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

guys who understood the importance of the heat shield. “What Joe and I need to know,” Pollard continued slowly and carefully, “is what’s underneath each of these five tiles. We need to know how critical they are for a safe reentry.”

Pollard rolled her wrist to check her watch. “Guys, we need to decide all this in the next…” Pollard hesitated, then thought better of giving them a time limit. “Joe and I will wait here for your recommendation.”

“Julie, with all due respect,” Altin said, “shouldn’t we just flip a coin? Heads they make it back, tails they don’t? Don’t we bring Atlantis down no matter what the damage is?” Despite his comment, and not one to shy away from a challenge, Altin opened his laptop, signaling he’d do what he could even if it made little sense to him.

“We can tell you exactly where your damaged tiles are located on Atlantis, and what’s directly under them.” He found the TPS database for Atlantis, opened it. “That’s the easy part. But guessing whether or not a certain-percent breach will be catastrophic, well, that’s a whole other matter. We don’t have data percentages like that. This amount of damage, they still make it back. Take away a tile or two more, still okay. Take away part of just one more and we have a burn through. Julie, we just don’t have that kind of information.”

“Alright, let’s take this one step at a time,” Senca said. “The biggest area of damage we have is with tiles three and four on the list.”

Altin spun the paper on the table so the codes faced him again, then keyed in the ID codes from tiles three and four with maniacal speed.

“The damage is spread across tiles three and four. It’s full thickness over an area that measures three-and-a-quarter by two-and-a-half inches,” Senca added.

“How is it that we know the exact area?” one of the engineers asked.

Pollard answered firmly, “The data’s unequivocal. We don’t need to discuss the quality of the data, guys. We know it’s solid. We need to focus only on what it means for Atlantis.”

“Left wing, ten inches off the centerline, adjacent to left main gear door,” Altin blurted out. “X-oh at eleven-thirty-two-point-eight-seventeen, Y-oh at sixty-four-point-zero-four-seven.” Altin was referring to the X, Y, Z, three-dimensional coordinate system used by NASA to identify the exact location of every component on an orbiter and shuttle stack.

“Fine,” Senca said. “Now can you tell us what’s directly beneath those two tiles?”

“Well, you’ve got metal,” Altin said. “An aluminum frame member, so you’re somewhat lucky there. Directly above that are helium and nitrogen tanks. Course, if you burn through that far, the tanks will be the least of your problems.” Altin flattened the paper with his hand so he could read and enter the other three tile ID codes.

Chapter 60

Kennedy Space Center, Florida

CNN Mobile Studio

“OKAY, WE’RE STARTING to get our first pictures now from NASA. It’s live video actually, not still pictures, this video from Atlantis as it prepares to make its final approach. Atlantis is closing in. We’re told that Atlantis is less than nine nautical miles away now from its target rendezvous position with Columbia. However, it’s still expected to take another couple of hours to close this relatively short distance,” Stangley said, sharing his admiration for the space program with his CNN audience.

“Remember now, Columbia is already flying upside down relative to Earth. Atlantis will be approaching, right side up, from below Columbia,” Stangley said, handling his two orbiter models once again. “It won’t be long until the astronauts will be able to wave to each other from their flight deck windows. I can’t imagine what the Columbia astronauts must be feeling right now, seeing Atlantis coming closer. She’s a cargo ship of fresh hope.”

“GN&C, how do you read on targeting for rendezvous?” Guidance Navigation & Control personnel from Mission Control could be heard communicating in the background of the broadcast as Stangley spoke.

“Now as Atlantis moves into its final rendezvous position with Columbia, the two orbiters will be only twenty feet or so apart. The two mission specialists on Atlantis, Shane Garrett and Terry Mullen, will be responsible for the actual rescue. They will physically assist the Columbia crew to Atlantis.

“Before any Columbia astronauts are escorted, however, Garrett and Mullen will ferry replacement lithium hydroxide canisters from Atlantis to Columbia. The fresh canisters will relieve some of the worry about Columbia’s cabin-atmosphere quality, and will offer the potential for further mission length extension in the event problems or difficulties arise during the astronaut-transfer procedures.

“In addition to the canisters, Mullen and Garrett also will transfer two additional EMUs, or Extravehicular Maneuvering Units. Those are the space suits the Columbia astronauts will wear for the transfers between the two orbiters…”

Stangley’s expression suddenly froze. In his left earpiece, his producer had just given him an update, a piece of news that had flashed with lightning speed through the various news agencies. Stangley heard, “Atlantis has a tile problem.”

Chapter 61

“SO WHAT SHOULD I TELL WARNER?” Pollard demanded as she reentered the Mission Control conference room. She focused on Altin but was addressing the entire Tiger Team, including Senca. Pollard had left the engineers for a few minutes to take a call, wanting to give them a chance to talk over the situation. “Columbia’s crew is on their pre-breathe, we have two in the airlock. We need to know. Are we safe to reenter with this damage?”

A silence fell over the room for what seemed a full minute. “Hell, I don’t know,” Altin finally said. He closed his laptop and rocked back in his chair. A quick glance at his team members told him they were equally unwilling to commit. “There’s no way we can know for sure, Julie. We