Scav
Mostly Harmless
- Joined
- May 8, 2010
- Messages
- 1,002
- Reaction score
- 38
- Points
- 48
My muse and I are starting to disagree for the moment. Nevertheless, here is:
SEP-008, Chapter 4.
Michael Bromley, Guidance, Navigation and Control, stared at his displays in a state of total concentration. INCO, Blake Standish sat next to him, scrubbing nervously at his hair as he loudly chewed his gum.
* * *
Brian Adkinson stared at the vessel situation indicator in mounting tension as the values remained the same as they'd been for over three hours. Constitution was rotating at a rate of twelve degrees per second in both the X and Y planes . . . the RCS reservoir drums were being filled . . . no sound issued from the RCS jets, and the values were not increasing.
Greg Williams released the breath he hadn't realised he was holding.
"Are you doing anything?" Adkinson demanded flatly.
"No," Williams barked nervously.
"Check the CSS," Adkinson prompted.
* * *
"Okay, Houston! We've got control back!"
Mission Control Room 2 erupted immediately into a loud cheer as the voice hushed through. Matthew Payton pumped his fist triumphantly and hooted a sigh of relief as he shook hands with the people seated around him.
"Matt," A woman's voice called behind him, and Payton turned to look . . . and his face flushed as he regarded Audrey Banks' harried expression.
"Audrey," Payton replied carefully.
"Mr. Foulkes wants to see you in his office now," She intoned with a guarded lilt in her voice. As all of his elation leeched from his face and his shoulders sagged slightly as he nodded to her.
"Does he, now?" He said mordantly.
* * *
Flight Director Matthew Payton knocked on the door.
"Come in!" the voice barked from within, and he opened the door carefully.
Walking up to the desk, his foot stepped on and crunched something plastic on the floor. His eyes shot to the floor. Lifting his foot up, he picked up the broken black piece of plastic and gave a mulish look to the man sitting at the desk.
Edward Foulkes sat with his fingers steepled at his chin, and a curious mixture of forced concentration and calmness immediately put him at odds with the way Payton had been summoned to the office.
"Aww crap. Sorry, I . . ." Payton gobbled, but Foulkes cut him off with a strangely disarming smile.
"Nevermind that, Matt. I just finished listening to the loops. Good job."
"Thank you, sir."
"Don't thank me, yet. Thanks to a little borderline yellow journalism here," His eyes hardened into a half-grimace and half-glare, "you're up for a press conference in a half hour. Prepare yourself."
"What am I supposed to--"
"Don't worry. I'll be there, and I'm making sure Elliott's there too, to take some of the heat. Just . . . I'll set them up, but you tell them what just happened, and re-assure these reactionary lunatics there's nothing to worry about. The mission is going to continue on-schedule. Because there is nothing to worry about, right?"
Foulkes' eyes drilled into Payton's, and he nodded stiffly.
"Nothing to worry about," Payton repeated, and Foulkes nodded. "Alright. I'll get on that right away."
* * *
"Okay, Constitution. At this time we see you are already nulling your rates. How's it going up there?"
"The modifications appear to be working, Houston," Greg Williams replied, "and the program appears to be interfacing with the hardware properly once more."
"Excellent news, Constitution. We have one more data entry procedure for you, and Jamie is 'go' for deployment of the VARIS at any time while you're working on that."
"Roger that, Houston. Ready to copy."
* * *
The cameras began recording.
"Good evening. Thank you for joining us," The woman behind the desk said warmly. "Earlier today, NASA announced this press conference to bring you all up to speed on SEP-008, and where the mission stands as of right now. Here to join us this evening is Director of Flight Operations, Edward Foulkes. To his left is Primary Flight Director Matthew Payton, and to his left is Public Affairs Officer, Elliott Briggs. We'd like to start with some opening comments from Mr. Foulkes and Mr. Payton, and we'll take questions after that. Mr. Foulkes?"
"Thank you," Edward Foulkes said. "Earlier today we completed a high orbital insertion with Constitution. The remarkable part about this feat is that we haven't seen humans this high up since Apollo 17 returned to Earth back in 1972. As many of you know, the primary purpose of this mission is to deploy the VARIS . . . or Van Allen Radiation Intensity Survey Satellite. This satellite is designed to build upon the research we've already accomplished through the Radiation Belt Storm Probes program; it is a scientific survey of the direct nature and intensity of the magnetic and radiation belts that surround the Earth at certain degrees and intervals. It's our goal with this mission to learn more about the relationship of the belts to the charged particles that eminate from the sun and to test new lightweight anti-radiation materials and implementations in an active environment. We will also be doing direct comparison to the belts around Jupiter, and to a lesser extent Saturn, using empirical evidence to average out and differentiate the characteristics of the three components.
"Joining us on this mission is Mission Commander Brian Adkinson, a native of Los Angeles, California, and veteran of International Space Station Expedition 46. With him is Pilot Greg Williams of Norfolk, Virginia, and this is his first spaceflight. We have Mission Specialists Tessa Stapleton of Atlanta, Georgia, and Jamie Cunningham of Willow River, Minnesota. Our Payload Specialists include Ryan Demelo of Red Bank, New Jersey, Bradley Wade of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Jessica Shipley of Miami, Florida, and Angela Rister from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. With that, I'd like to turn the floor over to Mr. Payton."
"Thank you, Ed," Matthew Payton said. "At this time we'd like to acknowledge certain reports of an incident that happened earlier today with Constitution, though I hesitate to call it that in so many words. What we experienced up there was a minor spacecraft control malfunction that temporarily delayed the mission until the problem could be figured out. I must stress that in no way were the astronauts aboard compromised in any way, or were at any personal risk of injury. I can take questions about that at this time."
* * *
SEP-008, Chapter 4.
Michael Bromley, Guidance, Navigation and Control, stared at his displays in a state of total concentration. INCO, Blake Standish sat next to him, scrubbing nervously at his hair as he loudly chewed his gum.
* * *
Brian Adkinson stared at the vessel situation indicator in mounting tension as the values remained the same as they'd been for over three hours. Constitution was rotating at a rate of twelve degrees per second in both the X and Y planes . . . the RCS reservoir drums were being filled . . . no sound issued from the RCS jets, and the values were not increasing.
Greg Williams released the breath he hadn't realised he was holding.
"Are you doing anything?" Adkinson demanded flatly.
"No," Williams barked nervously.
"Check the CSS," Adkinson prompted.
* * *
"Okay, Houston! We've got control back!"
Mission Control Room 2 erupted immediately into a loud cheer as the voice hushed through. Matthew Payton pumped his fist triumphantly and hooted a sigh of relief as he shook hands with the people seated around him.
"Matt," A woman's voice called behind him, and Payton turned to look . . . and his face flushed as he regarded Audrey Banks' harried expression.
"Audrey," Payton replied carefully.
"Mr. Foulkes wants to see you in his office now," She intoned with a guarded lilt in her voice. As all of his elation leeched from his face and his shoulders sagged slightly as he nodded to her.
"Does he, now?" He said mordantly.
* * *
Flight Director Matthew Payton knocked on the door.
"Come in!" the voice barked from within, and he opened the door carefully.
Walking up to the desk, his foot stepped on and crunched something plastic on the floor. His eyes shot to the floor. Lifting his foot up, he picked up the broken black piece of plastic and gave a mulish look to the man sitting at the desk.
Edward Foulkes sat with his fingers steepled at his chin, and a curious mixture of forced concentration and calmness immediately put him at odds with the way Payton had been summoned to the office.
"Aww crap. Sorry, I . . ." Payton gobbled, but Foulkes cut him off with a strangely disarming smile.
"Nevermind that, Matt. I just finished listening to the loops. Good job."
"Thank you, sir."
"Don't thank me, yet. Thanks to a little borderline yellow journalism here," His eyes hardened into a half-grimace and half-glare, "you're up for a press conference in a half hour. Prepare yourself."
"What am I supposed to--"
"Don't worry. I'll be there, and I'm making sure Elliott's there too, to take some of the heat. Just . . . I'll set them up, but you tell them what just happened, and re-assure these reactionary lunatics there's nothing to worry about. The mission is going to continue on-schedule. Because there is nothing to worry about, right?"
Foulkes' eyes drilled into Payton's, and he nodded stiffly.
"Nothing to worry about," Payton repeated, and Foulkes nodded. "Alright. I'll get on that right away."
* * *
"Okay, Constitution. At this time we see you are already nulling your rates. How's it going up there?"
"The modifications appear to be working, Houston," Greg Williams replied, "and the program appears to be interfacing with the hardware properly once more."
"Excellent news, Constitution. We have one more data entry procedure for you, and Jamie is 'go' for deployment of the VARIS at any time while you're working on that."
"Roger that, Houston. Ready to copy."
* * *
The cameras began recording.
"Good evening. Thank you for joining us," The woman behind the desk said warmly. "Earlier today, NASA announced this press conference to bring you all up to speed on SEP-008, and where the mission stands as of right now. Here to join us this evening is Director of Flight Operations, Edward Foulkes. To his left is Primary Flight Director Matthew Payton, and to his left is Public Affairs Officer, Elliott Briggs. We'd like to start with some opening comments from Mr. Foulkes and Mr. Payton, and we'll take questions after that. Mr. Foulkes?"
"Thank you," Edward Foulkes said. "Earlier today we completed a high orbital insertion with Constitution. The remarkable part about this feat is that we haven't seen humans this high up since Apollo 17 returned to Earth back in 1972. As many of you know, the primary purpose of this mission is to deploy the VARIS . . . or Van Allen Radiation Intensity Survey Satellite. This satellite is designed to build upon the research we've already accomplished through the Radiation Belt Storm Probes program; it is a scientific survey of the direct nature and intensity of the magnetic and radiation belts that surround the Earth at certain degrees and intervals. It's our goal with this mission to learn more about the relationship of the belts to the charged particles that eminate from the sun and to test new lightweight anti-radiation materials and implementations in an active environment. We will also be doing direct comparison to the belts around Jupiter, and to a lesser extent Saturn, using empirical evidence to average out and differentiate the characteristics of the three components.
"Joining us on this mission is Mission Commander Brian Adkinson, a native of Los Angeles, California, and veteran of International Space Station Expedition 46. With him is Pilot Greg Williams of Norfolk, Virginia, and this is his first spaceflight. We have Mission Specialists Tessa Stapleton of Atlanta, Georgia, and Jamie Cunningham of Willow River, Minnesota. Our Payload Specialists include Ryan Demelo of Red Bank, New Jersey, Bradley Wade of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Jessica Shipley of Miami, Florida, and Angela Rister from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. With that, I'd like to turn the floor over to Mr. Payton."
"Thank you, Ed," Matthew Payton said. "At this time we'd like to acknowledge certain reports of an incident that happened earlier today with Constitution, though I hesitate to call it that in so many words. What we experienced up there was a minor spacecraft control malfunction that temporarily delayed the mission until the problem could be figured out. I must stress that in no way were the astronauts aboard compromised in any way, or were at any personal risk of injury. I can take questions about that at this time."
* * *
