CHAPTER 9 – PUSHING THE ENVELOPE
13:08 (California Time)
Thursday, May 8, 1975 ‘C’
Space Corps hangar, Muroc North
Muroc Air Test Center, California
U.S.A.
There was a fairly large crowd of civilians present in the big Space Corps hangar, including a number of reporters, press photographers and television camera crews, the lot supervised and controlled by a good number of Space Corps MPs. There were as well over twelve Secret Service agents present, as President Robert Kennedy was in attendance. Ingrid had pushed for many reasons for the first official flight in Space of the new Lockheed ASP-100 spaceplane to be made a public event. First, the preliminary test flights in the atmosphere and high stratosphere had revealed no hidden design or construction vice which could turn today’s flight into a disaster. Second, showing the ASP-100 in public would help prevent paranoia and fear about it in the Soviet Union, by removing a veil of secrecy that could unnecessarily stoke the apprehension of the Soviet leaders. For the same reason, Ingrid had fought hard to include as observer on the flight Lylia Litvyak but had encountered some ferocious opposition from many American generals and politicians. It had finally taken the intervention of Robert Kennedy to decree that Litvyak would be on the flight in order to cultivate the present good relations with the Soviet Union. As part of the deal, a few Soviet reporters and cameramen were present in the hangar today, on top of the Soviet Ambassador and of his military attaché, with at least a couple of the Soviet ‘reporters’ being probably undercover clandestine agents. However, for just that reason, the hangar and this zone of the base had been thoroughly sanitized in advance to hide from sight anything that was truly sensitive in terms of military secrets. Finally, one last reason for Ingrid to push for an official event was to calm down the grumbles from the Congress about the amount of money and resources spent on yet another classified military project. While the United States had been launching spacecraft in orbit since 1957, it had done so by either releasing spaceplanes from a heavy transporter at high altitude or via classic rockets, while the Soviets still did all their launches via multi-stage rockets. The only exceptions had been the U.S.S. CONSTITUTION and U.S.S. LIBERTY, which had taken off from Muroc in 1968 and 1970, respectively. However, those two spaceships had been designed for space work only and were unable to land back on Earth. The ASP-100 THUNDERBOLT would thus be the first ever craft able to routinely take off and land, using conventional runways, while being able to reach Earth orbit by itself.
In the front line of the crowd of observers, not far from President Kennedy’s group, Ambassador Yuri Gorchov bent sideways to whisper into the ear of his military attaché, Major General Oleg Voronzof.
‘’So, what do you think of this ASP-100?’’
‘’That it looks like a true technological marvel, Mister Ambassador. It could easily feature in any science-fiction movie. If it indeed proves capable to reach orbit by itself and stay there before landing back on Earth, then the Americans will have something that we could only dream of having right now. However, the payload capacity of this ASP-100, as advertised by the Americans this morning, seems quite limited, so I think that it will be used mostly for military missions, like strategic photo-reconnaissance, while still using their existing SP-10 spaceplanes to orbit larger payloads.’’
‘’It makes sense. What I have problems believing is the fact that we were invited here to watch the launch.’’
‘’The answer to that, Mister Ambassador, lies in three words: General Ingrid Dows. She is known as a true ‘goodie-two-shoes’ and has the ear of President Kennedy. While she proved to be a redoubtable adversary for us on the battlefield, we assess her to be unusually open-minded and tolerant and is no warmonger.’’
‘’So, she is somewhat naïve?’’
‘’No, Mister Ambassador!’’ was the immediate reply from Voronzof. ‘’General Dows is anything but naïve. She is too savvy in terms of geo-politics for that. She is simply uncommonly good-natured and truly wishes for peaceful relations with us. There is nothing nefarious about her in my personal opinion, and so thinks the GRU{7}.’’
Ambassador Gorchov nodded his head at that and paid back attention to the spokeswoman from the U.S. Space Corps, a tall and pretty brunette in her late thirties who was doing a quick presentation speech to the visitors present. At the end of that speech, she left her microphone to Ingrid Dows, who was already wearing her spacesuit but had her helmet visor up and open.
‘’Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Muroc for this inaugural first flight in Space of our new ASP-100 spaceplane. While I will readily acknowledge that the ASP-100 was primarily designed for military-related missions, I do want to emphasize that it is also more than capable of doing peaceful missions, like the emergency rescue in orbit of manned spacecraft unable to return to Earth, like I did in 1957 with the SP-10A STARBLAZER to rescue in orbit then Major Lydia Litvyak and Major Yuri Gagarin. It can also carry on crew exchanges aboard orbital space stations, be they American or Soviet, and can also be sent to repair in orbit malfunctioning satellites or spacecraft. In this spirit of peaceful cooperation, I have invited Colonel Lydia Litvyak, who is scheduled to depart in three months for a two-year mission to Mars aboard the U.S.S. LIBERTY, to be part of this flight as an observer. I will be the copilot on this flight, while the pilot will be Colonel Neil Armstrong. Lieutenant Colonel Julia Miller will complete our crew as our sensors officer. For this flight, we will take off on our own power from this base, using a regular runway, then will climb to orbit, where we will spend a day or so effecting a few tests before landing back here in order to prove the versatility and flexibility of use of the ASP-100. Now, are there any questions before I get into my spaceplane?’’
A flurry of hands went up at once, with many reporters trying to shout over each other. Ingrid then pointed at the celebrated CBS television news anchor, Walter Cronkite.
‘’Mister Cronkite, you’re first!’’
‘’Thank you, General Dows!’’ replied the mustachioed 59-year-old news anchorman, who had a full camera crew with him. ‘’I must say that your ASP-100 is a very sleek-looking machine indeed and is quite impressive. What kind of performances are you expecting from it?’’
‘’What I expect from the ASP-100 is to be able to take off from any standard commercial or military runway, climb on its own power to orbit and achieve a stable orbit around Earth, where it will be able to stay for up to four weeks before reentering the atmosphere and land back conventionally at its point of departure, or at any other airfield in the World. What we hope to achieve over the performances of our actual fleet of SP-10 spaceplanes is mostly a much faster response time and better flexibility in employment, all things that should dramatically lower the cost of each launch.’’
‘’Talking of cost, General, how much did your ASP-100 cost to the American taxpayers?’’
‘’Well, while that figure is actually classified, most congressmen would answer you with a grumble and the words ‘too much’.’’ said Ingrid while smiling, triggering a round of laughter around the crowd. She however became serious again and looked around the crowd while speaking.
‘’Please believe me, ladies and gentlemen, when I say that I did my best to keep the expense to American taxpayers as low as possible while giving to the American people a space capability which would otherwise have ruined our national finances. Just think about our first Mars mission and try to imagine the cost of it if we had used the conventional rocket route. Next question!’’
This time, she pointed the TASS Agency reporter present, surprising many by her choice. The Soviet reporter and undercover GRU agent, not believing his luck, spoke loudly to be heard above the crowd.
‘’GENERAL, IS THE ASP-100 AN ARMED SPACECRAFT?’’
‘’Not for this flight, but it certainly could be armed for certain military missions, mister.’’ was the candid answer from Ingrid, who had expected that question. ‘’I will not be hypocritical about this, ladies and gentlemen. This program was mainly designed for the benefit of my Space Corps, whose principal missions are of a military nature. However, as I said earlier, the ASP-100 can also fulfill many missions of a peaceful nature, while one of the official missions of the U.S. Space Corps is space rescue work, and this irrespective of the nationality of the human being in space who would be in need of rescuing. As for the type and amount of armament that the ASP-100 can carry, sorry but that is classified information. Next question!’’
This time, it was Voronzof who bent sideways to whisper into Gorchov’s ear.
‘’She handled that question quite well I would say, Mister Ambassador.’’
‘’Indeed! She was frank, without revealing any classified data.’’
Gorchov and Voronzof would probably have been less cheerful if they had known that the ASP-100 possessed four large missile bays able to accommodate an assortment of heavy missiles armed with either conventional or nuclear warheads, on top of being equipped with a very sophisticated radar and sensors suite to help guide those missiles.
After answering a few more questions, Ingrid declared the interview ended and went to her new spaceplane with Neil Armstrong, Julia Miller and Lydia Litvyak, who were also already wearing their spacesuits. Filmed by the cameramen present, the four of them then boarded the ASP-100, using an elevator platform attached to the bottom of the crew pod’s access airlock. Once inside the eight-meter-long and three-meter-wide crew compartment, Ingrid showed to Lilya one of the six regular padded seats reserved for passengers and mission specialists, which had no instrument panels or flight controls except for an intercom box and a TV viewing screen.
‘’Sorry if I don’t let you sit at the weapons officer’s station, Lilya, but I am sure that you will understand why.’’
Lilya replied with a smile to the woman she no longer considered as an enemy.
‘’I understand perfectly why, Ingrid. Just allowing me on this flight is already a lot more than I had expected. Thank you for taking me on this flight.’’
‘’Hey, as the second person ever to go into Space, you deserved this honor. Besides, this may do miracles to help the mutual relations of our two countries.’’
‘’It effectively can’t hurt.’’ said Lilya before taking place in the large and well-padded seat, which had been designed to accommodate astronauts wearing spacesuits. On her part, Ingrid went forward and sat in the copilot’s seat, to the right of the pilot’s seat, in which Neil Armstrong sat, while Julia sat at the weapons and sensors station, situated behind the pilot’s seat. Powering up the electrical and electronic systems of the spaceplane while keeping the engines shut off, Ingrid made a gesture to the ground support crew through the thick, multi-layered side window of the cockpit, telling them to start towing the spaceplane out of the hangar. As the ASP-100 was being towed out, Ingrid and Neil Armstrong started their pre-flight check list, watched and listened closely by an intensively curious Lilya, who was growing increasingly excited.
With the spaceplane now out of the hangar, the crowd of visitors and onlookers moved out as well and was garnered in a safe area of the tarmac where a dozen tripod-mounted observation heavy binoculars had been set up for the benefit of the V.I.P. guests in the crowd. Walter Cronkite, like President Kennedy, Secretary of Defense Harold Brown and Ambassador Gorchov, was one of those guests and gladly took place behind his assigned binocular, a powerful optical instrument with a wide field of view, while his camera crew set itself up next to him. He watched on with growing excitement while commenting for the benefits of his viewers.
‘’The ASP-100 has now lit up its jet engines and has started rolling by itself towards one of the runways built on the Rogers Dry Lake bed. That runway is 7.5 miles-long and is said to be the longest in service in the United States. Thus, General Dows’ spaceplane will have plenty of runway for its first official orbital flight…’’
Inside the THUNDERBOLT, Neil Armstrong made the spaceplane roll along the base’s taxiways, to finally stop it momentarily at one end of the big 17/35 Runway. After a last instrument check, he looked at Ingrid.
‘’All is checked and a go, General!’’
‘’Then, let’s go! Your aircraft!’’
‘’My aircraft.’’ repeated Armstrong, acknowledging that he would be piloting, while Ingrid would be in charge of checking the instruments. ‘’Ignition of main rocket engine in five seconds. Ramjet in takeoff assist mode. Three, two, one, ignition!’’
Lilya suddenly felt herself pushed into her seat with what she estimated to be at least a two G acceleration, while a deafening noise erupted. Pushed by the 700 tons of thrust from the Rocketdyne F-1 liquid bipropellant rocket engine, to which was added the supplementary thrust provided by the mass of air sucked in via the forward inlet of the combined ramjet-rocket engine and then compressed inside the inlet ducts, the 520-ton spaceplane, its propellant tanks full to the brim, quickly took up speed along the runway, its crew shaken by the strong vibrations from their powerful engine. Then, its nose rotated up after a surprisingly short ground roll and the ASP-100 started rising up from the ground at a steep angle, with Lilya still pushed hard in her seat. After only half a minute, Ingrid shouted over the din of the rocket engine.
‘’MACH 2.3 ATTAINED! LIGHTING UP THE RAMJET TO FULL POWER AND SHUTTING DOWN THE MAIN ROCKET ENGINE.’’
The deafening roar of the F-1 rocket engine was then replaced by a much more bearable but still quite audible jet noise, while the felt acceleration was cut in half.
‘’SPEED NOW MACH 3 AND INCREASING STEADILY. WE ARE PASSING 40,000 FEET. WE ARE STILL ON OUR PREPROGRAMMED FLIGHT PROFILE.’’
‘’UNDERSTOOD!’’ replied Armstrong. ‘’LET’S CONTINUE ON TO MACH 5.5 AND 90,000 FEET BEFORE SWITCHING BACK TO MAIN ROCKET ENGINE.’’
‘’ACKNOWLEDGED!’’ said Ingrid. ‘’LILYA, HOW ARE YOU DOING BACK IN THERE?’’
‘’I’M IN FIGHTER PILOT HEAVEN!’’ replied Lilya while grinning from ear to ear, making both Ingrid and Neil Armstrong chuckle.
On the ground, the visitors followed with stunned incredulity the speedy takeoff and steep climb of the spaceplane, which was now out of sight except for a long smoke trail far away at high altitude. Robert Kennedy turned his head to grin at his Secretary of Defense, Harold Brown, and at General George Brown, who had replaced a year ago Admiral Moorer as the Chairman of the Chiefs of the Joint Staff.
‘’Did you see the acceleration of our ASP-100? It was incredible! And it is supposed to weigh 520 tons when fully fueled?’’
‘’Just from watching this takeoff, I would say that we have a real winner on our hands, Mister President.’’ replied Harold Brown. ‘’The Soviets should be choking with envy now.’’
Kennedy, like the two Browns, glanced as one at the nearby Soviet ambassador, who was now speaking in a low voice with his military attaché, with both men looking quite agitated.
‘’Yep! I think that General Dows’ show did impress our Soviet friends.’’
‘’MACH 5.6 AND 90,000 FEET ATTAINED! SWITCHING BACK TO MAIN ROCKET ENGINE AND SWITCHING OFF THE RAMJET.’’
The mighty roar of the Rocketdyne F-1 came back then, again pushing the four astronauts against their seats. However, this time the felt acceleration was much stronger, since about a third of the onboard fuel and oxidizer had already been burned, greatly lightening up the spaceplane. Lilya noticed that both Neil Armstrong and Ingrid seemed to let the autopilot guide the climb of the ASP-100 while they soaked the near 3 G acceleration in their padded seats. After close to two minutes of hard acceleration, the F-1 rocket engine cut itself off, bringing near silence on the flight deck of the spaceplane. Freed from the strong G force, Ingrid consulted at once her instruments.
‘’We have attained orbital velocity and are at an altitude of 112.5 miles, or 180 kilometers for you, Lilya. We will let our spaceplane complete one orbit, to establish with precision our apogee and perigee, then will work on regularizing our orbit with the help of our orbital rocket engines. This will give us plenty of time to test the various systems of our ASP-100, so let’s get to work! Julia, deploy our watch radars while I deploy and test our radiators and solar panels.’’
‘’Uh, can I do something to help, General?’’ asked Lilya from her passenger seat. Ingrid gave her a benevolent smile in response.
‘’Thanks for the offer, Lilya, but our work stations include many classified systems and instruments. What you could do, though, is to monitor our main radio frequency while we get on with our checks. I am going to transfer to your intercom box both our main frequency link with Vandenberg and the general distress call monitoring frequency.’’
Lilya didn’t object to being cut out like this, fully realizing that an American astronaut aboard a Soviet station or craft would most probably be also denied access to the more sensitive Soviet equipment. Besides, from the little she could see from her seat, the systems of the ASP-100 looked so advanced that she probably wouldn’t know how to operate them properly. Her previous fourteen months spent training in Vandenberg for her incoming Mars mission had clearly shown to her how much ahead the American space technology, and particularly computer and radar technology, was in comparison with Soviet technology. It was again the old story about how top notch Soviet pure science abilities failed to turn into equally top notch Soviet applied technology: somehow, the heavy, rigid and dogmatic Soviet state government machinery regularly managed to stifle true innovation, mostly by putting obtuse party hacks in administrative charge of advanced projects. She thus switched on the two radio channels without further ado and listened to them while admiring from time to time the view of Earth she had through her armored window.
Some forty minutes later, Julia Miller spoke up while keeping her eyes on her multiple radar screens.
‘’I have our first rendezvous point on my forward radar screen. We should cross path with it in about fifteen minutes.’’
‘’Got it!’’ replied Ingrid, with Lilya following with a question.
‘’What is that rendezvous point, General?’’
‘’The U.S.S. LIBERTY. We intentionally launched on a trajectory towards it. Once this spaceplane will be in full regular service, one of its uses will be to carry passengers and replacement crews between the surface and Earth’s orbit. A special passenger module has been designed which will fit inside our payload bay. That module will be able to carry up to 32 passengers at a time, or up to three tons of fresh supplies.’’
Lilya grinned when that answer brought an idea into her head.
‘’Hey, it could possibly carry one day paying customers to an orbiting space hotel. Wouldn’t that be great?’’
‘’It indeed would, Lilya…and it will happen sooner than later. I already have plans for such an orbiting station open to paying visitors, on top of hosting visiting astronomers and scientists eager to use our space telescopes. God knows my Space Corps could use some extra revenues to compensate for the limited budgets I get from Congress. My bet is that hundreds of well-to-do people wouldn’t hesitate to pay nice sums to be able to spend some time in Earth orbit. On my part, I would love to be able one day to offer a paid trip to Space to my daughter Hien.’’
‘’Vacation in Space…’’ said dreamily Neil Armstrong. ‘’I too would love to offer such a trip to my family one fine day. I already can see the kind of waiting lists for rooms in such an orbital hotel with a view of Earth.’’
Some eleven minutes later, Julia gave another warning.
‘’The U.S.S. LIBERTY is now some twenty miles ahead and slightly above us. It should be visible pretty soon.’’
‘’I already have it on our long-range camera.’’ replied Ingrid from her copilot’s seat. ‘’Lilya, how would you like to visit in advance the spaceship that will carry you to Mars?’’
‘’I would love it! Could we really join up with it on this trip?’’
‘’Certainly, Lilya! Besides, one of the systems we needed to test is our nose docking port. This will be a perfect time to test it. Neil, start a docking approach path to the LIBERTY. I will get our navigation computer on calculating an exact flight path. Lilya, call the U.S.S. LIBERTY on our main frequency and ask permission for us to dock at its port docking station.’’
‘’On it!’’ said Lilya, feeling excitement mounting inside her, before keying her radio microphone. ‘’U.S.S. LIBERTY, this is the spaceplane THUNDERBOLT. We are on approach to you and request permission to dock at your port docking station, over.’’
An answer came nearly at once, clear and strong.
‘’THUNDERBOLT, from U.S.S. LIBERTY, permission granted to approach and dock at our port station, over.’’
‘’THUNDERBOLT acknowledged, out!’’
Lilya then switched her viewing television screen to the view given by the powerful long-range camera installed in the forward cone of their starboard side wing-mounted pod. The orbiting spaceship was already plainly visible as a growing white dot against the black background of Space. Lilya watched with growing wonderment as it gradually filled the screen, even after she scaled down the magnification of the view to the minimum.
‘’My God! I knew that it was big, but I couldn’t imagine how big it really is.’’
‘’It is indeed big by any standard: 428 meters long from nose to nuclear rocket engines nozzles, a span of 410 meters with its wingtips up and a saucer section measuring 300 meters in length, 250 meters in width and 28 meters in maximum body thickness.’’ replied Ingrid, looking with pride at the gigantic spaceship. ‘’It will have a mass of over 68,000 metric tons when it will depart Earth orbit on its way to Mars.’’
That last sentence made Lilya look with some reserve at Ingrid.
‘’How could you get such a massive ship to fly off from a runway by itself and climb to orbit on its own power? It sounds impossible.’’
‘’It does sound impossible…because it is.’’
‘’Uh?’’
‘’Simply said, the U.S.S. LIBERTY weighed only 9,700 metric tons when it took off from Muroc Air Force Base after its completion.’’
‘’Only 9,700 metric tons, she said.’’ said Lilya in a discouraged tone that made Ingrid giggle.
‘’Yes, only 9,700 metric tons. Its nuclear engines and their anti-radiation liners were only added to it once it was in a stable low Earth orbit. Also, it carried at takeoff only the rocket fuel and oxidizer it needed to reach orbit, with little of it in terms of liquid hydrogen fuel. In contrast, for its mission to Mars, the LIBERTY will start its journey with 60,000 metric tons of liquid hydrogen meant for its nuclear engines. The LIBERTY managed to take off from Muroc on its own power mostly thanks to its shape, with its saucer section being basically a giant arrowhead-shaped wing, which gave it a lot of extra aerodynamic lift at takeoff and during its climb through the atmosphere. Believe it or not, but the LIBERTY’s wing loading ratio at takeoff was about half that of modern fighter jet aircraft. Add to that the fact that its combined ramjet-rocket main engines had a specific impulse much superior to the best liquid propellant rocket engines we have and it gives you a spaceship as nimble as a fighter aircraft and with twice the climb rate. The trick was to combine all the technologies we were using and making them supplement each other. In fact, one of my main design principles since I started directing the American space program in 1955 is to make as many systems and parts as possible fill at least two purposes. One example of that principle is the liquid oxygen tanks used at takeoff and climb to orbit by the F-1 rocket main engines: since they were basically empty and contained only oxygen vapors and slush once the LIBERTY attained orbit, they were then easily and safely turned into vast supplies storage spaces. I believe that you copied that feature on the boosters you used to launch into orbit your space station MIR.’’
‘’That’s right! And I understand that the reason you designed such a big ship was in order to incorporate in its saucer section the system of contra-rotating carrousels that our visiting Soviet scientists praised so much, right?’’
‘’Correct! For me it was crucial to provide a way to keep the crew of the ship into an artificial gravity environment as much as possible, to avoid all the medical and health problems caused by long periods spent in zero gravity. Also, it is much easier to provide adequate anti-radiation protection in a big ship than in a small ship, thanks to economies of scale.’’
Lilya crossed her arms then and stared at Ingrid with a smile.
‘’General, did anybody ever call you a genius?’’
‘’Me, a genius? Well, of course I am!’’ replied Ingrid, grinning, making Julia and Neil laugh briefly. She then returned her attention to the approaching spaceship, helping Neil to guide their spaceplane towards the 24-meter-wide exhaust nozzle of the left side main engine pod, hooked under the ship’s saucer section. They were soon level with that exhaust nozzle, with the docking port surrounded by five big Rocketdyne F-1 rocket engines, themselves surrounded by the burning chamber of the huge ramjet engine becoming visible to the spaceplane crew.
‘’Swiveling our nose radome out of the way.’’ said Ingrid while pushing a few buttons. ‘’Extending our nose docking ring. Automated docking approach system engaged.’’
‘’In line with the LIBERTY’s docking port.’’ replied Neil Armstrong. ‘’Automated docking approach system is in command. Approach velocity now at five feet per second and decreasing… four feet per second… two feet per second… one foot per second… Distance to docking ring: fifteen feet and decreasing… Contact! Verify coupling integrity.’’
‘’Verifying coupling integrity.’’ said Ingrid. ‘’I have green lights across the board. I am starting to pressurize our nose docking airlock.’’
Ingrid then watched attentively as the pressure and temperature rose inside their nose airlock, while the crew of the LIBERTY did the same for the spaceship’s airlock. One reading however started to worry her after a few seconds, once the airlock of her spaceplane was fully pressurized.
‘’I am detecting a slight but progressive loss of pressure inside our nose airlock. Let me check if the pressure will stabilize.’’
She soon let out a mild swear word, sounding frustrated.
‘’Damn! The pressure is continuing to drop. We still could use our airlock in an emergency, but we definitely have a problem here. I am afraid that we will have to abort and decouple from the LIBERTY.’’
‘’I concur!’’ replied Neil Armstrong. This will have to be checked in detail once back in Muroc. I am depressurizing our nose airlock. Ingrid, advise the LIBERTY that we have to abort our docking operation and are returning to Muroc.’’
‘’Will do!’’ said Ingrid before twisting her head and giving a contrite smile to Lilya.
‘’Sorry about that, Lilya. You will have to wait another three months before you can see the inside of the LIBERTY.’’
‘’I understand, Ingrid. Better be safe than sorry.’’
Lilya, a bit disappointed but still quite thrilled by her space flight so far, sat back in her seat and watched the blue orb of Earth under them as the THUNDERBOLT backed away from the LIBERTY. For her, any occasion to be in Space was a personal joy. To be in Space for a peaceful purpose rather than for war only added to her joy.