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

“Now I want to give you a visual of what NASA is planning for the rendezvous with Columbia,” Stangley said as he reached for the two orbiter models on the desk next to him.

Holding up one orbiter model for the camera Stangley continued, “This model will represent Columbia. I have placed this red stripe on the top of this model to help you remember which orbiter is which in this little demonstration I am going to give you. Ah,” Stangley lifted the other orbiter model into view, “and this model will represent Atlantis. Note the green stripe on top. Now before Atlantis arrives at the rendezvous point with Columbia, the commander of Columbia will maneuver Columbia into this upside-down position relative to Earth. Then, Atlantis will slowly approach Columbia from below and eventually end up in this position. The two orbiter’s will be headed ninety degrees apart from each other. Columbia will be upside down, and Atlantis right side up relative to Earth. Payload bay doors will be open and facing each other. This ninety-degree offset heading will help to keep the tail sections of the orbiter’s from making contact.

“NASA expects the entire astronaut transfer operation to last eight to nine hours, so the two orbiters will have to be flown manually the entire time. I’ve been holding these two models next to each other so you can get an idea of how they will meet in space—but keep in mind the amount of space between them will be only twenty feet—twenty feet apart for eight to nine hours!”

Chapter 52

Johnson Space Center, Houston

Mission Control Center

“THIS IS WARNER.”

“Allan, Ken Brown returning your call.”

“Oh Ken, yeah it’s…I’ve been meaning to call…it’s about the imaging for Atlantis. As you know, we won’t have time for hi-res film processing for this launch. We’ll need a launch-debris damage-assessment ASAP.”

“Metzer gave me a message from you, said something about the images being classified?”

“Right, well, here’s the deal. Let me preface what I’m about to tell you with this: I know imaging is your area of expertise and I would certainly include you and your department if it were up to me. You know I think you’re an invaluable asset to the organization. You are far more skilled at image analysis than me, but it’s one of those security clearance things. Ken, this one’s out of my hands.”

“So I’m not going to see the images, is that it?”

Warner was hoping to avoid any conflict with Brown on this one, hoping he would just let it go.

“You won’t see the initial images, no,” Warner replied as directly as he could, “at least not at the resolution that they will be presented to me. I’m not completely clear on how the whole thing is going to work.”

“So, you’re not just getting first crack at it, you might be getting the only crack at it?”

“Possibly, yes. Let me explain. Two days ago I spoke with a Commander Scheckter at Cheyenne Mountain. You remember Scheckter from Cheyenne Mountain. He’s the guy in charge of the Space Surveillance Network.”

“Right, I’ve met him.”

“Okay, well the purpose of my call was to determine what level of imaging we could expect from classified national resources. Well, in typical military fashion, Scheckter first dodged the question, wondered what I meant by ‘classified resources.’ But he finally came around when I reminded him of the president’s proclamation that we as a country would pull out all the stops, do everything we could, use all our resources, to effect a safe return of Columbia’s crew.”

“Right and high-end satellite images would qualify,” Brown insisted.

“Exactly. So after a bit of wiggling, he told me that he could provide images of Atlantis shortly after she arrives on orbit. He made a point to tell me that he would not offer any information as to how the images were obtained. He also stressed that the images would not be made available to the media under any circumstances, and that NASA would not retain any copies of the images for its own use. The media will simply learn that Atlantis has been inspected for damage and that she is either go no-go for reentry.”

“So what, my guys just sit around and wait?”

“Well, here’s what I want to do. Scheckter gave the okay for me to have you on the phone when the images are shown to me. That way, if you have specific questions for me, things you want to focus on, want me to look for, we can do it by phone while I’m looking at the images. So, as soon as they’re in front of me I’ll call you.”

“What do you mean they’ll be ‘shown to you’?”

“Shown to me? What do you…?”

“You said the images would be shown to you. How?”

“Well, my understanding is that there will be a representative from Cheyenne Mountain here to serve as a—Scheckter used the term ‘conduit’—for the images. Once the images are obtained, this person will access some secure government web site or satellite feed or some God knows what, and then he’ll show me the images of Atlantis on a laptop computer. Nothing will be printed out; the images will be confiscated as soon as I, we, determine the status of Atlantis.”

Brown didn’t know what to say. He was caught in a tornado of thoughts. That he would not be the one to see the images of Atlantis bothered him only slightly. He knew he did not have the clearance to see the kind of images Warner was talking about. He never had. He was mostly intrigued about the idea of some secret means of obtaining images. He’d studied imaging of all types. It was his area of expertise and primary interest. He was fascinated by the idea that there existed some type of hardware that could render such images. Most satellites he had read about were in