CHAPTER 24 – WELCOME TO SATURN
06:14 (Universal Time)
Monday, March 28, 1983 ‘C’
Command bridge of the U.S.S. PROMETHEUS
Surface of the moon Enceladus, Saturn System
‘’Touchdown! We are now on the surface of Enceladus, General.’’
‘’Excellent! Shut down all engines! Secure from flying stations! Ground Operations Department, prepare to send out our exploration team and our ice extraction team when ready. I want refueling operations to start as soon as the water ice on the surface has been analyzed and found safe for our use. Have our surface exploration team be on the lookout for any possible lifeforms: this region, with its hills and fault lines in the ice crust, should be ideal for tardigrades, if we go by our experience on Europa.’’
‘’On it, General!’’
Looking at one of the video monitors showing outside views around the ship, Ingrid contemplated the image of Saturn, with its famed rings, visible just above the icy horizon of Enceladus’ surface: while on the moon, the astronomers aboard the PROMETHEUS should have plenty of interesting things to observe through the multiple high-power telescopes of the ship. Added to the fact that it would permit to fully refill the propellant tanks of the ship, this stop on Enceladus should prove most rewarding scientifically. She then looked at another viewing screen, which showed the nearby hills: one of those hills was actually a sort of ice volcano which was periodically spewing out geysers of water vapors and ice particles. The geologists and planetologists aboard the PROMETHEUS were certainly going to find that hill very interesting in terms of exploration ground. Maybe, with luck, they would also find tardigrades or other kinds of lifeforms which would prosper from the water ejected out, especially if that water proved to be salty, like on Europa. If lifeforms were indeed to be found here, then this would definitely put to rest past claims that Earth was somehow unique in harboring life. Ingrid’s only regret was that it had been impossible to equip her ship with the means to penetrate the ice crust of moons all the way to their internal seas of liquid water. Maybe a whole world of marine life swam in such hypothetical underground oceans, deep under the surface ice crust. However, what her crew and ship were going to discover in the Saturn System would already be enough to rewrite human knowledge about the outer parts of the Solar System. The PROMETHEUS may have cost a fortune to build but it already had proved most worthy of the expenditure, thanks to all the scientific data and imagery it had collected to date. If it would be only up to her, Ingrid would make sure that this would not be the sole interplanetary trip of this ship: Uranus, Neptune and Pluto and their collection of moons would still need to be visited and explored in the years to come, in order to complete Humanity’s knowledge of its home system. That last thought reminded her that she had told President Reagan that she intended to retire from military service on her return to Earth. Who would then take charge of the American space program? What was she going to do with her life after that, apart from caring for her little Nancy, now nearly five-months old? All those questions still had to be answered. A factor to be considered as well in that was the fact that a new president would be elected by the time that the U.S.S. PROMETHEUS would return into Earth orbit. Would that new president, either republican or democrat, still want her to continue serving the nation in some capacity, or would he be too happy to let her go and relegate her to the shadows? Ingrid was not politically naïve and she knew that she had made quite a few political enemies in the United States during her decades of service, enemies who would not shrink from smearing her name while she was far from Earth and unable to defend her reputation. Ingrid finally shrugged off those hypothetical worries: what counted for her right now was her infant daughter and her mission and crew. That crew had in fact grown substantially since it had departed Earth some two and a half years ago. From an original total of 521 persons aboard the ship when it boosted out of Earth’s orbit, there were now 569 souls on board, including little Nancy. That number was assured to grow further in the coming months, possibly boosting the population of the ship to past 600 by the time this mission would be over. Contrary to the predictions of conservative minds on Earth, all those births, added to the children of crewmembers who had embarked with their parents on the PROMETHEUS, had up to now only positive effects on the crew and the mission. The crewmembers, not having to suffer a five-year-long separation from their families, had kept an excellent morale all along and the addition of many young babies had much lightened the mood aboard the ship, making life aboard much closer to normal. If Ingrid would have bowed to the objections of both politicians and other military commanders, she now would probably be in command of a crew suffering some serious psychological problems and neurosis, something that would have hurt significantly its performance during this deep Space mission. With all that in mind, Ingrid was intent on continuing to promote family life on her ship, notably by organizing and directing more family-oriented activities, like the family spacewalk she had organized in deep Space between Jupiter and Saturn. One of those planned activities which was on her mind would in fact happen here, on the surface of Enceladus. The view of Saturn from the surface of Enceladus was by itself most spectacular, while a rover excursion through the hills near the ship should prove interesting to all involved.
Getting up from her command chair, Ingrid went to pat the shoulder of her pilot.
‘’I am going to go have breakfast. You have the con in the meantime, Mister Gibson.’’
‘’Understood, General.’’
Ingrid then walked out of the command bridge section, with Enceladus’ tiny gravity of 0.01 G helping her cling to the decks. Her first stop was at the ship’s daycare center, which functioned 24 hours a day, to pick up her little Nancy. From there, she went to the ship’s main food court service area, on the main deck of Quadrant 02 ‘A’, where she collected a plate of eggs, hash brown potatoes and bacon at the hot breakfast counter, along with a glass of orange juice. With little Nancy in one arm and her platter held in her other hand, Ingrid went to a small corner area of the food court delimited by moveable partitions and marked with a large, clearly visible sign at its entrance that said ‘Breastfeeding corner. No Peeping Toms allowed’. Inside that area, she was able to put down her platter on a table next to a rocking chair, on which lay a clean towel. There was also a box of tissues on the table, while a nearby shelving unit contained baby supplies like diapers, wet wipes and pots of baby food. That breastfeeding corner had been Ingrid’s idea and had been set up after the first baby to be born on the ship had arrived. It could accommodate up to six mothers at a time and was by now well used. Ingrid in fact found two other young women sitting in rocking chairs and busy breastfeeding their babies when she entered the partitioned area and smiled to both of them.
‘’Good morning, Margaret! Good morning Natalia!’’
‘’Good morning, General!’’ replied in near unison the two mothers, attracting a chiding smile from Ingrid.
‘’Didn’t I tell you to simply call me ‘Ingrid’, instead of ‘General’?’’
Natalia Smirnova, who until two months ago had been called ‘Natalia Gorshkova’ and who was a fairly young but highly talented biochemist who had recently married another Soviet scientist traveling on the U.S.S. PROMETHEUS, astronomer Sasha Smirnov, giggled at her admonishment.
‘’Excuse us, Ingrid, but it is hard to forget who you are, especially for a Soviet citizen like me, who is accustomed to authority. How is your beautiful Nancy today?’’
‘’Hungry! And so am I! Just give me time to set myself here and we will then be able to chat together while feeding our little angels.’’
Temporarily putting Nancy in one of the cribs provided in the breastfeeding corner, Ingrid then removed her uniform’s vest, then the light blue short-sleeved shirt she wore under her vest. Next, she removed as well her bra, ending completely topless. Draping carefully her shirt and vest on the back of a chair so that they would not get wrinkled, she grabbed a towel and draped it over her right shoulder before lifting her daughter from her crib and positioning her across her right arm, offering her right nipple to her baby. Her child started sucking milk at once, being obviously quite hungry. With little Nancy being taken care of, Ingrid sat down in the rocking chair next to the table supporting her breakfast platter and started eating as well while half-turned towards the two other mothers.
‘’So, Natalia, what do you think of our space adventure up to now?’’
‘’I think that it is a dream come through, Gen…uh, Ingrid. I was enthusiastic about joining this mission to Jupiter and Saturn but I also had expected quite a lot of hardship during this five-year trip, including some psychological stress and loneliness. However, this ship has proven to be perfectly suited for such long space missions and I never expected to find such comprehensive crew facilities and amenities aboard it. Your decision to allow families with children aboard at the start of our journey had left me skeptical at first but I quickly realized how right your decision was. I have seen first-hand how the families of our cosmonauts spending up to nine months aboard our space station MIR coped with family separation, or rather how they couldn’t cope, and I must say that your PROMETHEUS is one truly happy ship.’’
‘’Glad to hear that, Natalia.’’
The Soviet woman hesitated for a moment while eyeing Ingrid’s firm breasts, then spoke in a low voice, to avoid that other people around the food court could hear her.
‘’I have to say that I am jealous of your body, Ingrid. To have such firm breasts and young body at your age is incredible.’’
‘’And do the Soviet men aboard this ship talk a lot about my body?’’ asked Ingrid with a mischievous grin. Natalia giggled in response.
‘’You bet they do! They would all love to spend a night or two with you…if you allowed them into your bed that is.’’
‘’And your Sasha too?’’ asked sneakily Ingrid, making Natalia grin.
‘’He would deny having such fantasies, of course…but I wouldn’t believe him. In the Soviet Union, one of the rumors about you is that you have a reputation as being a real temptress. I can now see that this reputation may be justified.’’
‘’Well, I do like my fun, Natalia. I will not deny that.’’
‘’Talking of fun, Ingrid,’’ cut in Margaret Rhea Gibson-Seddon, one of the medical doctors and surgeons in the crew, ‘’you never revealed who was the father of your beautiful little Nancy. Do you intend to keep that secret forever?’’
‘’Yes!’’ replied Ingrid, becoming serious. ‘’I consider my private life as sacred and have no wish to feed the rumor mill, either on this ship or back on Earth. The identity of Nancy’s father will remain strictly confidential and I intend to raise my daughter solely by myself. Once back on Earth, I intend to retire from military service, so I will have more time to care for Nancy and pursue other personal goals and activities.’’
‘’But, you are the brains of our space program, Ingrid. What will happen to it once you leave the Space Corps?’’
‘’I said that I will retire from military service, Margaret, but I still could stay in a civilian capacity as Director of U.S. National Space Programs. If not, many of our biggest aerospace companies will probably try to buy my services as a design engineer or program manager, or both. In any case, I do not expect to stay idle for long. There is still so much to do in so many domains…’’
Both Margaret and Natalia nodded their heads at that while eyeing their ‘young’ 57-year-old mission commander.
14:58 (Universal Time)
Hills near the landed U.S.S. PROMETHEUS
Surface of the moon Enceladus
Saturn System
‘’Be careful, Yevgeny: with that very low local gravity you could end up high in the sky if you don’t limit your leg strength.’’
The Soviet ice geologist climbing the slope of the ice ‘volcano’ which had attracted his team’s interest stopped for a moment to look back down at Edward Stokes and smiled to the American geologist.
‘’Don’t worry about me, Ed: I spent a year on the Moon before this mission. I am accustomed to low gravity.’’
‘’Well, this is not ‘low gravity’, Yevgeny: this is ‘micro gravity’, so take your time to climb this hill.’’
‘’You are worrying too much, Ed.’’ replied the Soviet geologist who, at the age of 43, was a good eighteen years younger than the highly experienced American geologist. Taking another step up the slope, he suddenly felt his boot slip on the icy surface and instinctively tried to regain his footing by pulling up with one hand. That apparently innocuous effort, made in a 0.011 G micro gravity environment, resulted in something that surprised Yevgeny: he was literally catapulted upwards and started describing a long parabolic curve in the dark sky, watched by the horrified members of his team. Trying his best not to panic, Yevgeny prepared himself to land into a safe posture: hitting the ground with his helmet and cracking his visor would be fatal to him. He mostly managed that when he regained contact with the icy ground some 200 meters away, next to the crater at the summit of the ice volcano. However, he couldn’t help fall flat on his face after landing, but had time to raise his gloved hands to protect his visor. His heart beating furiously, he heard the anguished voice of Edward Stokes on his spacesuit’s radio.
‘’YEVGENY, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?’’
‘’Yes, I am okay! I am now at the summit, right next to the edge of the crater.’’
Yevgeny was about to carefully get up when his eyes were attracted to a slight movement on the ice surface, centimeters from his visor. Focusing his eyes on that movement, he then grinned while speaking in a soft tone.
‘’Oh! Hello, little tardigrade! How are you today?’’
11:03 (Universal Time)
Tuesday, March 29, 1983 ‘C’
Exobiology laboratory, main deck, Quadrant 03, Carrousel ‘B’
U.S.S. PROMETHEUS, on the surface of Enceladus
Ingrid had a last look at the two tiny creatures kept in a small special environmental chamber, then turned to face Shannon Lucid and Natalia Smirnova.
‘’So, what could you find about those tardigrades, Doctor Lucid? Are they similar to those we found on Europa, in the Jupiter System?’’
Lucid nodded once, her expression most sober: what she had found had a potentially Earth-shattering impact on biological science as it was known today.
‘’They are, General. In fact, they are more than simply similar in appearance: their DNA is closely related to that of the Europa tardigrades. My belief is that both the Europa and the Enceladus tardigrades share the same origin. Furthermore, their DNA is also quite similar to the DNA of the tardigrades found on Earth. I will let you guess what this means, General.’’
Ingrid was silent for a moment as she digested that revelation, then spoke softly in a near whisper.
‘’Life came from Space, probably on asteroids or comets. This is huge! Biologists on Earth will go bonkers about this.’’
‘’I don’t know about them, but I am pretty much going bonkers about this, General.’’ replied Lucid. ‘’This is without a doubt the most important biological discovery of this century, and possibly of the whole of history. I am thus requesting your permission to send at once to Earth the results of our examinations and analysis.’’
‘’Please do, Doctor. Scientific knowledge is made to be shared and spread around, not to be hidden or suppressed. Congratulations to you and your team: you did a hell of a job here.’’
‘’Thank you, General!’’
Giving a last look at the tardigrades, Ingrid then walked out of the laboratory, her mind nearly boiling over. Her day’s report to Vandenberg Space Base on Earth was certainly bound to make big waves.
The U.S.S. PROMETHEUS ended up spending a good two months on Enceladus, taking off from the icy moon on June 2 after completing a very successful program of scientific exploration and observation. The astronomers aboard the ship were able to use the landed ship as a stationary observatory in order to observe in detail the giant planet Saturn through the ship’s multiple high-definition telescopes, discovering in the process many new things about the gas giant. Ingrid also used that time to organize a few family-oriented activities, notably a program of rover rides on the surface of Enceladus which allowed everyone aboard to come out of the ship and do a short tour of the nearby hills. Ingrid did use personally that opportunity, bringing with her her daughter Nancy, who reached the age of seven months by the time the PROMETHEUS left Enceladus, its propellant tanks full thanks to the oxygen and hydrogen produced from the moon’s water ice.
14:05 (Universal Time)
Friday, July 9, 1983 ‘C’
Planetary Sciences Center, Main Deck, Quadrant 02
Carrousel ‘B’, U.S.S. PROMETHEUS
In low orbit around Titan, Saturn System
Ingrid spoke as she looked down at the electronic map display table occupying the middle of the ship’s Planetary Sciences Center, a ten by four meters room surrounded by the various offices of the planetology scientists of the U.S.S. PROMETHEUS.
‘’I knew from the old ATHENA files that Titan was quite a unique moon in the Saturn System, but this is truly out of the ordinary: a moon with a dense atmosphere and lakes of liquid hydrocarbons. We could easily spend a whole year just studying Titan, but we won’t: we have to think about our reserves of perishable food. So, what do you think, ladies and gentlemen? Now that we have fully mapped by radar and spectrometers the surface of Titan, what should we do next, in your opinion?’’
Anthony England, Doctor in planetary sciences and head of the department, answered first.
‘’The ideal solution would be to send exploration teams on the surface of Titan, but flying in with our shuttlecraft would be risky, what with this very dense atmosphere and strong winds. Our shuttlecraft could very well be blown off course and crash on the way down. We did lose control of one of the two probes we sent down, due to atmospheric turbulences.’’
‘’But what a surface team could discover is far more than we can do from orbit.’’ objected Karl Schmidt, a German planetary scientist who was Anthony England’s assistant. ‘’There must be a safe way to land a surface team and then retrieve it.’’
‘’There is, although it still would imply some risks.’’ replied Ingrid, thoughtful. ‘’We could land our ship on Titan and thus bring with us our full exploration and underground study capabilities.’’
Quite a few of the scientists, along with Ingrid’s deputy, Rear Admiral John Young, gave her a worried look.
‘’General, our surviving probes indicated that Titan’s atmosphere is fifty percent denser than Earth’s atmosphere, with occasional violent gusts of winds. Also, the atmospheric orange haze enveloping the surface severely cuts visibility. Any attempt at landing will be quite risky in my opinion, especially if we take into account the fact that we would risk the lives of everybody aboard, including our families.’’
‘’I am very conscious of all those factors, Admiral.’’ replied Ingrid, her tone a bit pointed. ‘’My own daughter is aboard, remember? I would certainly not put her at risk for nothing. On the other hand, we have here a celestial body of prime interest that in some ways resemble primeval Earth in its early stages, with a true soup of chemical organic compounds which could very well harbor life. I will pilot the ship personally for the landing on Titan: I am by far the most experienced pilot aboard and have flown in all kinds of conditions. Besides, the sheer size and mass of the ship, allied to the low local gravity on Titan, will help make that flight easier and safer. Once on the surface, we will then have the means to probe under the surface of the moon, while offering a close by, safe base of operations for our surface teams.’’
A majority of the heads assembled around the map display table nodded their heads at her words. However, a few were still hesitant, prompting Ingrid in taking a firm decision: she never liked to procrastinate when faced with a problem and had learned from experience that her first impression was most often the correct one.
‘’Very well, ladies and gentlemen: we will fly into Titan’s atmosphere tomorrow morning and land on that ice plain next to this liquid methane lake. Everybody aboard will be wearing spacesuits for that flight, so I want all suits to be ready for use by nine tomorrow morning. In the meantime, we will collect additional data from orbit and map as best we can our intended landing area. I will also expect a detailed, comprehensive surface exploration plan mounted in advance. Doctor England, you will coordinate that last part with Captain Alan Bean, our ground operations officer.’’
‘’We will be ready by nine tomorrow, General.’’
‘’Excellent! Are there any more questions or remarks? No? Then, let’s go prepare our ship for a landing on Titan.’’
The assembled scientists and ship’s officers, most of them quite excited by now, then dispersed, returning to their respective offices or laboratories. However, her deputy stayed with her as she walked out of the center, speaking to her in a low voice.
‘’Are you sure that this is wise, General? This may be quite a risky maneuver.’’
Ingrid abruptly stopped and turned to face Young, a closed expression on her face.
‘’As I said before, John, I am very conscious of the risks we will have to take and I also care very much about the safety of my daughter and of the other children and spouses on board this ship. However, we knew before leaving Earth that this whole mission would be risky. If I had believed that the risks would be unacceptable, I would not have allowed family members to come aboard in the first place. However, we are now left with only one way to fully learn the secrets of Titan and there probably won’t be another mission to the outer planets before another five to ten years, so this is not the time to be timid and expect a risk-free mission. We either take the necessary risks to explore our Solar System and open space to Humanity, or we stay on Earth and limit ourselves to sending out robotic probes. Do you want to lodge an official objection to my decision to land on Titan, Admiral Young?’’
John Young hesitated for a moment before answering her.
‘’No, General!’’
‘’Thank you! I will want a report on the readiness status of our surface exploration teams by eight tomorrow morning. If there is any problem, we will delay the landing operation until that problem or shortcoming is taken care of.’’
Ingrid then walked away to return to her office. Young, a very competent and meticulous officer who also always took very seriously the safety of his personnel, watched her for a moment before starting to walk himself, still preoccupied. However, Ingrid had been right about saying that space exploration was worth taking some risks. It was just that, up to now, he never had to put at risk children or wives, only military men who had volunteered for the job.
08:58 (Universal Time)
Saturday, July 10, 1983 ‘C’
Command bridge of the U.S.S. PROMETHEUS
In low orbit around the moon Titan
The atmosphere in the command bridge compartment was tense as the crew was finishing to prepare the ship for its entry into Titan’s turbulent atmosphere. Ingrid, sitting in the pilot’s seat rather than in her usual command seat, was very conscious of that and fully understood why her crewmembers were nervous: the risks, while low in her opinion, were still very real. The flight engineer, Major Ellison Onizuka, then spoke up out loud.
‘’All the external antennas are now retracted back in their hull recesses and our chemical rockets are primed and ready for deceleration thrust. The ship is rigged for atmospheric flying.’’
‘’Thank you, Major!’’ replied John Young, who was occupying the command chair for this rare occasion, before switching his microphone to ship-wide announcement.
‘’Attention to all personnel! We are now two minutes from starting our descent towards the surface of Titan. You must by now be sitting in your crashworthy seats and wearing your spacesuits. Seal your suits now and keep them sealed until further notice!’’
Young then fell silent for two minutes before speaking again, this time to Ingrid.
‘’You may start our descent now, General.’’
‘’Thank you, Admiral! Here we go, kids! Lighting up our chemical rocket engines at full thrust now!’’
A push of a button was followed by a sudden, prolonged and powerful roar from the hydrogen-oxygen chemical rockets of the ship, mounted in two rotating engine pods along the sides of the PROMETHEUS. With the pods rotated so that the rocket nozzles faced forward, the thrust from the chemical engines started at once to cut the ship’s orbital speed. That in turn made the ship’s orbit lower quite quickly. Soon, the crew of the PROMETHEUS started feeling the first vibrations and noise from the atmospheric reentry. However, Ingrid kept their engines at full power, accelerating the ship’s rate of descent while cutting drastically its orbital speed. Checking constantly their speed relative to the surface of the moon, Ingrid waited until the ship’s speed was down to about 2,000 kilometers per hour, well below orbital speed, before lowering her engines’ thrust to idle and pivoting the engine pods down, to make her engines nozzles face the ground below. However, she did not raise again her engines power at that time, letting in essence the PROMETHEUS glide down at supersonic speed through the orange atmospheric haze hiding the surface from direct view.
‘’Passing in aerodynamic flight control mode!’’
That basically meant that she was now using the aerodynamic surfaces of the ship, including its huge vertical rudders and horizontal elevators, to control its attitude as the main body of the PROMETHEUS, shaped like the profile of an aircraft wing, provided aerodynamic lift. The dense atmosphere of Titan, at 147 percent of Earth’s atmospheric pressure and composed nearly exclusively of nitrogen, actually helped create an aerodynamic lift force that surprised even Ingrid. Her long experience as a pilot, including years spent testing new aircraft prototypes, however helped her at that moment and she was able fairly easily to keep complete control of her huge spaceship as it flew down at supersonic speed through the orange haze of Titan.
‘’This is fun flying, guys.’’ she said out loud in order to make her companions relax. ‘’Should I try a few barrel rolls and loopings?’’
‘’Uh, just a smooth landing will do, General.’’ replied John Young, attracting a few laughs and giggles around the command bridge as the ship shook repeatedly from atmospheric turbulences. Checking their ground mapping radar, Ingrid corrected her course to head towards their chosen landing zone.
‘’The winds are quite strong, I must say: I need to keep compensating for drift all the time. I am now deploying our aerodynamic braking flaps to lower our speed to subsonic. It may shake a bit.’’
The ride actually proved quite rough once she deployed the braking flaps, with the deceleration pushing her forward in her seat. Her safety harness however kept her in her seat as she fought the controls in order to smooth their ride. She then tried more humor.
‘’I hope that this is recorded, guys: we may get the Mackay Trophy{30} for this flight.’’
‘’No, we won’t, General!’’ replied her copilot for this flight, Robert Crippen. ‘’We are not an air force crew, thus are not eligible for the Mackay Trophy. We however could go for the Harmon Trophy’s Space Flight Award. As for recording this, our external camera views are automatically recorded, as they are now, General.’’
‘’I’ll take the Harmon Trophy!’’ said Ingrid, attracting a retort from John Young.
‘’Let’s not skin the bear before we have killed it, people. On the other hand, I must say that you are doing quite well, General, especially in the way you use our engines thrust.’’
‘’I was one of the test pilots who tested our A-5 vertical takeoff jet fighter-bomber back in the 1950s, on top of testing as well all our new