The Curtain of Stars (a Tale of Furry Spaceflight)
#1 of Tales of Spaceflight
-The Curtain of Stars-
F lint Hobten clipped on his helmet, glancing down at his instruments to perform a final systems check.
"This is Commander Hobten. Fuel mix is go. Engine temp is go. Power is go. Life support is go. Computer..."
The young pilot glanced over at his small, somewhat primitive computer system, not much more than a glorified adding machine in point of fact. He tapped its readout slightly, and nodded in satisfaction.
"...is go. LAUCOM, do you confirm?"
There was brief static over the radio before LAUCOM (LAUnch COMmand) responded.
"This is LAUCOM, all systems are confirmed go, repeat, all systems are go. T-minus 30 seconds to firing."
Flint shivered slightly. The moment he had fantasized about since he was a kit, and which he had trained for for the past three years, was finally at hand.
"Roger, LAUCOM. Standing by at T-minus... 29 seconds."
"Disconnecting external fuel and power."
Flint heard the creak off titanium below him as the fuel and electrical lines connected to his rocket were withdrawn, disconnecting him from ground support except for his radio link. If anything went wrong, he was now the only one who could abort.
A light lit up on his control panel, startling Flint briefly, but he knew it was just the disconnection indicator.
"Detachment confirmed. All systems now on internal power."
"Confirmed. T-minus 20 seconds to firing."
The next ten seconds seemed like an intermidable period of waiting.
"T-minus 10 seconds to firing. 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0! FIRE!"
Flint felt a deep rumble below him as his ship's massive rocket engines ignited, superheated gas thundering downward. He felt the rocket slowly rising off he launch pad, unnerving gyrations seeming to swing him back and forth as the engines gimbaled to keep the ship steady.
Slowly, the vessel accelerated. Flint was pressed down in his seat by the increasing G-forces.
Glancing over at his spedometer and altimeter, he watched both climb higher and higher...
The pressure of acceleration, and the deafening noise of the rocket's monstrous engines, weighed on the young fennec as his ship climbed ever higher into the atmosphere. Still, everything was going as predicted, and as Flint looked out of his capsule's tiny window, he saw the curvature of the planet.
Suddenly, an indicator light blinked on, and the engine noise briefly cut out. Looking at it, Flint radioed back to LAUCOM.
"First stage seperation!"
There was a pop as the explosive bolts fired, and the rocket's first stage fell away. The second stage engine fired soon afterward.
"Second stage has engaged successfuly. Beginning orbital insertion burn."
The rocket climbed ever higher, and as Flint waited for the second stage to detach, closed his eyes and let his mind wander...
Flint's capsule was the end result of almost 30 years of robotic experimentation, placing heavier and heavier automated satellites into higher and higher orbits. Designed for a mission duration of two days, Flint's craft was the first designed to carry a living occupant.
It was an historic occasion. The first male in space.
Since he had been old enough to grasp the concept of space travel, Flint had been obsessed with going into orbit one day. Watching newsreels of some of the earliest satellite launches, the young fennec had been inspired to study the science behind how they worked. The capsule he now rode in was partially his own design.
Of course, the dream of space travel had long predated Flint's ambitions. Decades before, a Fennec scientist, Hermann Onrung, had proved it was possible to escape a planet's gravity with enough acceleration. At the same time, social scientist Kevin Marvin had calculated that the planets resources, within several centuries, would not be able to keep up with the pace of civilization's expansion, in terms of population and technology.
The only way to go, it was concluded, was up.
Astronomers had long known that the Solar System was rich in exploitable mineral resources, if only it were possible to reach them. Later theoreticians discovered that it might be possible to build large, free-floating structures at the five gravitationally neutral points in the planet's gravitational field. Further theoretical discoveries indicated that, if the structures were built in certain ways, it might be possible to create artificial gravity in the interior by imparting a spin to them, creating centrifugal force that would hold things on the inside down to the walls. Light and power could be generated by reflecting in sunlight through huge windows, using giant mirrors.
The building materials could be mined in space from the asteroids and natural satellites.
People could one day live in space as easily as they did on their own planet.
Of course, this was all going to take decades, there were still engineering hurdles to overcome. Nevertheless, the government had sunk money and resources into a long-term program for the exploration and development of space, in which people like Flint would be the first wave.
Pioneers on the "High Frontier", as it was commonly known.
Flint was shaken from his thoughts by another indicator, and a lurch as the second stage seperated.
"Second stage detached! Igniting capsule engines for final burn."
The somewhat less powerful engines of Flint's capsule fired, propelling the tiny spacecraft into high orbit. It would be the beginning of a two day voyage, with many incredible firsts along the way.
However, as the capsule's engine cut out and it stopped accelerating, the young fennec let out a sound of amazement at an entirely new sensation.
"This is Commander Hobten. Orbital altitude achieved. My engines have automatically shut off, and I've stopped accelerating."
Unbuckling himself, Flint pushed out of his acceleration chair, floating closer to his single, small porthole.
"I'm light as a feather up here! With the engines off I'm in microgravity... this is an incredible sensation. It's almost like being underwater..."
The radio crackled.
"We're not reading you in your seat anymore, Commander. Where are you?"
Flint shook his head.
"Sorry, LAUCOM. I've left my seat and I'm over at the window."
"Can you see anything?"
Flint breathed in amazement.
"I'm looking down at our planet... our WHOLE planet, well, from this angle. I can see the whole southern continent right now, and a little bit of the northern one... I can see all the weather patterns from up here, there's clouds obscuring a lot of stuff, but overall it looks like a very pleasant day down there..."
He smiled.
"It... it looks like one big, blue marble, LAUCOM. I can't describe how fragile it all seems from up here..."
The young fennec paused for a second, taking in the view.
"...LAUCOM, am I go for orbit ops?"
There was a brief pause, and then a reply.
"Roger that, Commander. You are go for orbit ops. Be careful up there."
"You be careful down there, too..."
"Sorry? Didn't copy, Commander."
Flint shook his head.
"Never mind, LAUCOM. Over."
The End?