Chapter 7
His first appointment was with a blogger who had supported him from the first vague reports right up to the present despite the access problems it caused him with NASA people. He was a thin, pimply-faced young man of about twenty, and he was clearly excited about meeting Frank.
When Frank entered his office, the young man sprang to his feet and hurried forward. "Mr. Weatherly!" he cried, with the air of someone meeting his favorite rock star. "It's a real honor, sir. That's her? That's the actual ship that will be going into space? It seems kinda small."
Frank rescued his hand from the man's frantic pumping, walked around his desk, and took his seat. "If I remember right," he said, "I think she's about 122 feet long. All the Buran specs are available on the Internet. We didn't change her dimensions."
The young man took out a notebook, and flipped to a blank page. "Are you concerned about using a spacecraft built in the eighties?'
Frank shrugged. "The only thing on Man's Hope that's old is the airframe. Everything else aboard her has been updated. And the airframe has been inspected rivet by rivet. So, no, I'm not worried about her."
"Why did you decide to buy Russian spacecraft?"
"We were looking for true space ships, not capsules. Of course, all the American Shuttles had been given to museums. Actually, we were seriously considering trying to convert an aircraft fuselage when one of us remembered the Russian shuttle. We checked and found that several were still around, so we asked about buying them."
"What do you mean by 'true space ships'?"
Frank chuckled. "Something besides a conical tin can with seats," he replied. "Seriously, to me, a 'space ship' is a vessel. Something that people can actually get up and move around. Something that will carry a meaningful cargo load, and that can perform a real function, not just go up and down on the end of a roman candle and a parachute."
"How did your updates affect the payload and performance?"
Frank smiled. "An excellent question. I'm glad you asked. The Burans were already built using very lightweight metals. But by using state-of-the-art electronics, control systems, and ion maneuvering engines, we were actually able to reduce the maximum weight by a full 25%. This allowed us to increase the payload by five tons, and still enhance the performance. We are hoping that the Hope will achieve Geostationary Transfer Orbit without requiring a maneuvering engine burn. This, of course, gives a much greater maneuvering margin in matching orbits with the comet."
The young man was scribbling furiously. Frank wondered why he hadn't brought a recorder, but he didn't ask. By the time the man had asked a few more questions and scribbled the answers, his time was up. He looked distressed, and Frank felt sorry for him. But he was on a schedule.
Frank found that most of the reporters asked the same or similar questions, and few of them were as technical or as knowledgeable as those of the first young man.
"Did you really pay a hundred million dollars for the Burans?"
"No. I entered into an agreement with the Russian government and several companies that resulted in me investing a hundred million dollars in an ongoing spaceship project."
"Did you really say you wouldn't buy American junk?"
"No. I had to careful about the U.S. technology transfer laws, which limited my ability to buy American products."
"Do you still consider yourself an American?"
"Yes, of course. I love my country, and I served her in Iraq. The fact that certain political factions there are pursuing me doesn't change that."
"How much has all this cost you?"
"So far, I estimate about two billion dollars. I still have quite a few millions to spend before this is over, I think."
"Your boosters are Russian, too. Does that mean they're backing you?"
"No. As I have said, we have received no support from any government. By the way, the boosters are Ukrainian, not Russian. The Russian core stage, with its original Energia booster was included in the original sale, and it was the most powerful booster ever made. I bought the Ukrainian strap-ons because I couldn't buy American ones, due to the technology transfer laws, and because the Ukrainian ones were powerful enough, and were designed to mate to the Energia core stage."
"Those supposed 'strap ons' are really missiles, aren't they?"
"No. They are Ukrainian Zenit 3 three stage launch rockets, typically used to launch commercial satellites. I recommend Google if you would like to verify that. They will serve as the first, second, and third stage motors, after which they will be jettisoned, to parachute back to Earth for possible reuse. Since their predecessors were originally designed to work with the Energia/Buran as strap-ons, and were powerful enough for our purposes, we purchased them."
"Do you deny that your ship contains a bomb you're planning to drop on the U.S. from orbit?"
Frank laughed aloud. "Hell, Yes, I deny it. That would be about the stupidest way I can think of to deliver a bomb. Spend two billion dollars and over a year building a spacecraft, just so you can launch it into space and drop a bomb? Excuse me sir, but have you ever heard of airplanes? Does the name Wright Brothers ring a bell? How did you get here today, walk?" He shook his head. "This interview is over."
Most of the questions were more friendly than that or neutral, though a number of them could have been called 'hard ball' if he had not been so forthcoming.
By the time the last reporter left, though, Frank was talked out and worn out. The crowd outside was beginning to thin, and the airstrip was busy.
Susan came in with a cold beer. "How did it go? You look exhausted."
He blew a huge sigh. "I am. But it went all right, except for some idiot that managed to sneak in, somehow. Accused me of having a bomb on the Hope and planning to drop it on the U.S. I swear, some peoples' IQ's are lower than their shoe sizes!"
Susan laughed. "You should see some of the mail. 'Man was given dominion over the Earth, not space or other planets. Space travel is defiance of God's plan.' Or how about, 'The answer is not in space; it's in appropriate technology and sun and wind power.' Or maybe this one: 'How could you declare war on your own country after all it's done for you?' And those are just some of the more printable ones. Some of them look like they were printed in pencil by a ten-year-old, and some even misspell the curse words. It's amazing."
Overall, though, it seemed the day was a success. Frank's blockbuster announcement had captured the imagination of the world. Oh, there were a few headlines like, "Weatherly threatens to destroy all life on Earth," but they were few. Most seemed to take his plan at face value, and scrambled to consult scientists of various types for their stories. Frank released videos of his speech on YouTube within the hour, and it was receiving so many hits that YouTube's servers were almost overwhelmed.
NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency both reminded the media that they were pursuing 'responsible' projects to Mars and the asteroid belt, and expressed doubts that Frank's 'radical' plan would work, though they expressed no specific objections.
Work also proceeded frantically on the supply ship, an unmanned cargo canister mounted on a Russian Proton-M booster Gorneliev had managed to obtain from Khrunichev, complete with its attached Briz third stage. This combination was expected to allow them to launch over 6 metric tons of supplies, including several ion engines. If his money lasted, Frank also hoped to send either a second supply ship or the Man's Dream when the comet emerged from behind the Sun.
It was almost launch day when theU.S.appealed to the International Court of Justice to ban the launch, because it would be irresponsible to direct an asteroid on a possible collision course with Earth.
"Don't worry, Frank," Gilberto Almendes, the Brazilian Minister of Space told him. "We're already preparing a response, that the court lacks jurisdiction over this matter, and that the asteroid will be under control at all times, and guided by ion engines. We'll drag it out well past the launch date, don't worry."