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2004-11-05 - 1:08 p.m. Early October 2007 T-1 hour
Kathy, Bob and Bryan were being strapped into their respective seats in the space shuttle. Kathy�s heart was racing and her throat was dry. To walk up through the tower and into the space ship was one of the most surreal experiences in her life so far (although she expected that to actually walk on the moon would be even more so). Somehow, despite all their training and preparations it had never felt completely real to hear before now. It was still most of all like a dream She would eventually wake up from. Actually sitting in her seat next to Bryan, wearing her space suit and knowing that this was the real thing, not just another simulation, was actually something of a shock.
Mentally Kathy went through the check up list she knew Bryan had to go through before lift off. It was so frustrating to be forced to just sit still and observe when she knew there were a million things still to be done, and another two million things that could go wrong. During the last two months they had all been asked to write their wills and get all their paperwork in order, just in case. Kathy didn�t really expect it to be necessary, but it was still a sobering thing to be told to sort out.
Kathy imagined the go/no go check being done in the command room. Everything had been double and triple checked several times, so nothing ought to be amiss there. Kathy just hoped that the winds weren�t rising as they were sitting cooped up inside this thing. A storm had been threatening to head towards Cape Kennedy, and if it did, the voyage would have to be postponed or cancelled altogether, as it was too dangerous to launch under strong winds. The shuttle could veer strongly off course or even � Kathy gulped � crash. She didn�t know if NASA had the fundings to reschedule the launch, and even if they did, she had no way of knowing whether or not she would actually get a place on the next journey of if this was it for her. She couldn�t bear to get this close to living out her dream and then be turned away at the last moment.
Out of the corner of her eye Kathy could see Bob�s arm twitching nervously. Somehow it made her feel better knowing that he wasn�t all that calm either.
�Misery seeks company,� she thought to herself. �I guess nervousness does too.�
At T-20 minutes the count-down was put on hold for 10 minutes as a final weather check was being made. Bryan performed his final air-to-ground voice check with Launch Control and Mission Control while they waited. The shuttle hatch had long since been closed and sealed and Kathy knew cabin leak checks were being performed. Wouldn't it be just terrible if it turned out all to be in vein? Kathy didn't know if she could bear it.
Finally Jack Timmons� voice came back online. "You're in luck people. The storm is passing us with a wide enough margin that the safety of the launch won't be compromised. Assuming all the last checks work out, you're good to go."
Kathy hadn't known she'd been holding her breath until she now let it out in a big sigh of relief. At least the weather gods weren't against them. Hopefully this was a good sign for the rest of the trip.
At T-9 the count-down entered its final hold. This too was of ten minutes duration, and Kathy was ready to scream with impatience and nerves. However, she managed to keep her cool as she and the rest of the flight crew received the NASA launch director's and the mission management team's final "go" for launch, and the count-down could continue.
"This is it! It's actually happening!" The butterflies in Kathy's stomach were running rampant as she visualized the remaining milestones as they happened...
Kathy felt herself thrown back in her seat as forces stronger than she could phantom slowly - at least that's how it felt to her - lifted the huge space shuttle off the ground and onwards to their first step of the journey towards the moon.
The acceleration was very uncomfortable, and Kathy experienced some additional discomfort at the sudden fear that she should get motion sickness. She contributed it to mainly nerves, because she had never had any problems during the simulations. Sure enough, once they were out of the Earth's gravitational field and in what by now seemed a very familiar weightless environment, she soon felt much better again. Bob looked at the two others with a huge grin on his face. "Oh no! Turn back!" he exclaimed. "I think I left my TV on!"
"Tough luck, Bob," said Bryan. "We're not turning back now. You shall just have to be thankful that at least your dog won't get bored while you're away now."
"What dog?" Bob responded dryly, and they all laughed. If she did have to be stuck together with two other people for ten whole days, she was very thankful that it at least was two people she got along well with.
They soon settled into an easy routine of eating, sleeping (in shifts of course - just to be on the safe side), talking, playing cards (interesting in zero gravity), doing their duties on board, working on the tests they had to do while on the moon, and studying the rocks and formations they had to look for on the moon. Partly to take back home with them, partly to navigate after. They had planned to land close to Neil and Buzz' original site, and Jack had asked them to try to find the golf ball that had been left up there.
"We've only been to the moon 3 times," he'd said. "And already we've started littering. That will not do."
Aside from that they were supposed to look into whether or not the moon would ever be able to be made habitable. Even just with the knowledge and technologies they had now, it seemed possible, and with the inventions of the future, it would probably be even more likely.
"Of course," Jack had said. "People said the same thing 40 years ago, fully expecting it to have happened by now, so you never know.
"Finally, I want you to look into the dark side of the moon. Be careful to venture too fare into it. It's colder than anything you've ever experienced on earth, even though it may not feel like that at first, but Professor Griggins want some moon rocks from that area as well, to determine if there are any differences in the structure and formation." Bob and Kathy were to go down in the Lunar Module (LM) while Bryan stayed behind in the shuttle. Kathy felt terrible about this. She knew how devastated and frustrated she would have been, if she'd been chosen to stay behind. To get so close and then not make it the last small distance would be horrible. Still, she refused to feel guilty that she got to go and he didn't. Somebody had to stay behind with the ship and with their various knowledge of space ships, the moon and launch pods, it had just seemed most logical that Bryan was the one to stay behind. Fortunately he had known this from the start, and as it was the space travelling that was of interest to him - the journey itself, rather than the specific destination point - he didn't seem too disappointed about it. ****** On the 'morning' of their third day they approached the coordinates of their designated landing spot. Through the windows they saw all the landmarks they'd gotten so familiar with through all the pictures they'd been looking at over the last weeks.
"Look!" Kathy exclaimed. "There's that big rock that looks like Prof. Griggins' nose."
Bob pointed past it. "And there's the crater Buzz named after his wife, we should be almost there now."
Bryan had been studying their coordinates. "Yes, in fact the landing site ought to be just on the other side of that ridge over there, in the valley just beyond. We should be able to see it shortly.
They continued in silence for a while, each too caught up in his or her thoughts to have their wits about them to talk at the same time. Kathy especially was very distracted by it all. As she started recognizing places on the moon, a huge lump had formed in her throat, and her eyes glinted with unshed tears. She was determined not to let the others see it though. They would never let her hear the end of it.
Finally they cleared the last ridge and were able to look down into the valley where mankind had first set foot on the moon. Kathy could recognize the landmarks surrounding it even before she saw the remains of the original LM, and she knew that if her binoculars were just strong enough, she'd even be able to see footprints in the dust. As she stood there, looking intently down onto the moon, Bob came up behind her. "Can you see the flag yet? Amazing to think that it's been standing there for 40 years almost. I wonder if it's any the worse for where." That's right, the flag. Kathy ought to have been able to see it by now. She skimmed the area a second time, a third time and then once again, just to be entirely sure her eyes weren't merely playing tricks on her. Slowly she lowered the binoculars from her eyes.
"I don't see it. It's not there."
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