Moon For Sale

by Jeff Pollard

  The burn is complete, placing the Griffin into a nearly circular 200 km 86 degree (nearly polar) orbit over the far-side of the Moon. The far-side is is about 65% shaded, and the ground beneath their orbital track is in darkness, while they are exposed to intense white sunlight coming from just above the lunar horizon. The SS Marie Juliette lunar space station awaits them. Currently the SS Marie Juliette is made up of a single modified Aquila fuel depot, a single Pegasus lander, and a small cabin at the nose of the Aquila which allows the crew to move from one docking port to another and also to control the fuel depot. If all goes well, this station will host at least two Pegasus landers, a pair of Griffin 3.0s, and a BA330 inflatable habitat by this time next year. Then Moon base construction will begin, with backups to both the lander and the Earth return vehicle, as well as an orbital station that can serve as a safe haven. But for now, there is no backup lander, nor a backup Griffin.

  The station orbits in a circular 150 km orbit and is behind the Griffin 3.0. They will wait until just after they pass over the lunar North Pole and orbit above the near-side of the Moon before performing the first of two rendezvous burns. They will burn to lower from a 200 km circular orbit to enter an elliptical 200 by 150 km orbit. The burn will lower their perilune to 150 km at the exact opposite point over the Moon (i.e. above the far-side near the South Pole). They then have a half-orbit wait for the second burn, and in the mean time they will fly over their landing site at Tycho Crater at roughly 175 km in altitude, and many kilometers abreast. All the while, the SS Marie Juliette, at a lower orbit, closes in on them. After passing over the South Pole and getting an up close and personal look at Shackleton Crater and the site of the planned NASA Moon base, they will perform the second rendezvous burn. At perilune, they burn to slow down once more and they will be within 5 kilometers of their orbiting station. A half orbit later, crossing over the North Pole, they will reach the SS Marie Juliette and dock with her.

  Thus, there is more than a full orbit between entering lunar orbit and docking with the station. At this altitude, an orbit takes about two hours. They fill the time between the short rendezvous burns by watching the livestream coverage of the ULA mission.

  Just after the Griffin enters lunar orbit, the ULA Orion has already rendezvoused with the Boeing Lunar Lander. This particular Boeing Lunar Lander is named Armstrong. Kingsley watches as they line up the Orion with Armstrong and attempt to dock. The first attempt fails, the docking mechanism fails to engage and the spacecraft slowly float apart after making contact. They attempt again a few minutes later and find the same result. K has to shut off the livestream so they can perform their second rendezvous burn. After the burn he turns the livestream back on and finds they still have not docked. Now they are trying a hard dock, in which both spacecraft thrust into each other, the hope being that they force the docking mechanism to engage. The issue likely stems from the fact that the BLL has been roasting in direct sunlight for days and the two docking mechanisms are built to very exact specifications as they need to be able to make an air-tight seal. Air-tight seals aren't very compatible with large temperature differences and thermal expansion.

  The Griffin is closing on the SS Marie Juliette, perhaps 30 minutes away from attempting docking themselves as they watch the crew of Luna 100 fail to engage a hard dock.

  What had been not much of a race, has just gotten quite interesting. This docking snafu has nearly erased the ULA lead.

  However, ULA still maintains a fairly significant lead. Once they dock, they can enter the Armstrong and begin landing. The Armstrong is fully fueled and loaded with supplies. The Pegasus on the other hand has landed on the Moon previously. For the Pegasus 3 mission they must unload the lunar sample loaded onto the Pegasus by the Wally rover on the surface, then they must top off the tanks using fuel from the depot, then they must transfer supplies from the Griffin to the Pegasus that they will need on the surface (such as food, water, scientific instruments, etc.), and then Tim must perform a spacewalk to retrieve the lunar sample container from the exterior of the Pegasus and replace it with a new empty container. All this plus Kingsley must load his software update onto the Pegasus to hopefully prevent any further hacking attempts. If it turns out that the SpacEx team docks first, that doesn't then mean they are necessarily in the lead in the race to the surface.

  “They still haven't docked,” Caroline says, watching the livestream on a laptop next to her seat as K and Tim pilot the Griffin toward a docking with the nose port on the SS Marie Juliette.

  “Hundred meters,” K says.

  “Looks right,” Lovell confirms.

  “Good thing we brought a Lovell Range Finder as backup,” Tim says.

  “What are they doing?” K asks Caroline.

  “I don't know. After they bounced off again now they've pulled alongside. Maybe they're inspecting it out their windows. But they've apparently stopped trying to dock,” Caroline says.

  “Well keep an eye on them,” K says with a smile. “You hear that boys?”

  “Hey, I just wanna walk on her face, I don't care how many people beat me down there,” Lovell replies.

  “Range,” Bowe says.

  “About fifty yards,” Lovell replies.

  “46 meters,” K reads off the LRF.

  “Yeah, so, umm,” Caroline says, “they're doing an EVA.”

  “Inspecting it?” K asks.

  “I guess. Dexter's going outside on a tether,” Caroline says. Kingsley turns his attention to the screen and watches as Dexter Houston, on a tether and not equipped with any kind of jetpack for maneuvering, prepares himself for a leap from spacecraft to spacecraft. The Orion is only about 5 meters away from the BLL, with their side hatches aligned.

  “Holy shit,” K says. “They're gonna transfer the crew externally. I guess they gave up on docking.”

  “We had a contingency for that on Apollo if we couldn't get the LEM to dock back up with the CSM, but we never had that problem,” Lovell says.

  “Range,” Bowe says.

  “19 meters,” Lovell replies and looks back to the livestream. Dexter pushes off and flies toward the Armstrong and tries to grab ahold of the ladder leading down from the hatch. He puts his hands in front of him to stop himself before he smacks into the lander. As he hits, his momentum transfers into the lander and it starts moving away and just out of his reach. Another astronaut hanging halfway out of the Orion hatch reels in Dexter by his tether.

  “Would you guys quit watching TV,” Bowe says, being the only one paying close attention to docking.

  “You got this,” K replies and keeps his eyes glued on the screen. Dexter and the other astronaut retreat inside the Orion briefly, the hatch still open. The Orion uses RCS to get closer to the Armstrong and null their relative velocity once more. Then Dexter climbs back out and prepares for a second attempt.

  “Hawthorne, we are docked,” Bowe says simply. Bowe stays focused, pressing many touch-screen buttons to secure the cabin and prepare for hatch opening. The rest of the crew stares at the laptop showing the livestream.

  Dexter pushes off from the Orion and slowly floats toward the lander.

  “This looks like a movie,” Caroline says.

  “You got the 2001 soundtrack handy?” Lovell asks Kingsley.

  “We can get Pandora up here,” K replies.

  With his slower approach, Dexter is able to grab ahold of the ladder. He grips the exterior handle on the hatch and tries to turn it while bracing himself against the ladder.

  “Hatch is unlocked,” Bowe says.

  “I'd hope they unlocked it before they sent him out there,” Caroline says.

  “No. Our hatch is unlocked. Quit watching TV,” Bowe says. K shuts off the feed.

  “We're in a real race now, let's go,” K says. Tim secures the Griffin for passive stand-by mode where it will stay for nearly five days as they leave it in lunar orbit alone. While he's busy with that, Lovell begins unloading the cargo from the b
ase of the Griffin capsule. He takes out two containers and glides through the nose of the Griffin, makes a 90 degree right turn and passes the containers one at a time through the Pegasus docking port. Caroline catches the incoming packages and passes them off to Kingsley as he loads them into the Pegasus cargo compartments.

  “Are you mad at me?” Caroline asks as she pushes a sloshing water container to K.

  “Why would I be mad at you?” K asks.

  “You've barely talked to me since I told you,” Caroline replies. Lovell returns to the docking port and they go quiet as he passes Caroline two more containers then disappears.

  “I don't want to talk about it now,” K says.

  “Seriously!? So you are mad.”

  “Yes. We're trying all this time and then you get pregnant and you risk that and go to the Moon, why not say, hey K, I'm pregnant, you're gonna have to fill my seat.”

  “Because if I stayed home while you went, and then you died, you now have two fatherless kids.”

  “If you would have told me, then I would have stayed home too,” K replies. Lovell returns and they go quiet again.

  “Yeah right, you would not have given this up, and nor should you, you've worked your whole life for this,” Caroline replies.

  “This is dangerous, what if you miscarry now, what if we both die up here?”

  “So you want me to be your good little wife that will stay home with the kids.”

  “Not what I said,” K replies.

  “So then why are you mad?”

  “Do you know what the odds are of us dying on this mission?” K asks.

  “That's the last of 'em,” Lovell says from the docking port as he passes along the last of the food packages. Kingsley puts the packages away and Caroline floats nearby silently.

  Kingsley heads to the cabin of the fuel depot. He first transfers fuel from the Griffin into the depot. The Griffin 3.0 carries more fuel than is necessary for its maneuvers and thus it contributes a couple of tonnes of fuel to the station (or can be loaded with additional supplies). Then he transfers liquid oxygen and liquid methane into the Pegasus. The cold propellants move through pipes in the walls that lead to the docking ports. The docking mechanisms are equipped to transfer propellants between spacecraft, and the Pegasus has plumbing that takes the propellant from the docking mechanism and sends it into the tanks at the bottom of the ship.

  Meanwhile, Tim goes to the airlock at the back of the Pegasus and prepares for his EVA. With fuel transferred, Kingsley heads back to the Pegasus and loads his software update into the Pegasus while Caroline and Jim head back to the Griffin to retrieve their pressurized flight suits they will need to be wearing for landing. K gets the livestream up on a screen in the Pegasus. Finally suited up, Tim Bowe waits in the airlock at the back of the Pegasus for the atmosphere to fully vent before opening the hatch. He has the new sample container hooked onto a carabiner on his chest.

  On the livestream, they see a replay of Dexter getting the hatch of the Armstrong open. He then goes inside, takes the tether off his backpack and attaches to the Boeing Lunar Lander. Sergei Kuznetzov follows, transferring from the Orion to the Armstrong by connecting to the tether and then climbing along the tether from one spacecraft to the other. He's spent more time in zero-g than any other person in history and his experience shows. Back live, they show Richard Branson nervously connecting to the tether and preparing for transfer, helped by Hadara who will transfer last. The livestream is interrupted briefly to show Tim Bowe on EVA outside the Pegasus, as seen by both his helmet cam and external cameras on the Griffin and Pegasus.

  “Boring, turn it back,” K says as he finishes the software update and checks to ensure it is working. They cut to split-screen, with Bowe's EVA on one side and Richard Branson moving slowly along the tether, climbing hand over hand and entering the Armstrong. The co-pilot, ex-NASA astronaut Hadara Sharon, only the second Israeli-born astronaut, is the last out. She has to close the Orion hatch behind her, and undo the latch keeping the tether attached to the Orion. With the hatch closed and the latch undone, she climbs up the tether and into the Armstrong. They reel in their tether, close the hatch, and start repressurizing the Armstrong. Meanwhile, Tim Bowe, the first black person to leave low-Earth-orbit or orbit the Moon, has switched out sample containers and is in the airlock waiting for it to repressurize.

  “Are we tied now?” Caroline asks as she helps Jim Lovell into his pressure suit. “Could we beat them?”

  “Our landing window is in about 100 minutes, there's is in about 85,” K says. “So it doesn't matter if we're ready before them because we have to wait for the window. They're still in their EVA suits and they're going to have to figure out if there's anything else wrong with the lander and make sure it's safe for them to proceed. That's a lot to do in 85 minutes.”

  “So we're gonna win?” Caroline asks.

  “If they miss their window.”

  “And they know if they miss the window that they'll lose,” Lovell adds after he gets his head through the neck of his suit. “They're gonna try to go fast.” Suited up, Lovell attaches his helmet to a ring on the front of his pressure suit. Caroline then puts her legs into the lower half of her pressure suit, pulling with one hand and holding a hand-rail on the ceiling with the other. Lovell then helps her into the upper half of the suit.

  “What if they think we're having a problem and won't land this time around?” Caroline asks as her head pops through the neck of the suit. K's eyes light up.

  “Have I told you lately that you're amazing?” K asks. “So let's manufacture a problem that will prevent us from landing this time around and broadcast it.”

  Tim Bowe enters at the back of the cabin in his bulky EVA suit and with a box of Moon rocks. K takes the Moon rocks and takes them back to the Griffin to be stowed while Caroline helps Tim out of his EVA suit. In a few minutes the whole crew is in their pressure suits and preparing the Pegasus for landing.

  “Hawthorne, Pegasus,” Commander Bowe says in his pilot voice. “We're not happy with the pressure reading in the number two oxygen tank, recommend we scrub landing for one orbit while we try to diagnose the anomaly.” Kingsley and Tim share a knowing look. The livestream showing the race between Luna 100 and Pegasus 3 provides an immediate update, explaining that Pegasus 3 won't be landing this time around. Talking heads discuss the new state of the race, speculating that ULA is thanking their lucky stars because this SpacEx delay will now allow them to take their time powering up their ship and preparing for landing and still have a lead as they will reach their landing window twenty-five minutes ahead of SpacEx on the next time around.

  “Now we wait and see,” K says. The Luna 100 landing window is in 15 minutes, and SpacEx's is in 30.

  “You think their docking failure might have something to do with our problems,” Tim asks K.

  “Does it fit the pattern? Two innocuous failures that combine to make a larger one.”

  “Hard to say without knowing the details,” K replies.

  “So here's something interesting,” Caroline says cautiously. “They lost contact with Shenzhou 19. The livestream is dead, and China's not showing anything, they won't let anyone see in mission control.”

  “That does not sound good,” K says.

  “Maybe they're coming to shoot us down,” Tim suggests jokingly.

  “Or they're having serious issues,” Lovell says ominously.

  “What if their engine won't light and they're stranded in lunar orbit?” Caroline asks. “They're speculating that on the stream.”

  “I mean it's possible,” K says.

  “Could we rescue them?”

  “Absolutely not,” Tim says. “We're in an entirely different orbit.”

  “Well, if we have the delta-v to land and get back to orbit, then we have enough to do two 90 degree plane changes. We theoretically could do it. Then again, we wouldn't be able to dock with them, we'd have to do an external transfer.”<
br />
  “But it is possible,” Caroline says.

  “Just barely.”

  “You think they're getting hacked too? Maybe it's Russia that's behind this,” Tim says.

  “Two minutes,” Caroline says, keeping a close eye on the livestream showing Luna 100 preparing to land. Kingsley and Tim are busy getting the Pegasus ready for landing themselves, their window is in 17 minutes. “Can't tell if they're a GO yet.”

  “Well keep an eye on them,” K replies, concentrating on getting all the Pegasus systems ready.

  “Uh oh,” Caroline says.

  “What!?” Tim practically yells.

  “Relax, she's commenting on the livestream,” K says. “Why uh oh? Did they get the GO order?”

  Caroline turns her panel to show them. The livestream feed has switched to a view of the lunar surface with three Chinese Taikonauts saluting their red flag. The caption on the screen reads: “China Reveals Surprise Landing.”

  “They landed!? I can't believe it,” Kingsley says.

  “You gonna become a Moon Truther?” Caroline asks.

  “Looks like we're in a race for second,” Tim says, defeated.

  “And we're losing,” Caroline adds.

  “Might as well turn this ship around and go back home then,” K says sarcastically.

  “ULA just got the GO order,” Caroline adds. “They're beginning de-orbit.”

  “Well then turn it off,” K says. “We're about to go and you're technically my backup, so no more watching TV.” Caroline switches screens. For the next fifteen minutes they make final preparations for de-orbit followed by powered landing just to the north of Tycho Crater. Caroline and Jim Lovell aren't merely passengers, and they need to keep themselves informed up to the second on the status of the various Pegasus systems.