My space story - chapter 4

I think this might be my best chapter yet - now that the action has begun! Also, I made this stuff up, so please don't complain about the inaccuracies with the procedures!!

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I had already been sat in the flight deck for a good few hours, tirelessly cross-checking swathes of information from the displays and monitors adjacent to my seat, until only a few minutes remained before we were scheduled to depart. As the countdown timer passed 5 minutes, the brightly illuminated cockpit was filled with a somewhat reedy voice, which was obviously being transmitted across a delayed long-range radio connection. There was, to my knowledge, only one place in the world (or rather, hurtling at 8km/s around it), from which such a transmission would be arriving. The appearance of a fuzzy image onto one of the MFD screens at the front of the Shuttle confirmed my suspicions.

After the current crew of the space station was done delivering their pre-launch message of good luck, the screen flicked back to its previous state. The display showed a black background with a simple vector-drawn image of a blue circle at its centre. I keyed in a reference code and brought up the same orbit tracking program on a closer display screen.

The single blue circle was surrounded by a mass of numbers, most of which remained constant as the seconds ticked by. I took a moment to remind myself of what I was looking at. The blue circle represented the surface of the Earth. The numerical outputs were live readings, most of which came directly from the many sensors, gyroscopes and accelerometers to which Atlantis’ guidance computers were connected. After double and triple-checking the readings for anomalies, I shifted my eyes from the simple artificial horizon and its array of data, allowing my gaze to settle on the staggeringly beautiful green shoreline visible from our extraordinary vantage point. Numbers and statistics held a certain logical elegance, but I could never truthfully accept that an artificial imitation might match the beauty of such an awe-inspiring natural spectacle.

“Final ascent program will be locked in 60 seconds; I want a go-no-go at this point”. The pilot’s request for a final computer check prompted me to cycle through the readings one more time. I noticed the payload specialist doing the same on the other side of the cabin.

“Go for final lock”. I was ready for the autopilot to take control of the Shuttle’s systems.

“Affirm, go for internal guidance” came the voice of the payload specialist, followed by similar confirmations from everyone else in the flight deck as they declared their readiness for Atlantis to become autonomous.

“30 seconds until internal guidance. Disable the input stream” said the commander’s voice. On cue, I keyed a combination of letters and numbers from my checklist into a small keyboard to my left. The guidance computers thought for a second or two, and then cleared the screen on my MFD console. Another second passed before the empty display suddenly returned to life, this time showing a number of timers and countdown clocks.

“Input stream disabled”. I confirmed that the computers were no longer taking inputs from external sources, and that the autopilot was ready to take full control. I glanced at the first timer on my display which showed a rapidly diminishing countdown, currently falling past 10 seconds. I looked back toward the front of the flight deck.

“In … 5 … 4 … 3 … 2 …”

“Guidance is internal, T-minus 60 seconds” I acknowledged.

“I want you guys at the back to keep cycling through. Cross-check the timing data” Steve commanded. With less than a minute to go until main engine ignition, I turned once again to my left. I pushed a glowing green button next to my console display, and my screen cleared.

“T-minus 45 seconds.”

The guidance computer loaded another display routine. I was now looking at a graph with two distinct curves sitting atop a time axis. The curves seemed to move towards each other as time progressed, until they smoothly intersected at a point where the graph read “T – 10”. This was bad news.

“We’re not getting a good sync until T-minus 10” I reported. After a second of confusion, my training kicked in. “I recommend a 30 second hold.”

At that instant, the voice of the CAPCOM entered my headset.

“T-minus 30 seconds until main engine start”. Steve had a quick decision to make.

“CAPCOM, we need some more time to sync up the timers”.

Almost instantly, the CAPCOM responded. “We’re showing a good sync here, Steve.”

I instinctively flicked back to my display screen and hit a button labelled RFR. The screen once again erased, and after what must have been the longest second I had ever experienced, it blinked back to life. The two curves on the graph jumped to the left as the
computer redrew them. The systems were indeed working perfectly.

“We’re go, we’re go” I blurted out. “We have timer synchronisation at T-minus 25.”

“Copy, we’re still showing a full sync here too, and we’re passing T-minus 20.” the CAPCOM replied.

Under normal circumstances, my mind would now be exploring the possible reasons for such an obvious data handling error, but I couldn’t focus on anything apart from the voice in my headset.

“T-minus 10.”

I forced myself to breathe calmly despite the quickly rising awareness of my anticipation.

“5 … 4… 3…”

I clenched my hands around the edge of my seat as I prepared for the jolting shudder of the main engine’s ignition.

“… 2 … 1 …we have ignition!”

The entire orbiter was hit by what seemed like a distant kick as the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen contained within the colossal External Tank were combined to ignite the three main engines. Less than a second after ignition, I felt a very sudden, disconcerting sensation. My entire weight shifted forwards in my seat as the vehicle’s nose was forced forwards in a motion known as the ‘twang’, during which the off-centre push from the main engines caused Atlantis to list forwards on the launchpad. A few seconds later, and I shifted back into my original position as the Shuttle righted itself.

I stole one more look at my display console. It simply read ’00:00.50’. Before I had a chance to register the final half-second, I felt the three main engines swivel quickly into liftoff configuration, followed by the massive pressure of the thrust from the Solid Rocket Boosters forcing me down into my seat as they pushed Atlantis away from Earth.

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Finally, we're going to space!