Enoch's Challenge
Apollo 6–NASA’s Secret Mission to Mars
Book 1 of Enoch's Return
By Warren W. Ward
Astronaut in Waiting
Last Edited 20 August 2019 2019
Enochs Challenge WWW Editing 9 AUG 2019 final read and edit.docx
Enoch's Challenge
Apollo 6–NASA’s Secret Mission to Mars
Book 1 of Enoch's Return
1st Edition–Soon to be a Classic
By Warren W. Ward
Copyright© 2016 Warren W. Ward
THE AUTHOR RETAINS ALL RIGHTS
FOR THIS BOOK FOR SOME STRANGE REASON.
Veiled Threat
Reproduction or transmission of this book, in whole or in part, by electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or by any other means, other than psychic, is strictly prohibited–except with prior written permission from The Queen or that guy who hangs out at the Jr. High School named Ned, or the author, if you can find him.
I’m pretty sure this book is a work of fiction. I could be wrong. Some of the characters are real, and some are not. You have to figure that out.
This book is based on a true story, except for the parts that aren’t.
Acknowledgements
I thank my wife for giving me the time to write. I know she needed my help with the yard work, but I finally gave in and do both. I sweat a lot less writing…
I thank Heidi Condi who graciously agreed to read my first pre-edited edition and let me know if I had a story or not. She promised me that I did!
And I thank my senior English teacher, Mrs. Huff, who concluded that I could not spel my way out of a barell.
Thanks to my wife, who is my chief editor. My dogs and cats are her editorial assistants.
And thanks to you who read this. It was a labor of love.
Preface
Apollo 6 was launched on April 4, 1968. Being the second A-type mission of the United States Apollo program, it was promoted as an unmanned test of the Saturn V launch vehicle. It was also claimed to be the final unmanned Apollo test mission.
Or so we were told...
April 4, 1968–
This was the day of the launch of Apollo 6–the last unmanned mission to circle Earth. It wasn't well advertised, as it was supposed to simply be a test of the basic equipment preparing for the big launch, Apollo 11, which was going to the Moon! Only there was one thing out of place–Apollo 6 wasn't unmanned. And it wasn't a final test of the Saturn V rocket engine. Only a few people were briefed on the real mission of Apollo 6.
Lt. Colonel John Dyer, USAF, Lt. Colonel Cris Kelly, USAF, and Captain Jason Hotson, USN were all secretly assigned to lead this "unmanned mission." They were chosen for their expertise, skills, and ability to bravely endure in the face of certain death. And they were all single. The President of the United States, Lyndon Baines Johnson, sent them on a one-way trip to answer a strange pleading radio call to come to the uninhabitable planet, Mars. Unknown to anyone outside of a chosen few, they would end up answering the ancient question of what happened to a whole civilization that vanished over 4500 years ago–that disappeared without a trace. Why these astronauts were called to Mars was a mystery, but the president decided to write a blank check and make every effort to send our brave men into the abyss.
These three American astronauts were in all likelihood to be left to die in the infinite expanse of space–unknown, abandoned, and forgotten. The odds were not in their favor, but they were sent anyway. All the same, the future of mankind may very well depend upon the success of this mission.
This is their story.
Contents
Preface
Chapter 1–Apollo 6
Chapter 2–Message from Mars
Chapter 3- Getting to Mars
Chapter 4- Challenges
Chapter 5- Apollo 6 Comes Together
Chapter 6- Final Launch Issues
Chapter 7- Launch
Chapter 8–Preparing for New Orbit
Chapter 9–Recovering from Disaster
Chapter 10–Shanghaied!
Chapter 11–Tedium
Chapter 12–Space Vermin
Chapter 13–Trouble in Eden
Chapter 14–Rescue
Chapter 15–Aliens!
Chapter 16–Answers
Chapter 17–Experience
Chapter 18–Alpha Centauri Proxima
Chapter 19–A New World
Chapter 20–Preparing to go Home
Other Great Classic Works of Literature –
Chapter 1–Apollo 6
April 7, 1968
"Houston, this is Frodo 1."
Immediately they answered, "Frodo 1, this is Houston. Boy are we glad to hear from you. Is everything alright?"
"Houston, Frodo 1. What do you think? We have come to the conclusion that we've been shanghaied–and don't bother denying it!"
"Frodo 1–Jason, John, Cris, you need to hear this. Stand bye, please."
Silence.
Silence.
"Captain Hotson, Colonel Dyer, Colonel Kelly. This is the president, your Commander-in-Chief."
"Sir! What can we do for you, Mr. President?” Jason asked sarcastically. “Better yet, what have you done to us, sir?" Jason didn't hold back, even if it was the president. “Why were we shanghaied, sir? Sorry to be so blunt, but I am Navy, sir, and that's what we call it."
"You aren't far from wrong, Captain. But let me explain, and then see if you still feel the same way."
"Go on, please, sir. Our schedule is open." Jason still couldn't quite keep the sarcasm out of his voice, president or no president.
"Gentlemen. (Pause) We have received a communication from Mars."
"Mars, sir?"
"Yes, Captain. Mars! We have been requested to send a team to Mars–by whom, we don’t know, why the United States, we don’t know, and to what purpose, we don’t know, yet. They didn't exactly explain anything, but we have been in communication with them for over two years."
"Two years, sir? And you didn't tell the world?" Jason thought this was incredulous.
"Sorry, Captain, but we couldn't. We can’t have the Russians or the Chinese getting involved in our mission, or who knows what might happen? The Russians can be rather unpredictable and a bit loose on the trigger, and the Chinese, well, we don't actually know a lot about the Chinese."
"OK. So what is the mission then, sir?"
"Well, before I explain, you should know that you, Captain Hotson, were requested by name to be on the Mars mission."
"What? Me?" Jason asked.
"I will leave the details up to NASA, but in a nutshell, you three are going to represent the people of the United States and the whole Earth to the people of Mars, or whoever it is that has been calling us, assuming the people you meet really are from Mars. And another thing. Our Intelligence Services say that these people have already visited Earth. For all we know, son, they have probably been amongst us for centuries, and we didn't even realize it!"
Let’s go back to the beginning...
–––––––
NASA's space program was well organized and all details worked out to the last detail. All that changed, however, when President John F. Kennedy's announced that the people of the United States were going to put the first man on the Moon by the end of the decade. Little did Kennedy know that his vice president would be the Commander-in-Chief at the time of the Moon mission.
Because of this directive, NASA's initial launch programs were dismissed, and a new effort was undertaken to meet Kennedy’s ambitious goal. The Gemini and Apollo programs were designed to this end.
By 1966 the Gemini program was complete. Now it was time for Apollo.
The
Apollo program was calculated to unfold in stages. Later called Apollo 1, it was to be the first manned mission of the U.S. Apollo lunar landing preparation program. A cabin fire during a launch rehearsal test on January 27, 1967 at Cape Kennedy Air Force Station Launch Complex 34 killed all three crew members. This was a major blow to the manned-mission program.
So the pace slowed down considerably. Americans did not want a string of dead bodies to be the legacy of their space program.
Apollo-Saturn 203 (AS-203) is sometimes referred to as Apollo 2. It was an unmanned mission that was launched on July 5, 1966. NASA was having trouble later naming the early missions, so the dates seem not to match up.
Space mission, Apollo-Saturn 202 (AS-202) or informally known as the Apollo 3, was launched on August 25, 1966. It was the first flight which included the spacecraft guidance and navigation control system and fuel cells.
Space mission Apollo 4, also known as Apollo-Saturn 501 (AS-501) was an unmanned flight which orbited the earth three times and lasted for about eight and a half hours.
Launched on January 22, 1968, Apollo 5 was the first spacecraft in the Apollo Space Program and contained the Lunar Module. Similar to Apollos 2, 3, and 4, Apollo 5 had no astronauts manning it.
Apollo 6 was designated to be the last unmanned undertaking to test man's capability to successfully go to the Moon, and, in particular, test the stresses on the Lunar Module and the vibration modes of the entire Saturn V with nearly-full payloads. It was too dangerous a mission to test with humans.
However, things had changed. Apollo 6 was going live. There wasn't time for more testing: it was heading to Mars instead, and it had to go now!
What’s worse, the press didn't know it. Very few at NASA knew it. Even the crew didn't know of their mission until it was underway. The reason was profound and historic.
Hidden from the world was an urgent message that had been received by X-band radio from the direction of Mars. This message called for someone from Earth to come to Mars. Someone or something on Mars wanted a face-to-face meeting. And it wanted one face specifically for some reason.
The United States would comply.
A trip to Mars, unfortunately, and by all considerations, had only a remote possibility of being successful. It would have to be accomplished with equipment that had not yet been designed, built, tested, nor even proven to be feasible. This whole adventure was to be along the lines of Columbus' trip to the New World. Only, instead of three ships, a heroic sendoff, and promises of riches and glory, there would be one ship, no send-off, no promises, no real odds of success by all calculations, and it would all be done on a lowly government military salary. Deviously, the astronauts would not learn the true nature of the mission until they were on their way to intercept Mars. NASA would have to trust in the astronauts’ military discipline and their commitment to the program in order to gain their cooperation. The point of no return would be reached before they knew what was happening. Everything would ride on this trust. Of course “trust” was probably not the right word. More accurately, it would be a willingness to put up with being tricked into a mission with a high expectation of failure and with no way out.
Man was going to Mars before going to the Moon, and no one knew why Mars wanted a visit. But who could deny such a request–even if it did cost the life of all the astronauts on board?
Ironically, there was still the question–could America actually go to the Moon, much less Mars? Was NASA equipped for either mission? Was President John F. Kennedy's dream just that–a dream?
And, unknown to everyone, there were outside forces that would do their best to make sure neither event would ever take place! It was not in the interest of some placed in high levels of power for this mission to succeed.
Chapter 2–Message from Mars
26 February, 1966
"Mr. President. We have a situation."
Lyndon Johnson's science adviser, Dr. Donald Hornig, Ph.D., was designated to give President Johnson some incredible news. He didn't particularly like Johnson, but as he was a hanger-on from the Kennedy administration, he felt an ongoing obligation to continue until the end of Johnson's first term.
"This news comes from a secret NSA listening post that we have in South America. We have received a signal and a message from a very unusual location."
"Get on with it, Doctor I have a full schedule. What are you talking about?" Lyndon Johnson wasn’t a patient man.
"Well...I don't know how to say this, since we haven't any idea how this could happen, but we have received a message that comes from, uh, Mars."
"MARS? Are you crazy?” Johnson shouted. “Hornig, I don’t have time for this!”
Hornig’s face flushed. He swallowed. "It’s true, Mr. President."
Incredulously, Johnson asked, "Has this been verified?"
"It seemed so far-fetched that we put our best men on it. You know we have these listening posts all over the world with the most sophisticated equipment on the planet. They all tuned their receivers and pointed their arrays to Mars as it came around into their view." Donald was trying to maintain a cool persona while bubbling over inside.
"Could it be the Russians?" Johnson asked.
"Well, we considered that, sir, but there is another caveat."
"What?"
"We have verification from another indicator."
"What other indicator?" Johnson was never a patient man, but this news had him a little flustered.
"Well, sir, whoever is sending the message told us they were on Mars, and they told us in clear and proper English. They also bypassed our most sophisticated secure encryption systems."
Silence.
"Dr. Hornig, I am a very busy man. I don't appreciate games."
"Mr. President, I'm not playing games! This is for real! I don't know who, I don't know how, and, for now, I don't know why they are trying to communicate with us. We are lucky we intercepted the message and not the Russians."
"Are you sure we are the only ones who know about this–assuming it isn't a prank?"
"We're pretty sure, sir. We were lucky to intercept this message. It was buried in the mud, er, background noise, sir. Our equipment is decades ahead of the Russians, or we both would have intercepted the message. We’re lucky the Chinese are still using abacuses and haven’t advanced much, technically!"
"Who else knows?"
"Right now just Helms at the CIA and our U.S. operator, Thomas Wayne, in Chile, who received the signal. He was able to remotely control the other remote posts and verified his original conclusion. He knew this was something special, so I was informed right away. It was quickly contained."
"See that it stays that way until we can figure out what to do," Johnson said. "This news will not go over very well with everybody. We certainly don't want the Russians to get involved at any level."
"I agree with that assessment. That's why I came straight to you."
Johnson pondered for a moment. He sat in his chair staring out the window and put his hand on his chin. He hesitated and asked, "Dr. Hornig. Are we capable of going to Mars?”
"Well, Mr. President, we only have one possibility, the Apollo program. Unfortunately, they are just getting ready for manned orbital tests, so it is too early in the program to know for sure. NASA, as you know, is very cautious."
"They don't seem to be very cautious with money! Ever since Jack started them on this Moon thing they've been spending money like Lady Bird at a boot sale!"
"I agree, Mr. President, but I think they have put together a pretty good program for getting us to the Moon before the Russians do. Apollo 6 is ready to go on the final unmanned flight in the near future. Then they’ll start manned flights."
"Is this something we can use?" Johnson said hopefully.
"That's a good question, sir. We’re going to have to bring NASA in on this."
"Who can we trust?"
Hornig hesitated, then said, "Well, sir, I think, at the very least, we need to brief NASA’
s Director, Dr. Gene Kranz. He runs the show. But we need to make sure he understands the sensitivity of this project."
"I can have a talk with him. Anyone else?" Johnson enquired.
"Mr. Hoover would be helpful. He can put special men on the project to make sure those involved stay on course."
Johnson smirked, "I don't particularly like the man, but he's been around so long I think he knows how to deal with something this sensitive."
Hornig ignored Johnson’s misgivings about Hoover. "I don't think we need to involve anybody else at this time, Mr. President. But there will be more as we come up with a plan. It's just too big. We can deny the Mars aspect, and maybe we can believably suggest an early Moon orbit or something similar if word does leak out."
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