a reality
that people could clearly hear and feel for miles in all directions.

Side four was down, supporting the weight of
Origin
with all the fuel that it could lift from Earth. The ship looked like a pyramid
with engine E-4 at the top. Because of its location, that engine could only
produce partial thrust using six nozzles angled down.

 It took five minutes after launch to climb to
a position 2,000 feet above the ocean. Claire hovered there and carefully
rotated the starship until the edge between side one and side two was up.
Origin
then looked like a giant wedge positioned to split the heavens. Tons of fuel
lighter and with all four engines producing maximum thrust from nozzle 1-2, the
ship began to accelerate in a vertical climb.

Somebody in the control room pressed a mike
button. Claire and David heard cheers and the sound of distant thunder as the
ship climbed into the clear blue sky.

Spectacular views of Earth and space appeared
on Claire’s monitors as the starship climbed into space for the first time, but
she did not have time for sightseeing. Everything on board had to be monitored
as closely as possible. The onboard computers helped, but they had never flown
before either.

After completion of long safety checklists, Claire
and David were thrilled during tests of the four engines and 52 nozzles. Neither
had ever flown anything with
Origin
’s performance, and the maneuvers
they had practiced in their simulators became gut-wrenching reality. Claire
invented a maneuver she called the pinwheel that spun the ship while she
changed its orientation to test engines and nozzles.

With that done, they took off their space suits
to work on the remaining checklists more comfortably at the shirtsleeve control
console.

The end of their planned workday seemed to come
quickly. David transmitted. “First day checklists complete. We’re going to suit
up for return to base.”

Jim Baldwin answered instead of the expected
Vandenberg controller. “The winds here and at altitude are calm,” he said. “How
do you guys feel?”

They knew what he was asking. The empty fuel
tank that would store their fuel in space had to be lifted into orbit.

Claire nodded and David said, “We are go for
tank pickup.”

▼

The fuel tank resembled a giant ice cream cone
with its wide end on a concrete pad. A fuel transfer connector, called the
“ring”, was at the point. It was bigger than the circle a man could make with
his arms, but even so, it was tiny compared to the vast bulk of the starship.

Origin
’s
fuel transfer connector was called the “grip.” Connecting the grip and the ring
would be like gently touching the tip of a person’s nose with an aircraft
carrier.

While putting on their space suits, Claire
said, “Would you mind taking the ship down to initial pickup altitude? I would
like to rest my eyes a bit.”

“I would like that,” he said. “Thank you.” It
would be his first time to actually fly
Origin
.

She did relax and close her eyes in her
maneuvering control couch while he descended over the Pacific Ocean with the
edge between side two and side three down: the grip was in the center of that
edge. When he leveled off, he called Claire on the intercom. “Level at three
thousand feet, edge 2-3 is down. Your ship.”

“Roger. Level at three thousand, edge 2-3 down.
My ship. Thank you, Buni.”

“You’re quite welcome, Cougar.”

While approaching the fuel tank from over the
ocean, Claire opened the doors covering the grip. Lights and 3-D video cameras
surrounding it came on automatically.

She came to a hover directly over the tank, and
then began a measured descent while keeping the grip centered over the ring.
Bit by bit she lowered the enormous ship. The images drifted slightly off
center. She stopped the descent, brought the ship back into perfect alignment,
and ever so slowly, began to lower the ship again. Mentally, she was prepared
to accelerate back into the sky if alignment appeared to be too far off for a
small correction.

Almost imperceptibly, the grip crept down to
the ring. Movement seemed to stop. Claire considered reducing thrust slightly,
but the connectors were very close. An almost imperceptible descent began
again, latches locked into place gripping the ring around the tank’s connector,
and a green light appeared on Claire’s monitor.

Keeping side loads on the grip and ring to a
minimum, she deftly lifted the tank into orbit on the dark side of Earth. Then
she set the tank to flip end over end once every orbit. With the sun shield on
the blunt end of the tank always pointed at the sun, Origin’s fuel could be
kept cold and liquid.

On the intercom, she said “I show orbit,
orientation, and flip are correct.”

“I agree,” David said.

Claire did a successful transfer of fuel from
the starship to the tank, keeping enough for a safe landing. Then she released
the tank and backed the starship a short distance away. She smiled when the Sun
came into view. It was perfectly centered on the blunt end of the tank.

Claire landed
Origin
just before sunset with
side one down so side four could be inspected from the outside for the first
time.

Cougar Flight entered the control center to
loud cheers from the controllers and Team Thunder. Dr. Perry Wright beamed at
David. “That was better than optimal! That was excellent!”

David put his right arm around Claire’s
shoulders and nodded. “I think she flew very well.”

Dr. Wright appeared to be startled but
recovered quickly and said, “Congratulations Claire
–
Cougar,” as he shook hands with her.

She smiled. “Thank you, sir.”

▼

A spontaneous party was in progress as Jim
Baldwin walked with Dr. Wright to his car.

“I know Buni is a decorated fighter pilot,” Dr.
Wright said. “But he must have balls the size of the biggest bells at Notre
Dame to let Cougar fly that mission. I’m surprised he doesn’t clang when he
walks.”

Jim grinned, “He knows she’s a good pilot. She
has to fly to maintain her confidence and skills, so they’ll be there when
needed.”

Dr. Wright turned as they reached his car. He
put out his hand. “Good pilot is an understatement. They are superb because of
your supervision and training, Jim. Congratulations.”

Jim said, “Thank you, sir,” as he shook hands.
He knew he couldn’t take credit for Claire and David’s flying skill, but he
also knew better than to contradict his boss when he was being complimented.

As Dr. Wright drove off, Jim returned to the
party and his friends in Team Thunder.

Cougar Flight made two more test flights in May
and two in June, each time carrying the maximum fuel that the ship could lift
from Earth. Fuel not required for the flight was transferred to the orbiting
fuel tank. After the fifth, and final, test flight, the orbiting tank was full,
Claire and David were experienced starship pilots, and
Origin
was ready
to go.

▼

The premier of
Porgy and Bess
was held
at the Chinese theater in Hollywood. The media reported that fans were very
pleasantly surprised to see Cougar Flight emerge from the limousine with Joanne
and Michael.

▼

A week before launch, they hosted a bon voyage
party for Claire and David at their house near Santa Barbara. In bed after the
party, Claire told David that Commander Susan Wolf was pregnant. “She’ll be
staying here with everybody she knows and loves,” she said wistfully. “Her baby
will be in her arms before we get to near-light speed.”

“Do you want to back out and let Leah and Matt
take the flight?” David asked.

“We have an obligation to NASA and everybody
who has trusted and supported us,” she said. “And to ourselves and our
children. I think it will be hard
–
it is hard
–
but we’re committed. We’re going.”

Claire went to sleep that night in David's arms
with tears in her eyes.

▼

Michael took custody of Claire and David’s
possessions as co-trustee of their living trust. Everything would be given to
charity after one year except David’s antique MG. That would be refurbished and
sold at a charity auction soon after the launch to get maximum yield.

They were taking a few personal items with
them, including a small but heavy going-away present from Michael.

“Open this when your journey is half done,” he
said as he gave it to Claire, “and know that Joanne and I love you both.”

▼

Five days before the launch, David received two
sets of orders: One was from the United States Air Force promoting him to full
colonel. A second set from NASA, signed by the President of the United States,
gave him command of
Origin
. Claire also received two sets of orders: The
first promoted her from Captain to Lieutenant Colonel. The second made her
second in command of
Origin
.

David read Claire’s orders and grinned. “From
second lieutenant to captain, from captain to lieutenant colonel. You like
skipping steps, don’t you?”

She nodded and grinned. “Yes, and the next skip
is going to be a biggie—for both of us.”

▼

Just before 10 o’clock in the morning on July
4, 2050, David started the four fusion engines: four perfect storms whose noise
went from earsplitting to unbelievable as they came to full power.
Origin
lifted off and rotated to edge 1-2 up. Then it climbed majestically straight up
over the Pacific Ocean as if time, speed, and distance were of no serious
consequence.

Joanne and Michael watched the launch from the
soundproofed VIP section of the Vandenberg launch control center. They should
have had a clear view, but their vision w
as blurred by
tears.