Lunar One

Chapter 2: Lift Off

     When Morgan returned to base, all was forgiven as he was welcomed back with open arms. Just days before Morgan had been cursing them all to die in a fireball in the sky, and now he wished them nothing but the best as he was once again a part of the team. The rest of the crew had not taken it personally as they all would have reacted the same way if they had gotten so close only to be rejected like that. Morgan wasn't as stuck up and snobbish as the man he was replacing so they were very quick to forgive him. The next several days simply flew by and before they knew it, all seven of them were strapped into a shuttle, looking up at the sky and watching the countdown.

     Upon hearing the news, Morgan's parents as well as his brothers and sisters had all taken the time to come down to Florida to watch the liftoff. No one ever talked much to Morgan about what he did, as it was above most of them to understand, but everyone knew where he was going and they couldn't have been more proud. Nieces and nephews who thought he was weird now had a cool uncle that was going to outer space! For every nerd, this was the top of the world, to be an astronaut. Morgan had always wanted to do this, but never thought it would happen. It was the reason why he had been so aggressive when the chance came that his work would take him to test his theories on the moon. Morgan had never felt so proud, as he would be one of less than two dozen out of seven billion plus people on the planet that would be off world, and that was a true honor. He was so happy, he was speechless rather than his usual talkative self.

     "Mission Control," Rogers called out. "Is this a bad time to tell you that my passport has expired?"

     "Since you're going to remain in US airspace until you leave the atmosphere, we'll let it slide this time Commander." The speaker responded.

     Everyone in the cabin had a good laugh. This seemed to ease the tension that had been brewing for some time since the doors were securely closed.

     Mere minutes later, the engines started to rumble and Morgan began to tell that he and his crew were approaching the point of no return. Minutes later turned into seconds and before he knew it, mission control called for lift off. The engines blasted the ground and after a few seconds, they had lift. The g-forces were even worse than he had ever experienced in training and then some. The huge shuttle and attached rockets started to finally leave launch pad and were airborne in a matter of seconds. Morgan couldn't help but scream as the shuttle roared towards the sky. Rogers and a few others laughed. The commander was pointing at someone, as it appeared evident that his screaming seemed to settle a wager in Rogers's favour. Morgan didn't seem to care as he watched with wonder as blue slowly turned black. He was suddenly in outer space. Never in his wildest dreams did he ever think something like this was possible. The first time he dreamed of being in space was that first time he was sitting in science class and one of his teachers put on an episode of Cosmos to pass the time. Morgan was one of only a few students that bothered to pay attention and listen as Carl Sagan introduced him to the wonder of the stars and remind them all that they were not beyond our grasp. Now that little boy was living the dream, in the same stars that he watched as a boy on television; an interstellar traveler who was going to live on the moon. Carl would certainly be proud, Morgan thought as he looked back at his home planet. It was getting smaller and smaller every minute they were out there.

     After jettisoning the burners, Rogers turned the ship towards the moon and immediately started their voyage towards what NASA casually referred to as the summer cottage. One thing this cottage had was a spectacular view but the commute took a little time.

     "Tell me Morgan," Rogers called from the front of the cabin. "What's the first thing you want to do when you get to the moon?"

     "That's easy, look at the sun." Morgan answered.