"So, Anton and the boys and I decided that our best course was to use up all three stages of the boosters and dump them without trying any fancy stuff. We may try an orbit correction when we light off the core stage engines." He shrugged. "Hell, this whole mission is science fiction. So it's only appropriate that we skip the intermediate orbits, and lift off like the heroes of some damned novel. I wasn't really making fun of NASA's procedures; I was just trying to find a positive way to say we're going to ignore them."
The briefing took place at 1:30AM in Alcântara. By 2:30, the crew was suited, and were strapping themselves into their seats in the Hope. At 2:48 the towers released the ship, and at precisely 2:54AM, Man's Hope lifted off, to the cheers of the onlookers.
The crew sat mashed into their seats by the acceleration. The only control David could reach was the "panic button" clutched in his hand. Meanwhile, in his ear, Control was reeling off the altitudes through which they were passing. 30 miles, 50 miles, the numbers kept rolling off. There was a 'bump' more felt than heard, and a momentary cessation of the crushing weight. "First stage separation," the voice in his ear reported, just the weight settled back, not quite so heavy this time. "150 miles, 200 miles, we have LEO altitude," said the voice in his ear. Shortly afterward, a milder 'bump' announced separation of the strap-ons' second stages, closely followed by the pressure of the third stage, which Anton had called the "Blok DM." "20,000 miles" the voice droned, then, more excitedly, "We have GEO" just as the third stages separated, and the big core stage engines fired. The heaviness returned, but David found himself able to reach his control panels.
"Well," David told himself, "time to earn my pay." "Control," he called, "please advise orbital corrections while we still have main engines."
It was Dolf's voice that answered. "Correction is 1.5 degrees left, 2 degrees down," he said promptly. "Delta-V is one-five-zero meters per second above prediction."
David slapped his armrest. "Ha! By God, we're going to do it! Frank, you crazy old coot, I think we're going fast enough to be able to keep the core stage!"
The sound of a throat being cleared came over the Control circuit. "Uh, Man's Hope," Frank's voice sounded in his ear, "Please remember that all comms are being recorded by multiple sources. But damn David! That sounds good!" Frank's voice quivered with emotion.
After several minutes, David cut the main engines, though a small amount of fuel remained. Dolf had reported that they were on course, and that their speed, their delta V, was over 500 meters per second above prediction.
"Okay," he said. "It's time for you guys downstairs to go to work." He was answered by a chorus of "Yes, sir's". He turned to Yuri. "You're up, too, Yuri. It's time to see if Dr, Noname was telling us the truth. Did she mention a money-back guarantee, by any chance?"
He was rewarded by one of Yuri's rare, tight-lipped smiles. "I am afraid not. I suspect she is, how you say? 'Fly-by-night operator'." He unstrapped, rose and drifted down the ladder to the 'passenger compartment' beneath the pilot's station.
David grinned. "You may be right. I hope not."
The cargo bay, of course, was still pressurized from being sealed on Earth. As he followed the others through the airtight hatch, Yuri secured it, and then turned on the pump that would pump the atmosphere into a holding tank and depressurize the cargo bay.
"First," he said, "We must make certain that everything is still properly secured. We must not have a crate drifting loose. Remember, large things are weightless here, but they are not massless. It is the mass that will crush you. Then, we will gather the solar panels and carry them through the airlock."
Ron Mbele looked irritated through his visor. "Why not just open the bay doors? You've already started the depressurization pump."
Yuri turned to him as quickly as his space suit would allow. "Because I have ordered it. We will be on this vessel a long time. It is important that we learn of any problems that exist as quickly as possible. We must also learn how to use every part of the ship. There will be a time to experiment with the cargo bay doors and the handling arm; but that time is not when we are in easy view of the entire world. So, first, we learn if the personnel airlock functions correctly. Da?"
Ron's nod was barely visible through his visor. "Yes, sir." He turned and joined the others drifting around the cargo bay, pulling on a cargo net here, or a rope there. Ron decided it would be embarrassing if half their food simply floated away when they opened the cargo bay doors.
Due to his small size, Yoshi was the one who located and began gathering the rolled-up solar panels and the thin aluminum tubes that would support them.
Most orbital missions and unmanned satellites had used conventional solar panels that unfolded to deploy. But Frank had not been satisfied with them. Somehow he had come across mention of flexible solar panels, that could be simply rolled up for storage, and unrolled to a 16-foot length. They also produced 124 watts each on Earth, and should produce at least four times that in space. They were expecting almost 500 watts each, significantly more than most older style panels. To David's great amusement, Frank had simply bought them on the Internet.
Small holes had been drilled into the Hope's wings, with plugs installed to restore aerodynamic smoothness. Raoul, Ron, Dolf, and Yoshi each grabbed a rolled up panel and a supply of rods, as they had practiced at Alcântara. One by one, they squeezed through the small airlock, and emerged into open space. Each attached a reeled safety line to his assigned eye on the ship's exterior. Yuri, following them out, headed for the rear of the ship like the experienced spacewalker he was.
Frank had argued that no one should be alone outside, and that one of the others should accompany him, but Yuri reminded him that solo spacewalks were not uncommon for Russian cosmonauts, and that the sooner they got the solar panels erected, the sooner they could light off the ion drives and camouflage the nuclear reactor's emissions. Frank had reluctantly yielded.
Meanwhile the others, in their magnetic boots, had jumped down the side of the Hope, and begun erecting the ridiculously spindly-looking tubes. It took two of them to unroll and stretch the 15-inch-wide solar panels two high on top of each wing. They actually stretched past the ends of the wings, of course, but that was not a concern. Two more panels were installed vertically above the cabin. Ron connected the panels' electrical connections, and plugged them into the matching plugs installed in the hull. Then he went back through the airlock to verify their function, and announced that they were producing over 4000 watts from their six solar panels, plenty to operate ion engines, though not enough to get full power from the state-of-the-art LiLFA ion engines aboard the Hope.
The others began clumping over to the airlock, but David asked Raoul to remain behind until Yuri could join him.
Even though the reactor had been fueled on Earth, and designed to be adjusted in space, it took Yuri over an hour to be satisfied enough with its performance to pronounce it ready. Ron took readings on the generator inside the cargo bay, and announced that it was producing just over 12 megawatts. Since the engines had been tested at 8 megawatts, there was plenty of power remaining for the ship.