He tried to get a variety of shots, but before he knew it, he was out of range. It all happened so quickly. He took his eye off the view finder and looked in the direction of the site as he zoomed away. Dad, I hope I got some good shots for you.
Peter radioed in to Mission Control, “Pictures completed, over.”
“Roger, how did it go?” asked Dmitri.
“Good, I hope. It all happened pretty fast. I sure hope I put film in the camera,” joked Peter.
“Roger. Maybe you can stop off at the nearest store and process the film.”
“Roger, I’ll keep an eye out for one, over,” said Peter, happy to hear Dmitri joke.
Peter pulled on the tether line and started floating back to the spacecraft with the camera dangling on a strap by his side. He pushed the talk button, “Dmitri, I am going to download the pictures and see how I did.”
“Roger.”
When Peter reached the entrance he couldn’t help but look up at his partner. Deciding to treat his friend as if he was alive, Peter said, “I sure hope I didn’t screw this thing up, Viktor.” Peter reached in, grabbing the cord already attached to the computer, and connected the loose end to the camera floating next to him. Once connected, he leaned back in and pushed the few buttons that started downloading the pictures, with no problems from his EMU glove. He was impressed when he saw there were fifty-eight pictures to be transferred. While waiting he looked back up at his partner. “Viktor, everything happened so damn fast, but it looks like I got a good number of pictures. Let’s just hope I took the lens cap off.”
Peter got a prompt stating all the pictures were downloaded. As he paged through them he found some were out of focus or had no equipment in them, but others looked great. He stopped at one picture that had the bottom of the LM and smiled when he could clearly see a few experiments sitting next to the Lander that his dad and partner had set up. “Viktor, these are looking pretty damn good.”
Peter’s focus was broken by the squawk in his radio. “Peter, you are approaching LOS—how much oxygen do you have left?”
Knowing LOS was loss of signal, Peter looked down at his monitor. “A little over three hours before switching to SOP, over.” That gave him over three and half more hours total, enough to go around the moon almost two more times.
“Roger. Good luck downloading the pictures on the back side. I’ll make sure we are prepared to pass on your video feed when you come back around, over.”
“Roger, before starting the video feed I will send these pictures, over.”
“Roger. Talk to you then, over and out.”
Peter focused his eyes back on his computer screen. As he resumed clicking through the pictures he noticed some pictures were even close enough to pick up the footprints, which thrilled him. Suddenly he stopped at one picture that really excited him; could that be? He unstrapped the computer, hoping another angle would confirm what he suspected. As he rotated the computer, a big grin came across his face when his assumption was correct. There, in sharp relief, were his initials next to the American flag, drawn in the moon dust by his father forty years ago. Peter was happy his dad drew them big enough so he could clearly see them. He put his gloved finger to the screen, outlining each letter, remembering being an excited seven-year-old boy listening in awe as his dad proudly told him he put his initials on the moon, where they would stay forever. They’re still there, Dad! Peter looked at Viktor. “I’d like to see those damn Chinese try to explain how my initials got on the moon. Looks like we have some good evidence here, Viktor. We did good!”
36
SURPRISE VISITOR
As Steve confidently approached the podium, ready to address the UN General Assembly, he wondered if the Chinese would ever show up. The session was already well underway with the opening statements completed. Not only was he hoping to personally stick it to them, but their presence would help his statements have a stronger impact, especially if their response was witnessed by the assembly. He glanced in their direction to see three stoic Chinese characters approaching their desk. A smile came to his face knowing what he was going to present should stun them, just as what was currently being released to the press would set the record straight across the world.
China’s state councilor had approached the same podium a few months back with a smug look, and arrogantly paused to look over the audience. Steve decided to do the same, and after slowly scanning the room he ended up looking directly at the Chinese delegates, not saying a word. The Chinese seemed to have a self-righteous look as they peered back, which only got him more pumped.
Steve took one last deep breath before beginning. “Ladies and gentlemen, the United States of America appreciates this opportunity to officially address the claims made by China that America never landed on the moon. I plan on presenting indisputable evidence to prove these accusations made by China are false. In fact, not only will I prove we landed on the moon, but we did it six different times, which allowed twelve proud Americans to walk on the lunar surface. I will also prove China knowingly made these false allegations, doing so solely to humiliate the United States for their own political gain.” For dramatic effect and for his own curiosity, Steve paused and looked over the audience to see what the reaction was, especially from the Chinese. He smiled as many delegates talked among each other, obviously startled by the statement, but he was surprised to see the Chinese not showing any reaction, as if they were waiting to see what was coming next.
“Two astronauts were launched recently to the moon to take close-up photographs of America’s landing sites, which I will present in a moment,” Steve went on. “These men were sent against UN sanctions and in top secret to avoid being killed. These astronauts are currently orbiting the moon and will be connected via satellite for a live video feed shortly. These brave men are Peter Novak, a former NASA astronaut, and Viktor Alexandrov, a former Russian cosmonaut. These men had to overcome deadly obstacles to reach the moon. One of these was a laser weapon put on the back side by China, designed to fire at any satellites other than their own. The sole reason for this deadly weapon was to prevent pictures from being taken of America’s landing sites which could prove their claims false. The laser purposely destroyed our Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter sent to the moon in May, preventing detailed pictures from being relayed. The laser’s energy is powerful enough to destroy any spacecraft orbiting the moon, killing any astronauts sent.”
A sudden rumbling erupted all around the hall as delegates started whispering among themselves. Steve looked up with a slight smirk to observe the Chinese, who still sat stoic.
“China did not just orbit the moon on their last mission as they told the world, but instead landed in secrecy on the back side so they could deploy this weapon.” The noise elevated, requiring Steve to speak even louder. “They also obtained moon rocks and took pictures to discredit America’s records by claiming the lunar samples were from Earth. I will now present pictures of one of our landing sites as well as China’s landing site, taken by these brave astronauts from inside their spacecraft yesterday. We will have higher resolution pictures taken during a spacewalk within the next twenty-four hours that will be distributed to all members of the assembly to be studied and confirmed.” Steve expected to hear an outburst from the Chinese delegates questioning his remarks, but surprisingly they stayed silent.