by Jeff Pollard
One of the most difficult aspects of this entire maneuver is keeping that engine alight as it burns into the wind. Multiple Eagle 9s had performed the return burn where there was little atmosphere to suffocate the center engine, only to be unable to restart the engine at the key moment of flight. Until they could reliably show engine restart capability with the engines pointed downwind in the lower atmosphere, they were not allowed to do a full turnaround burn.
This Eagle 9 was able to restart its engine for retro-propulsion and powered landing. The previous two Eagle 9s had powered down to simulated landings in the water. This was the first Eagle 9 given permission to attempt to land on actual land.
The turnaround burn had yet to be perfected. They could model the re-entry in computers all they wanted, but after that turnaround burn, the Eagle 9 was unpowered, wingless (except for four small grid fins), and unable to change its trajectory. In this case, the trajectory was sending the Eagle 9 almost a mile short of the landing pad. Thus, the Eagle 9 pitches up, almost totally vertical, which slows the vertical descent without taking away from the horizontal velocity needed to carry the rocket further downrange. But this requires the rocket to be pointed off from the direction of motion. The engine gimbals, attempting to turn the rocket in the face of the aerodynamic forces trying to keep the rocket in-line with the direction of travel. On this day, the engine struggles to overcome the power of the sub-sonic wind buffeting the side of the rocket. This keeps the rocket from pointing straight down, which causes the center engine to burn somewhat horizontal, killing the downrange velocity, leaving the rocket falling short of the pad.
The fate of the stage isn't yet sealed. The engine shuts down after this mid-cource manuever and waits until the rocket is nearly ready for touchdown before firing back up. As it reaches the final approach, below 5,000 feet, the rocket re-ignites. However, it has a limited supply of propellant, and thus if it reaches this point in the flight and still has a long way to traverse, it will not be capable of sustaining flight and then landing before the fuel runs out.
The Eagle 9 angles towards land, but the guidance computer senses that it will not have sufficient fuel to kill that downrange velocity and then safely land, and thus it automatically switches to an abort mode. This abort changes the destination to a simulated landing on the sea.
The Eagle 9 angles back, killing its downrange velocity and then comes in for a landing just yards from the beach. The landing gear are already deployed and meet the waves first. The thrust from the engine blasts the water away in a mist, creating a temporary crater in the waves beneath the rocket. The Eagle 9 descends into its own wake until two landing legs find wet sand and the engine is powered down. The waves instantly re-stake their claim, rushing back in.
The rocket ends up anchored firmly in just a few feet of water, angled out to sea at about 10 degrees. The legs slowly disappear into the silt and the corrosive sea water has its way with the nine delicate Arthur engines for more than a day while SpacEx works to get a crane out to the beach.
It wasn't much of a “landing,” but it was the first time in history a rocket stage had carried a payload destined for orbit, and then made a powered landing on “solid” Earth.
The mission nearly demonstrated first stage return capability. It provided one more data point which would be used to further calibrate the guidance computer. They now had a better understanding of how the return velocity affected the trajectory of the returning stage. Unfortunately, for the engine reusability team, it was one more rocket lost to the sea.
“What do you mean you don't want a porn star?” Kingsley walks along the beach near Cape Canaveral, watching a crane try to pull the Eagle 9 first stage from the silt. “You've been up there for five months, you're not, you know, missing anything?”
“No, I don't pay for sex,” Sergei Kuznetzov replies into his cell phone aboard Excalibur.
“But, never? You're planning on staying up there a while, you won't ever need any?” K asks. Kuznetzov had stayed aboard Excalibur while the rest of the crew and passengers from his flight returned to Earth. He was alone on Excalibur. In case of emergency, he would strap into a seat on the cargo Griffin still docked to the station and be rescued by the SpacEx ground crew. The next passenger flight is slated for July, and then Kuznetzov will have some company for about two months before they too head home and leave him alone again. For the privilege of being a lonely permanent cosmonaut, Kuznetzov is paying $250,000 a day.
“No, I don't need women,” Kuznetzov replies. “But I do need something else.”
“Yeah?” K asks cautiously, expecting Sergei to ask again for vodka, or perhaps some kind of drug.
“I want mirror.”
“Mirror?” K asks.
“For the next module, I want to make garden, a greenhouse. But the windows up here are too small, so I have an idea. You make a large mirror collector, it captures much Sun, it beams all that sunlight through the small window, and then another mirror system spreads the light back out, and that way you can get much Sun with small window.”
“That's actually not a bad idea,” K says.
“This is the thing I miss,” Sergei says.
“Tanning?”
“Gardening! I miss fresh fruits, vegetables, flowers. I can make them up here, I just need the Sun. And some space dirt.”
“It's not going to be that simple to garden in zero-g,” K says, “you might end up with a module just filled with floating dirt.”
“I've thought about that,” Sergei replies. “I have drawings.”
“I'll do this for you, but it's gonna cost extra.”
“That's no problem,” Sergei replies. “They're really going to make movie up here?”
“Hopefully. You know Hollywood, it all might come crashing down any day. They don't have a script yet, but they need to have the sets ready by the time we launch the Heavy in July, so there's a lot of stuff that needs to get done in a hurry.”
“And if it gets done, I get to be in the movie?” Sergei asks.
“It's expensive to launch actors, so yeah, you get to be in the movie.”
“Maybe I can Skype some acting lessons,” Sergei thinks aloud.
“Sounds good, I gotta get-” K tries to end the conversation as the crane finally breaks the Eagle 9 first stage free from the suction grip of the wet sand.
“Do I need to learn accent?” Sergei asks.
“No, you would just play yourself.”
“Play myself? What am I, some kind of character?”
“You're an eccentric billionaire that lives in space. So yeah.”
“Who are you calling eccentric?”
“What? Sergei are you there? I think I'm losing you,” Kingsley hangs up the phone, finally ending the conversation. “Who am I calling eccentric? You! You crazy mobster weirdo.”
“Good call?” Josh Yerino asks.
“He's a little lonely,” K replies.
“Maybe we should launch him a pet too,” Josh jokes, referring to Justin Bieber's monkey, a plan which is still in limbo.
“I'm telling you, there's no way that monkey doesn't freak out on the vomit comet, and then Bieber will be totally cool with leaving the monkey on the ground.”
“Cause if Justin Bieber is anything, he's level-headed.”
“Her name is Miley,” Justin Bieber introduces Caroline to his Capuchin in the cabin of the Zero-Gravity Corporation's Vomit Comet, a Boeing 727, which they call “G-Force One.”
“Pleasure to meet you,” Caroline says to the diminutive Miley, shaking her hand. Miley takes Caroline's hand and sniffs it.
“She loves perfume,” Justin says. They are seated and the plane just took off a few minutes earlier, heading up to altitude before they will perform fifteen planned parabolic arcs. The first one will imitate Mars gravity followed by two simulations of Moon gravity, then twelve zero-gravity arcs.
“How long have you had her?” Caroline asks.
; “A year and a half. I had another baby, Mally,” Justin says, referring to his first pet Capuchin. “She was chill, but then I went on tour and Germany seized her. Those Nazi dicks seized her from me, stuck her in their zoo, then tried to bill me like ten thousand Euros to take care of her. I tried to get her back, but they're basically holding her for ransom. Last I heard it was fifteen thousand Euros. I mean, if you kidnap my monkey to put in your zoo, you fucking pay for taking care of her. What the hell kind of world are we living in where Germany can just kidnap your monkey?”
“It's a cruel world,” Caroline says without a hint of irony. Kingsley arrives, sitting next to Caroline. “Where've you been?”
“Brad Pitt's back there,” K says.
“Schmoozing? Selling space-cations?” Bieber asks.
“Trying, he's not buying. How's Hannah Montana doing?” K asks.
“What?” Bieber asks.
“Miley, how's she doing?” K asks, looking at the nervous Capuchin, hoping she throws a tantrum or a literal shit-fit, anything to bail him out from having to launch Bieber's pet monkey into space.
“We have now reached our cruising altitude at 24,000 feet,” the pilot announces over the PA. “We are now going to begin our first climb up to 32,000 feet followed by pitch-over and a simulation of Mars gravity.” The plane promptly pitches back at a 40 degree angle, putting the passengers in their seats. The bulk of the interior of G-Force One is an empty white space, covered in padding, save for eighteen seats at the back of the fuselage. Tickets on G-Force One buy you these fifteen parabolic arcs over a period of about 90 minutes at the low cost of just under $5,000, or seven bitcoins if you're Justin Bieber.
“Here we go,” Bieber says, excited as their 40 second, 1.5g climb begins.
“Wait, didn't this company kill a space tourist?” Caroline asks.
“No, this is Zero-Gravity Corporation,” K says. “The Jaguar spaceplane, that was Zero-G. Different company.”
“Oh dear god,” Caroline mutters, bending forward in her seat. She quickly grabs one of the many sick bags they have placed all over the cabin. It's called Vomit Comet for a reason...
“Already?” Kingsley asks. “We haven't even done anything yet.”
Caroline sits upright, trying to regain her composure. She looks to her right and finds that Justin and Miley Bieber are staring at her like she's the weird one.
“Sorry,” Caroline says, embarrassed and holding a bag of vomit with nowhere to put it. They are in the first row at the back of the cabin, with no seat-backs in front of them for easy puke storage. The plane starts leveling off and everyone feels the g-forces dissipating back to normal and then starting to drop below one. Behind them, everybody gets out of their seats, heading for the open cabin.
“You alright?” K asks as he stands up.
“Fine,” Caroline says as she gets up uneasily. K grabs a sick bag from his seat just in case and takes Caroline's hand. They drop below .8 Gs and an audible “ooohh” of excitement echoing through the cabin.
Caroline clings to K while he keeps a close eye on Justin and Miley. The diminutive Miley, wearing a diaper, remains reticently seated as Justin beckons her by slapping his knees and making a chirping noise. “Come on Miley.”
“Yeah, come on Miley,” Kingsley says, hoping for an immediate explosion of monkey vomit. Miley climbs down from her seat and approaches Justin, moving quickly to get from the safety of the chair to the safety of clinging to his leg for stability as the plane drops below .5 Gs.
“Oh god,” Caroline mutters, grabbing for K's sick bag and vomiting again. While Caroline is puking, Miley gains confidence and leaps into the air, flying quite high before coming back down.
“Ladies and Gentlemen we are now at Martian gravity, zero-point-three-eight gs,” the co-pilot announces over the PA. “This is what it would feel like to walk on Mars.”
“What's wrong with you? You've been in space, why is this bothering you?” K asks.
“I'm pregnant,” Caroline says while the co-pilot continues talking about Mars gravity.
“What?” K asks.
“With the thin air and the low gravity,” The pilot says on the PA, “a human could throw a football over two hundred yards. Perhaps one of our passengers will one day start a Mars Football League.”
“I'm pregnant,” Caroline says louder. Kingsley is stunned and doesn't even notice that Miley Bieber is hopping around the cabin gleefully.
“How is that possible?” K asks.
“How do you think?” Caroline asks sarcastically.
“But...vasectomy. I mean, those aren't always foolproof, but the odds against that-”
“It happened,” Caroline cuts him off.
“And you're sure its mine,” Kingsley says. Caroline glares back at him. “I'm just asking, I mean, if you're pregnant and I've had a vasectomy, Occam's Razor tells me the simplest answer is probably-”
“Don't throw Occam's Razor me,” Caroline replies immediately, “I'll Occam's razor your balls off.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes our Mars gravity time, please brace yourselves.” The plane pulls up, returning gravity to normal long enough for everyone to find their seats before aiming for the sky and beginning the next climb. Kingsley and Caroline sit beside each other in silence as they head for the top of another roller-coaster-like parabolic arc. “Now coming up on the Sea of Tranquility, prepare for a Moonwalk.”
Caroline gets out of her seat but Kingsley remains sitting, sulking, watching Miley Bieber excitedly jump around like a Capuchin Neil Armstrong.
“Come on,” Caroline beckons, but K remains sitting. “You're pissed at me?”
“You did this on purpose,” K says.
“How?”
“You could have gotten to my frozen stash,” K says.
“I'm telling you, it just happened,” Caroline replies. “Now come on,” she says, hopping in the air and lingering with great hang time. Kingsley relents, joining her in a Moonwalk.
“Feeling better?” K asks while they ride up toward their second Moonwalk.
“Fine, it's the baby, not the maneuvers.”
“The baby,” K says quietly.
“It's at ten weeks,” Caroline says as she gets out of her seat in preparation for the top of the arc. “Don't know gender yet.”
“You're smiling too much,” K says as he stands up.
“It's a blessing, we wanted to have a baby soon anyway. So yeah, I'm happy about it.”
“Too happy,” K says suspiciously.
“Oh you're such a party pooper, you want this eventually, so what that you're not quite ready.”
“But you're too ready, that's why I'm suspicious,” K says. Two arcs later, they go into weightlessness for the first time. K watches Miley closely. She'd been okay with reduced gravity, but perhaps the disorientation from zero-G would make her monkey brain go bananas. Some of the other passengers brought along Skittles that they now toss in the air and manipulate in zero-g, making games out of guiding skittles across the plane and into a fellow passenger's mouth. K aims an errant Skittle at Caroline as she floats across from him. His shot is off and she makes no attempt to catch it.
“You're mad at me now?” K asks.
“Yes,” Caroline replies, throwing a Skittle back at him.
“You can't be mad at me for being suspicious. That's just a scientific mind, I'm going to be skeptical of improbabilities-”
“Fine,” Caroline says. “I did it.”
“Did what?” K asks.
“What do you think?” Caroline asks. “Scientific mind,” she says derisively.
“God dammit Wendy,” K mutters. “You did that without asking me? You just called her up and got my DNA without asking me. That's messed up!”
“You agreed to it!” Caroline shouts. “It's been three years. I'm on a deadline here.”
“You did this behind my back, and then you get pissed at me for being suspicious abou
t your back-stabbing?”
“I'm not getting any younger. What are we waiting for exactly?”
“This is the argument you should have made to me 10 weeks ago. Arguing about the merits of doing it are moot when you up and did it without my input.”
“Seemed easier to ask for forgiveness than permission,” Caroline replies. Miley Bieber notices a cloud of free-floating Skittles and plants her feet on the ground, propelling herself headlong across the cabin, flying through the cloud of Skittles and catching many in her mouth and hands. She hits the other side of the cabin, cushioning herself with her feet before leaping and propelling herself back at the cloud. She moves in three dimensions deftly, changing orientations and having no problems at all. Justin flies after her, calling her name repeatedly to no effect as she steals dozens of Skittles.
Chapter 17
Kingsley and much of the SpacEx crew are at the LCF in Florida as they prepare for the launch of the second Eagle Heavy, a launch which will carry two BA330s, side-by-side in an expanded payload fairing. One room has been made completely green to allow for green-screen shots of zero-G, to be used for shooting scenes of EVAs. Another room includes an elaborate cockpit setting complete with green panels for displays to be added later. The other rooms are setup to look like two different Mars-bound spacecraft habitats with green patches on the walls for windows and displays. The other BA330 includes a prototype greenhouse as per request from Sergei Kuznetzov. NASA had been researching space greenhouses for some time, but had yet to test any more than a few very small prototypes on the ISS and shuttle. NASA was eager to work with SpacEx to send up two large prototypes of different designs and kicked in some funding.
It had been a nightmarish two months of logistics involved in putting together a complete spacecraft that includes sets for a movie that's still undergoing rewrites as well as prototype NASA hardware, all of which has to fit inside an expandable habitat. If all that weren't enough, this Eagle Heavy launch also represented two of the last three shots they would have at first-stage-return. They had a single Eagle 9 cargo launch remaining on the manifest for the year. When these two booster Eagle 9s fall away from the central core, they will have a lot riding on them.
