Interstellar 1

Chapter 1: The launch.

Cape Canaveral, Florida. *8 PM

The last beams of sunlight of the day shone on a rocket, sitting on the launchpad with umbilical towers attached on every side. The sun started to sink down under the horizon, shining on the white fairing attached to the top, which gleamed in the evening sun. On the side, the decals read "Project Interstellar: Command". The light passed down over the docking stage, the second stage, and the main lifter stage. The launchpad and rocket looked completely out of place in this picturesque location, with the waves gently lapping the beach, which was dotted with palm trees and shells. Further inland, frogs were scattered on lily pads and on the edge of ponds. Thousands of people sat on the grass a mile away from the launchpad, staring at the rocket, anxious to witness the spectacle, among them Scott Morren, one of the astronauts of the next mission. He knew that if this launch failed, his mission would be cancelled. Suddenly, a voice thundered out of the speakers mounted around the area, breaking the silence of the night. "Mission Control" the voice thundered out: "Go." "Ground?" "Go" "Time-Keeper?" "Go". The first voice sounded again: "Moving on to system status. Fuel Pressure" "Green" came the reply. "Engine Power" "Go" "Booster Fuel Balance" "Green". The voices then cut out, and there was a few moments of silence before the voice cut in again: "T-minus 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, Main Engines start" The engine mounted on the bottom of booster started to activate, the nozzle glowing red hot. Exhaust thundered out and got redirected by the launchpad. "3, 2, 1, Liftoff!" The umbilical towers and launch clamps fell to the ground, and the rocket started gaining speed. The rocket sped past the launch tower, leaving a smoke trail behind, and started to initiate its gravity turn as soon as it was clear off the launch tower. The spectators looked up at the rocket in awe as it soared. The frogs did nothing to acknowledge the amazing sight they had just seen except for stopping to croak and sing. The rocket continued on soaring into the now-black sky. The voice once again thundered through the P.A system: "Engine Performance:" "Nominal" "Gravity turn started, proceeding as planned." In a few minutes, the roar of the engine and the light cut out. A loud clang was heard, and the first stage fell to the ground. "First stage separation confirmed. Second stage engine engaged." After a few seconds, the sound of the second stage engaging sounded through the night. It soon flew out of view, and the spectators started to talk in hushed tones and prepared to leave. Meanwhile, the frogs gave no indication that the spectacle they had just seen was over, other than them starting to croak again.

Meanwhile in the stratosphere, the rocket thundered on out of the atmosphere. Reentry flames licked the edges of the fairing, in this case not from reentry, but from the sheer speed of the rocket. A few seconds later, the second stage engine cut out, and the rocket coasted to the edge of the atmosphere, and the immense g-forces stopped. The second stage separated and the fairing split open, revealing the payload: A massive white command pod, that looked as if it was straight out of Star Trek. It had massive windows on the front, giving its future occupants a panoramic view of the stars. The OMS system engaged, burning forward to circularize. Beneath the ship, the earth stretched out. White clouds moved slowly over the earth. The ship's computer reported to earth: Orbit successful. Engaging Rendezvous procedure. The OMS began a series of slow burns, before the ship was seen on the horizon. Slowly approaching was a massive spacecraft, which had a centrifuge habitat, greenhouse, spaceship docking, and everything else needed to survive for over 2 years. But the most eye-catching feature were the 2 rings situated at the front and back, which had a series of blue lights flashing around them. They were the Alcubierre drives. At the back it also had a Orion Nuclear engine, but the Alcubierre drives were incredibly powerful antimatter generators, capable of maintaining a warp bubble for months. The only thing the ship was missing was the command module/bridge. The OMS and command module slowly inched toward the Interstellar 1,for that was the warp ship's name. The pod rotated around, and the RCS (Reaction Control System) engaged. The pod slowly moved backwards, and docked with the warp-capable ship. The inside pressurized for the first time, and the Alcubierre drives powered up to start charging, for the charging takes a lot of time, up to 14 months depending on the distance from the sun from the solar array. The computer let the ship complete a full orbit to make sure it was an airtight seal before reporting to Earth: Docking successful. Then, it waited a year and a half.