The Orthogonal Galaxy Read Online Free PDF

the
way to Mars. Due to its weaker gravitational field, the Moon makes
a more desirable location for launching a vehicle towards Mars.
Once in flight, the shuttle will transport Garrison to Mars in just
over a month of travel. While NASA always plans this second leg to
be as short as possible—that is, when the Earth and Mars are
relatively close to each other—this part of the trip will still
take Garrison an additional 60 million miles away from his home.
Astronauts claim that you feel every one of those miles too,
because while the Mars Shuttle was designed for speed, comfort
ranked pretty low on the list of design constraints.
    On the first leg, Garrison
was overwhelmed at how massive the Earth appears when viewed from
several thousand miles above sea level. The vastness of his home
and the space surrounding him diminished his own sense of worth in
the universe in which he lived. As he orbited the moon to prepare
for landing, he was amazed to see the incredible detail of the
deep, shadow-laden craters. He was astounded at how much effort it
took to walk on the Moon, especially considering that he only
weighed thirty-three pounds there. He also noted how Camp Moon felt
like a well-preserved ghost town, particularly because he was the
only person present on the ten-acre site of buildings and hangars.
He was not, however, surprised at how little he was able to sleep.
With the anxiety of the long trip ahead of him, he only nodded off
for a couple of hours, and found himself in a confused state when
he awoke, wondering if all of this was nothing more than a
dream.
    Walking from his dorm to
the hangar where the Mars Shuttle waited for him, he observed a
crescent Earth that hung precariously over the horizon. He ate his
breakfast consisting of a protein bar and pomegranate energy drink,
both scientifically calculated to minimize the amount of waste he’d
incur on his flight to Mars. Then he suited up, left his
pressurized room, and made his way out to the runway, where his
Mars Shuttle waited.
    The Mars Shuttle was
designed for horizontal takeoff and landing, both easier
propositions for a solo pilot. It sat at the beginning of a
relatively short runway indicating its readiness for service and
its ability to accelerate into space very quickly.
    Garrison knew how small
the space craft was, for he had already become familiar with the
cockpit in several prototypes. What amazed Garrison, however, was
the comparatively massive solid rocket boosters bolted underneath
each wing. The boosters were so large that the bottom of the
vehicle was twenty feet off the ground, meaning that the boosters
had to have landing gear of their own in order to propel the
shuttle down the runway. Garrison knew that the boosters were
necessary. In order to obtain high velocity, the shuttle requires a
massive volume of rocket fuel to obtain the required speed, even in
this low-gravity environment. Once jettisoned, the boosters would
be able to return to Camp Moon via automated computer navigation.
The same landing gear would be used to touch down on the satellite
and then taxi off of the runway for future use.
    Looking up at his tiny
home for the next month, Garrison paused momentarily, wondering
whether he really wanted to be confined to this miniscule capsule
for a month. But, he knew that he had not spent years preparing
himself for this moment, only to turn around and abort the mission
now. Climbing the ladder structure to the top of the rocket booster
and then walking the length of the booster to his cockpit, O’Ryan
paused just a moment to admire the Earth and wondered if his wife
was looking up at him at the same moment.
    Throwing his body down
into the cockpit, he sealed the hatch above him, and listened as a
rush of air pressurized his environment, allowing him to stow his
helmet in a compartment under his seat. Running through a
checklist, he inspected gauges and monitor readouts to ensure that
all systems were prepared for launch.
    “ Mission