“You’re probably right, Rock.” Marge nodded, readying her plate for her food as Sally started to serve around the table. “We have all of next week to plan. In the meantime, I’m tired of microwave dinners.”
“Me, too,” Tom said, smiling at Sally.
“Aren’t we all,” Jack finished as the group enjoyed a rare home-cooked meal. It would be a pleasant weekend until the frenzy continued next week. Rock just hoped the Chinese and Russians would take a weekend off as well. Probably not, he thought, but damn this space race, anyway. Better to get it right than wrong, and Rock had adopted an old NASA motto long ago: failure is not an option.
Chapter 16
Russian Plans
Gordust Space Station
Low Earth Orbit
In the near future, Day 35
The construction and modifications had been completed for several days now, and the cosmonauts were restless. First it was work, work, work, and then it was wait, wait, wait. The only good news, Yuri thought to himself, is my old friend Vladimir had ensured that the station has extra fuel for the lunar burn. This was important because the fuel load was the primary calculation that the engineers in Moscow would use to plot a slingshot trajectory around the earth. A tighter ratio meant a higher angle of attack for the trajectory.
Unlike those American movies, in space, when one died, there was no scream. Sound did not carry in a vacuum, and Yuri and his comrades would die silently if their station broke up once it cleared the planet, or they would die with screams of pain and fear if they burned up in the atmosphere high above the planet. Either scenario was troubling, to say the least. The risks were higher as the angle of attack increased. The exact edge of the earth’s atmosphere could vary and even stray hydrogen atoms could wreak havoc on any object moving at a high enough velocity, but Vladimir had ensured that the risk would be lower.
The entire front of the station had a new pod placed on the Gordust’s strong frame, but sideways with a large reinforced window looking forward. Yuri floated in the module looking out the large viewport and marveled at its strength. Normally the viewports were much smaller, but the engineers in Moscow had determined that the station’s crew needed a much wider field of vision, and the curved arch of this window was impressive.
“You spend a lot of time here, Yuri,” Olga said, floating silently behind him. Yuri didn’t bother to turn around. He would prefer the sight of the earth’s curvature and the beautiful field of stars off to his right than to see her face again.
“Y chto?” he asked.
“No need to be defensive,” Olga said calmly despite the slight rebuff. “Nikolai wants to run another systems check.”
“The man is bored. Tell him to stand down and prepare for the lander when it arrives.”
“You mean if it arrives.”
“Olga, it will be here. Vladimir will see to that.”
“Your old friend isn’t even part of the command crew in Moscow. I doubt they share with him your sense of optimism,” Olga said, her voice remaining calm and even.
Now Yuri did turn to look at Olga, wanting to gauge her words better. “Nothing comes here unless it goes through Vostochny.”
“Understood, Comrade Yuri. I was just making an observation.”
“As was I,” Yuri countered. “Tell Nikolai he and his men will be busy soon enough.”
“I’ll pass the message along,” Olga said, starting to turn herself around to exit the command pod and return to the main section of the station. “Do you think we’ll be successful?”
Yuri pondered for a moment before answering. “Da, we will reach the moon, Olga. I have no doubt of that.”
“Ochen xorosho,” Olga said, a rare smile crossing her face as she pulled herself along the small handrails and propelled herself down the narrow corridor, leaving Yuri alone again in the command pod.
“But I have no idea if we’ll return, Olga. No idea at all.” Yuri turned to look out the large port window again, his words dying, unheard by anyone else.
Vostochny Cosmodrome
Siberia, Russia
In the near future, Day 35
The reports were looking promising, and Vlad felt optimism as he read the latest on the propellant procurement. Using extra cash and cannibalizing a few military assets would allow for the launches to continue, albeit with a delay. Moscow had decided that the food stores were sufficient, and in an emergency, they could launch a resupply module to the moon. The cosmonauts may end up hungry, but as long as they were hydrated and had oxygen to breath, then the mission profile stood as originally planned.
Usually Vlad was in charge of the space operations from ground-side to orbit. Once in orbit, the central space command for Ruscosmos, located just outside of Moscow, would take over. Ruscosmos ran the day-to-day operations for the Gordust space station, and while Vlad was kept in the loop on provisioning and transit requirements, he seldom had much to do with regards to orbital procedures.
That was about to change. Vlad had received word from Dmitry that the lunar operation would include his small team at Vostochny via telecoms as Ruscosmos wanted to ensure the highest chance of success. Earlier that day, he had received the full mission profile documents that had been under guard in Moscow and he saw the exact plan instead of just the payload manifest which required a slight amount of speculation each time he put something into orbit.
Irina had given him the latest, and Vlad noticed that the next payload would carry the lander followed by the last payload consisting entirely of fuel for the lunar trip. The lander would arrive the next day, and he and his crew had three days to secure it to the Energia rocket before the scheduled launch date.
“Mr. Gorky is here to see you,” Irina said, using the intercom system.
“Send him in, Irina,” Vlad said, setting the report down.
Aleksey arrived looking fresher than normal since he and his crew had a few days’ downtime due to the lack of propellant which meant no launches the last two weeks. “Well,” Aleksey said, shaking hands with Vlad and sitting on one of the two chairs facing the desk.
“We’re in, Aleksey,” Vlad said, motioning to the report on his desk. “Moscow will be linking us in remotely during the lunar operation. Is your team ready?”
“Da. I have Yosef and his boys on standby even now, and our systems personnel will be prepped and ready by next Tuesday.” Aleksey reached for the report and opened it to peruse the first few pages.
“Good. Moscow will handle the comms and signals as well as flight telemetry and system functions, but we’ll be part of the equipment checks and deployments once the time arrives. Can you mount the lander in only three days?”
“We’ll have it secured, don’t you worry. It was nice to have a short break, but it makes me wonder what our adversaries have been up to in the meantime.”
Vlad looked around and then leaned forward, lowering his voice. “If word is correct, then the Chinese and Americans are knee-deep into a pissing match.”
“We’ve heard… well, we’ve heard things, but nothing that serious.” Alex nodded.
“I’m not one for politics, but if Dmitry is correct, then our superiors have maneuvered us well. We stand a good chance of reaching the moon first,” Vlad said louder, leaning back in his chair.