Meanwhile, 200 kilometers above Terra Nova
Fajita was handling the flight very well. She was scared at first, at the rumble and noise of the liftoff, and screamed her head off furing ascent. But soon enough, things went quiet again, and she felt a little dizzy and light-headed.
Being stuck in a small metal tin-can for days wasn't particularly comfortable, of course, but she had food available at the press of a button, and bodily waste was disposed of quite effectively by a cleverly constructed system designed to support her in space for the projected four days. She also had her favorite toys in there, and they could actually fly! She was still amusing herself with that simple fact, providing a lot of amusement in turn for the people in ground control who monitored her bodily functions. But soon, they would have to make her scared again.
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Comona Island Mission Control Center
The flight was planned for four days ; But the rise in tensions prompted to cut it short - whatever happened, they may not be able to do that in two days, and the flight data and analysis of the capsule would bring priceless information to scientists engaged in the Selene program.
Common Carter Connoway, a Shroomanian Director of Flight Operations, was tasked with handling this. Beaming with pride and wearing his trademark pink vest, he strolled into Mission Control Room 2 like a general about to lead his men to battle.
He took the Director's seat behing the primary console, located at the back of the large room. He put on his headset and carefully placed a Rock Ironbeef half-naked PMC recruitment postcard on the top of his unit. He was ready.
"All systems are go for deorbit, sir", his assitant reported.
"Time to burn?"
"Thirty minutes"
Connoway looked at the array of video screens located on the wall facing him. Fajita was shown on two monitors, playing with a rubber dog. He'd bet real astronauts would love to be allowed to do that instead of going through boring checklists.
The countdown clock was ticking now. Instruction were sent out to the capsule, and it aligned itself for a deorbit burn.
"Ready for burn in five, four, three, two, one...ignition!", the booster controller called out. And Fajita started screaming - that terrified monkey-scream which could pierce straight into the human brain.
"Jesus, somebody shut down the audio!", Connoway shouted, and the audio feed was killed. With ringing ears, mission controllers watched the numbers on their consoles.
"MECO! We're right on the line with the Delta-V."
"Great. Jettison the service module."
With loud bang, heard only inside the capsule, the pyrobolts jettisoned the Soyuz service module. The capsule began its plunge deeper and deeper into the atmosphere.
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Anatolia, Byzantium
The great plain north-east of Anatolia were the perfect place to land a space capsule - wide open, devoid of people and dry, with clear skies most of the time. A recovery team with heavy cargo helicopters was already there, circling the projected landing area.
As were hundreds of naked protesters, who apparently didn't quite get the message about what they were supposed to be protesting. Right now, Byzantine police units were in the process of shooing them away. With sticks.
"Radar says we've got incoming!", cried one of the helicopter pilots to his passengers - journalists every single one of them, "Look through the port window and you should see it!"
And they did. The capsule was through the worst part of re-entry, and all the assembled journalists could see the brilliant parachute unfurling in the air. They started snapping pictures.
Recovery teams set down by the capsule a few minutes after it landed. Fajita was extracted safely. The chimpanzee was feeling so pleased by being let out of the capsule that it started running around, making happy noises and hugging random people. The first test flight of the Selene spacecraft was a success, and its passenger returned intact.
"DO YOU WORSHIP HOMOSEXUALS?" - Curtis Saxton (source)
- PeZook
