CHAPTER 72: Go For Launch

 "Good morning, you big lug!" said Summer Holiday as she gave Travis Scott a big hug.  

"Good...morning, Summer.  This sure is a friendly greeting.  I'm not complaining though" replied Travis.

"I'm in a very friendly mood today...the boss says I'm going to get a promotion and I just want to spread the joy!" she said.

"Congratulations!" said Travis.  "Have you told Liberty yet?"

Summer nodded in the direction of their housemate, Liberty Lee, and said "I did but I'm not sure she heard me.  She's had her head in that book all morning"

"I did hear you, and congratulations...again...but I'm very, very busy with going over this flight plan one more time before work" said Liberty, not taking her eyes off the book for a second.

"Oh, that's right...today's the day of the launch!  We'll be here, watching it on TV" said Travis.

"Well I have to be at the space centre to do last minute checks on the capsule.  So much to look out for!" said Liberty.

"You'll be great...you're Space Y and NASA's brightest spark!" said a very cheerful Summer.

Summer and Travis had to head off to work and Liberty's nerves started to jitter.  This was her first mission launch and she had done her best to conceal her trepidation, her fear that she might not measure up to the other brilliant minds in the space programme...that she might fail.  She headed off to her bedroom to try and calm herself down before heading off to work.  Looking into the mirror, which had become a psychological aid for her of late, she gave herself a pep talk.

I am but one small part of this enterprise... she told herself... I can't let everyone down, I can't let the team down and, more importantly, I can't let those two astronauts down.  I will be calm, I will do my job and I will do my best to make this mission succeed. 

After a final deep breath she was ready to head off to the Space Centre.

The hours ticked by and in the middle of the afternoon Summer and then Travis arrived home.  Summer, feeling beat but not wanting to miss the TV coverage of the launch, took a brief nap in her room.  Travis busied himself with his electronics hobby.  Half an hour before launch, Travis burst into Summer's room and shook her awake.

"Come on! You'll miss the action!" said Travis, loudly, to wake her up.

"Hmmmm, Travis...you're here!" said a dreamy Summer.  "Oh...you're here!  In my room!" she said, suddenly waking up.  

"Yes! The launch! You don't want to miss it!" he said "I've made us dinner, come on!"

The two picked up a plate of food each and headed off to the lounge to watch the launch of Gemini 8 on their TV.

"The Agena target vehicle blasted off into orbit approximately 10 minutes ago." said the TV presenter. "Armstrong and Scott in Gemini 8 will launch in 15 minutes with the goal of first rendezvousing, then docking with the Agena.  Never before in manned spaceflight has such a manoeuvre been attempted but, if successful, it will be yet another step in man's journey to the Moon and beyond"

"Did you understand any of that?" asked Summer.

"About half of it" replied Travis.

Most of the TV coverage was showing the Titan rocket with the Gemini 8 capsule on the top with a countdown timer in the bottom left hand corner and the TV presenter, plus expert commentators, talking about the mission, the astronauts and filling in some details to anyone interested at home.  But on screen there was just the rocket on the launch pad with the monotone voice of the presenter.

"The Mark III radio command guidance system has fed the final flight parameters into the launch vehicle..." he said at the T minus 3 mark.

"Why is it called 'T minus 3'?" asked Summer.

"Shh!" said Travis.  At that moment there was a knock at the door.  "Oh what now?" he said in frustration.

"Oh hello...it's me from across the way" said a voice.  Travis and Summer looked at the door and saw through the window one of their neighbours...not someone they knew that well other than to say hello to but she was at the door now.  Travis got up and opened it for her.

"Hello?" he said.

"Oh hello...are you watching the launch?  Oh you are, great!  Can I ask a favour?  A fuse has blown in my house and the TV went on the blink and I haven't got time to fix it before the launch happens....may I watch it with you?"

Travis looked at Summer for some reassurance and Summer nodded.  "Don't keep her out on the doorstep, Travis, invite her in!" she said.

The woman said thank you and they all settled down again to watch the launch.

The countdown continued "T minus 10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1...we have ignition and lift off"

"Oh my gosh, this is exciting!" said Summer, biting her knuckles.

"Come on baby, higher...higher!" said Travis, his fist clenched in excitement.

"Yes....YES!" said the neighbour.

"I don't want it to fail!  Oh I hope it makes it!" said Summer.  Travis and the neighbour looked on with awe at this rocket speeding away into the cosmos carrying two men on board.  

Then, in five minutes, the spacecraft was no longer to be seen by the cameras on the ground.  It had made it into orbit.  The TV newsmen had said that the astronauts reported that everything was nominal and working A-OK.  The three watchers breathed a sigh of relief that the launch had been a success.

"So when's the docking going to happen?" asked Summer. 

"In about six hours time" said their visitor.  

"Would you stay for a drink?" said Summer.  Their guest said yes and the three of them chatted and Travis talked about their housemate who worked at the space centre and was a small part of the mission.

After a couple of hours, the neighbour went home and both Travis and Summer were feeling sleepy.  They were happy that the launch was successful but now, after there'd been more than 20 manned missions into space by the two superpowers, they were sure everything else would go OK.

But they were wrong.  For Liberty, her work shift was going to get manic.  Seven hours into the mission there was a problem with the manoeuvring thrusters on the Gemini capsule which caused it to tumble end over end, one revolution per second, and threatening to cause both astronauts to black out.  Liberty and the back room team frantically tried to find a solution to the problem but in the end there wasn't enough time and it fell to the mission commander, Neil Armstrong, to solve it...use the re-entry thrusters to stabilise the craft.  It was the correct thing to do, but it left them with little fuel left to do all the planned procedures of the mission so they had to return to Earth.  Summer and Travis awoke the next morning to see that Gemini 8 had splashed down in the sea.  It was soon after that Liberty came trudging home.

"Wow, did you only just get back?" said Summer, who was putting some dishes away in the cupboards.

"Yes...there was a problem in the mission and I had to pull a double shift" said a weary Liberty.

"Are the astronauts OK?" said a worried Summer.

"Yes, they're absolutely fine...they did an excellent job" 

"YES!" said Summer, punching the air in triumph.

 Liberty smiled.  "You are the most cheerful and positive person I've ever met...and with that, I will see you in a few hours" she said, walking to her bedroom.