Launch on Need by Daniel Guiteras (small books to read txt) 📗

“So what’ve we got?” Brown asked as he entered the room.

“Well, we’re just not sure,” the senior engineer Steve Metzer said, feeling like all his years working for NASA had counted for nothing. “I mean it looks like a clean…”

Brown cut him off before he could finish.

“No such thing as a clean launch when you work in my department. Remember how nice everyone thought Columbia’s launch was. I think the term our own public affairs office used was ‘uneventful’—uneventful compared to Challenger yes, but the whole world knows Columbia’s launch has turned out to be anything but uneventful.”

“We saw debris at L-plus-thirty-two seconds, but I would hate to quantify it or speculate on its damage potential,” Metzer said, getting back to Atlantis.

“You know it seems like they still don’t get it,” Brown said in a complaining tone.

“Who? What?” Metzer asked.

“Well, I’m not exactly sure who,” Brown replied, “but the what is this foam loss problem—how big it is. For one thing, the whole shuttle program is grounded as soon as Atlantis gets home—expect one to two years before we get flying again.” Brown shook his head in disgust and paused.

Metzer looked at the others in the room. Their faces all held the same expression; they knew a short sermon from Brown was coming.

“You know,” Brown continued, “we’re not doing great work here today. NASA isn’t showing the world some new discovery. We’re not landing on the moon for the first time, or visiting some far-off land. No, instead we’re rescuing seven marooned astronauts today, not because of some surprise glitch, or some frickin’ alien encounter. No, we had to go get ’em because we weren’t paying attention, the clues were missed or ignored, the right people got complacent.”

Metzer and the rest of the team simply listened to Brown. Brown wasn’t complaining as much as he was disappointed, disappointed in what his beloved organization had become.

“The media would have me excited and proud that NASA is saving seven astronauts today. But today’s mission isn’t something I can be proud of. Oh, I suppose it’s amazing technically, and impressive the way manpower, the human spirit, and drive was able to overcome huge hurdles and all that bull crap. But the only reason we’re doing the rescue is because we screwed up and didn’t fix the foam problem in the first place. This is not a great day in my book!”

The team continued nodding in agreement. They felt the raw abrasion of hearing the plain truth.

“The lighting is much tougher at night. The images aren’t as clean,” Brown said with eyes welling. He’d swapped topics without any warning; he was back on task. “Once she’s off the pad it’s almost impossible to make any reliable assessment, especially from the preliminary films. It’s anyone’s guess. We, of course, won’t be able to wait for the hi-res images to know for sure. Houston’s not gonna give us that much time. We’ll have to go with satellite images first, see what those look like. Hopefully they’ll give us all we need. If we still have questions about Atlantis’s damage status, we may have to request a wing EVA to confirm there is no damage.”

“And if Atlantis is damaged?” Metzer asked the group. No one dared answer. “The plan is to complete the transfer of the Columbia crew to Atlantis anyway, right? Then what?” Metzer’s eyes scanned the group, but no answers came. “Atlantis won’t be able to reach the Space Station from Columbia’s orbit either.” The statement hung in the room for a few seconds. Metzer had posed a dimension of the rescue situation that no one wanted to even consider. And just in case the first part of his query hadn’t stung enough, there was part two. “And then how will they all get back home? We’ll what, launch yet another shuttle?”

Brown heard the skepticism in Metzer’s voice but did not comment on his question. Instead, to the relief of the others in the room he changed the subject with another question. “By the way, any word on when we can expect the satellite images?”

“I was told by Warner they could come as soon as twenty minutes after MECO. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. Warner wants you to call him ASAP,” Metzer said, wondering how he could have forgotten the message. “Something about the satellite images of Atlantis being classified.”

“What? Why would they be classified?”

Metzer shrugged his shoulders in response.

“The images have never been…” Brown started to say, then stopped himself. He guessed Warner had worked out something with Cheyenne Mountain. Must have pulled some strings in high places. Brown smiled and shook his head thinking about previous Department of Defense space shuttle payloads and what kind of special equipment, top-secret equipment they might have carried.

Brown checked his watch thoughtfully, then glanced at a TV monitor that was showing CNN coverage of the launch.

“So, like, as soon as ten minutes from now?” Brown asked, looking back at Metzer while walking out of the room.

“Yes, could be that soon,” Metzer called out to him.

Chapter 51

“AND THERE WE HAVE Main Engine Cutoff or MECO as NASA refers to it. The point at which the three liquid-fueled main engines of Atlantis are turned off. And in just a few seconds now…” Stangley touched his left ear to adjust his earpiece. “Okay we’re hearing the NASA announcer calling the External Tank separation—so now Atlantis is technically in orbit, free of both SRBs—the solid rocket boosters, and the external tank.”

The external tank fell suddenly away from Atlantis following the detonation of its attachment bolts. Initially, it seemed to hold its glide path with Atlantis like a chase plane at its flank. But it was falling back to Earth, gaining speed and heat along the way, the thickening air causing it to tumble. It continued to heat and burn and tumble, burning up completely before any