It has been a month since the verdict and You are getting ready for your flight on the Ariane five. You and Pierre are doing the mission that Jay and Jess would have done. Hopefully, it will go better than it did on the Delta four. You metaphorically cross your fingers because you are currently trying to get ready.
"Are you ready to go?" Pierre asks. You slip your hand into the glove and you get the other one done. It is always a challenge to get the flight suit on. At least you won't have to deal with the EMU suits until the moon landing for the constellation mission.
"I am now," You respond. A minute later you have made it to the top of the Ariane five. You both ingress. It's a struggle with the EV suits but you are more concerned about the safety. You get to work on the Pre-flight checklist. It doesn't take long.
"Let's fuel up," Pierre confirms your thinking.
"Open the top fuel valves then," You didn't mean to snap at him but there is too much tension. Pierre does as you instruct then he looks you in the eyes.
"Lilly it will be alright," He tries his best to alleviate the tension. You know he is right because Jones and Kelsey have put too much effort into human rating the Ariane five. You wish Jay was sitting in your spot but the doctors still haven't cleared him for flight duty. Thirty long minutes of waiting later the fuel has been loaded. Nothing has gone wrong so far. At least you don't have to wait long for the terminal countdown.
"Launch in t minus one minute," Danny announces. The Tension rises to another level. Pierre flicks the comms switch.
"Roger that," Pierre confirms on your behalf. You are going over everything. The flight computer has taken over.
"Launch in t minus t ten...nine...eight...seven... six," You feel the rocket shudder to life. Hopefully, it doesn't end in disaster.
"Five... four... three...two...one," Liftoff. The rocket launches with nothing wrong. You breathe a momentary sigh of relief. Two minutes later you feel the rocket get lighter as the solid rocket boosters fall away. You get to work on getting the capsule ready for the orbital flight. It will be fun trying to rendezvous with the ISS.
"Are the RCS thrusters ready in case we need them?" You ask as Pierre flicks some switches. He gives you the thumbs up. You get to work on making sure the capsule is able to perform the reentry manoeuvre in case of something going wrong. You know it's unlikely to happen but you would rather be on the safe side.
"I'm going to test the RCS," You let Pierre know.
"Roger that," He responds. You press a few buttons to get manual control. You see an orange light which means the manual control is ready to go. You use the control stick to adjust the trajectory. You are planning to rendezvous with the international space station as per the mission directive. You make sure the imputes don't affect the cause much.
"How's she looking, Pierre?" You ask. You hope you don't need any course corrections. He double checks.
"She's looking good. So what do you think the commander at the ISS will think when he sees the capsule?" Pierre decides to have a standard conversation. You have to think about it.
"I don't know but I think it will be funny," You respond. Five minutes later you are staring out of the window. You can see a glint coming from the ISS. You flick the comms switch.
"Kennedy three to ISS," You hope they answer.
"This is commander Collins of the Kennedy capsule, are you ready to rendezvous?"
"Roger, we are ready to rendezvous," Comes the reply. You are glad that they are ready. At least they don't have to worry about the docking procedures yet.
YOU ARE READING
Constellations
Fanfiction"I am so sorry Neil" "It will be alright Lily," he responds. Lily Collins yearned to follow in her father Micheal Collins' footsteps but there was one problem. She was stuck serving coffee to people at NASA. One fateful day she ends up spilling cof...
