May 2019 : Our schedule return to the moon . There ’s plenty of laboring to be done on the Constellation Program before then , but the foundation is set . Here ’s how you — as an astronaut — would experience the missionary post :
Ares V Unmanned Cargo Rocket , EDS and Altair : The Gear Goes Up First
First it ’s the turn of the giant unmannedAres quintet , carrying most of the actual computer hardware you ’ll need on your journey . You and the rest of your cosmonaut compadres walk around the pad hours ahead of the launch — a metaphorical kick of Ares ’ tyre . Man , that thing seems fiendish adult .
Six hours afterward you ’re watch the countdown from VIP bleacher , and all 360 feet of rocket reckon even more ominous . You all have on the “ spaceman ” face for the news cameras — confident , professional , all smiles . But when the five RS68 engine at the bottom of that skyrocket light up , followed by the two solid relay station , and that thundering randomness finally reaches you , you ’re all suddenly small fry on Christmas forenoon . Literally tons of fuel is incinerate every secondment , campaign a straight-from-the-shoulder needle skywards . It make a heck of a show , and the noise of Ares V racing to space barely breed your whoops . promptly you remember to use your crappy niggling digicam to lose it the Eruca sativa ’s launch — there’ll be thousands of prescribed photos , but these will be yours .
Minutes subsequently , you and the gang watch monitors in a nearby consider room as the rocket makes it to orbit . Everyone ’s quiet , as they see the last stage , theEarth Departure Stage , displace its engines . The immense aerodynamic nose cone is n’t call for any more and it crop up off , revealing the lunar lander , anAltair . It ’s run off at the top of the EDS , and look more like a sci - fi illusion than a real moon ship . Eventually , the pawn aboard the EDS all phone home to NASA with a digital Oklahoma , and the spacecraft pauses . It ’s waiting for you to join it out in space .
Ares I Crew Rocket , Orion Capsule : Time For You To rack up the route
Twelve hours later , it ’s your turn to go up . All six of you are suited - up and sardined into anOrion capsule , 280 feet above the launch launchpad at the top of anAres I rocket . While tick off mission control ’s checklist , you think about the imminent journeying . If Ares V is a gargantuan space motortruck , the minor Ares I you ’re strapped to is a crazy - ass custom - engined dragster — a dragster without a parachute pasture brake , that is .
finally the time tick down to T - Zero : The booster ’s solid fuel is ignite , and speedup mosh you and the gang in the back as “ The Stick ” rush along skywards . Holy crap , it ’s a wild ride : Pure Eruca sativa chemistry , raw chest of drawers - squeezing driving force from a giant Roman candle . The booster bite out in just 150 seconds , and detaches with a wrench noise and a shock — the extraneous camera panorama you see of it tumbling away behind you is awesome . Then come thrust from the liquid - fuel J2X locomotive — the first taste of Apollo - era tech , updated for the 21st century . The drive is now bland , a little less like Aliens , a little more like 2001 .
Rendezvous in Orbit : The Delicate Mating Dance of Spaceships
Switches are thrown and your ship ’s computer matches the Orion ’s field with the waitress Earth Departure Stage with Altair synodic month ship . Your cutis sense alternately hot and cold , which has nothing to do with the air conditioning or the sun stabbing through the capsule window — just excitement . And last there it is : The EDS , clear in the sunlight , spinning gently as the optical maser - guide on rendezvous process with your capsule begins . At one point the Altair ’s given name is seeable , hand painted in copperplate by some techie a thousand mile away : Rama . That had given you a quiver . You see the clunk of mating adapters as Orion joins the EDS , greeted by sunshine from Houston over the radio and a clustering of zero - 1000 hand stir with the remainder of the work party .
Moon Shot : pass on Earth ’s Orbit
“ The Stick ” has become “ The Stack , ” and all is ready to entrust solid ground orbit , and head out toward the moon . The mood is calm : No one on board will permit themselves consider it yet . But twelve hour later , when foresighted checklists are complete , and the sorcerous words , “ Go for lunar orbital cavity burn , ” come over the radio , emotion arrives with a rush . “ Want a drink ? ” comes a request from behind you , and the accompanying wink made you odd . sip at the shaping clinch bag you suddenly were n’t surprised to taste a tiny thrust of whisky : Totally against the rules , but frankly the people who made those pattern were n’t riding a flimsy steel , atomic number 22 and complex can twin to a couple dozen short ton of volatile flatulence in proscribed quad .
The EDS ’s locomotive fires up again , this time pushing the Altair and the Orion forward and you — pucker inside — into a head - back , eyeballs - out position as you fly , backwards as it were , to your day of the month with history .
When its fuel is live , the EDS is ejected , leaving you racing to the moon for three Clarence Shepard Day Jr. in the combined Altair / Orion synodic month ship at 25,000 mile per hr . You ’re just desperate to take a paseo .
The Lunar Landing : pull a Neil Armstrong , 50 Years Later
40 m … 35 m … The counter in the midsection of the Altair ’s hi - res display screen has simulate LEDs , like an old alarm clock , and it makes you smile . Those numbers are a serious wake up call though : They ’re precisely how far above the cold surface of the moon this small spacecraft hovers . Altair — wasn’t that the name of an old computer ? Probably had more central processor powerfulness than the original Eagle did , you think . Armstrong shoot down that previous affair on a wing and a prayer . Now it ’s your turn , and your mind ’s spare to roll because computers are for the most part in control , guidance , firing the RL10 rockets and monitoring radio detection and ranging . It ’s just a interrogation of checking in suit you necessitate to intervene . Your deal hovers over that crowing red “ LANDING ABORT ” push , which you hope never to push .
25 m … 20 m … A lateral shove from a thruster shakes you and your fellow moonwalkers behind you , a minor grade correction . 15 m … “ kick up a little dust , ” you say over the radio , and you know the guy cable behind are grinning . “ Aye master ! ” gag back the mission ’s chief engineer .
10 m … 5 m … And here get history . debris really does stream up in the bright sunlight past the windows as the final metre pass . At least you sleep with the surface you ’d be arriving on — the Apollo guy cable had no idea if they were landing on concrete or bar icing the puck .
0.8 m … 0.6 m … 0.4 m … The Altair ’s descent Eruca vesicaria sativa close down so very short that the secretiveness is a shock . With less of a shock than you get when riding on a roller coaster , it ’s touchdown . Velcroed to the control panel , the tiny nod dog trinket — a present from some unseasoned lover — had been wobbling broken - necked in zero - gravitational force , but now it begins to behave properly , and nods its approval of the landing place .
You ’re on the moon .
ConstellationNASASpace
Daily Newsletter
Get the good tech , science , and culture news in your inbox daily .
News from the future , delivered to your present .
You May Also Like
