He smiled at Gorneliev, and pulled out his laptop. "If you'll excuse me just a moment, sir," he said, His fingers blurred as they skipped over the keyboard for a moment. Then he reached into his shirt pocket and withdrew a flash drive. He plugged it into a port on his laptop, waited a moment, and then removed it.
He presented the flash drive to Gorneliev. "This contains a copy of the latest executive summary of the progress of my project. It was given to me just before takeoff, and I read it on the plane. It's complete and unedited. I'm giving it to you so you can see there is no hidden agenda, no threat to your government or your nation. Essentially, a few months ago David Tarrant tracked me down with an idea."
Gorneliev looked interested. "The cosmonaut? He is at Baikonur now, yes?"
Frank nodded. "Yes, although we call him an astronaut. Anyway, David had just been grounded, and was desperate for a way to get back into space. He came up with this idea, and it has become my passion. I am prepared to spend my entire fortune to make it happen, but we need the help of your government.
"As you will see, we plan to launch a spacecraft to intercept a near-Earth comet. We will basically 'hitch a ride' on the comet back out to the asteroid belt. Once there, the crew will locate a suitable asteroid, and alter its orbit to return to earth."
Gorneliev smiled. "That would take years."
Frank nodded. "We estimate about three years. We plan to tunnel into the comet, and crack the water ice to produce oxygen and hydrogen. By the time the comet approaches perihelion, the crew should be safely inside the comet. We hope to launch unmanned cargo missions to rendezvous with the comet and deliver supplies, as long as they are in range. By the time they reach the asteroid belt, they should have a good supply of rocket motors or ion thrusters, and a large supply of hydrogen to power them. They'll probably just crash the comet into the asteroid to knock it out of its orbit and head it for Earth. They'll continue to process the water ice from the comet for oxygen and hydrogen, and will be tunneling into the asteroid to analyze its contents. They may even be able to begin processing some of the minerals; by that time I'll probably be just about broke. But if it works, it will provide millions of tons of ores that can be processed into super-pure metals and elements without being lifted from Earth's gravity well. And it also provides us an instant space station. A real space station!"
He shrugged. "That's it, sir. That's my dream, and my goal. The only hidden agenda is to reignite the spirit of adventure and the drive to space that we enjoyed in the 1960's – this time without the fear.
"But the whole thing rests on our ability to come up with a spacecraft capable of carrying half-a-dozen or so crew. All the remaining American shuttles have been given to museums, and they were mostly worn out, anyway. The only remaining true spaceships in the world are the Burans.
"Both you and NASA have moved beyond the Buran project. You've worked on a dozen projects since then. But all your current public projects are capsule, not shuttle missions, as are all of NASA's. So there is no possible conflict between my program and any of yours. And the only value the Burans have for you is as scrap, or as amusement rides like the one in Gorky Park."
Gorneliev's smile was back, wider than ever. "And what exactly is it that you want, Mr. Weatherly? What do you expect to get from Russia?"
"I would like to buy one or two Buran orbiters, all the engineering data on them, and all the data the program accumulated. I would also like to get the Energia data they used to develop the special booster designed for the Buran, and all the information on the air launch proposal, including why it was abandoned. In short, sir, I would like to buy your old Buran program. All of it."
Gorneliev frowned. His "I see" was noncommittal. His voice turned cold. "And exactly what do you offer for the space heritage of the Russian people?"
"I do not wish to steal your peoples' heritage," Frank protested. He punched the keyboard of his laptop.
"According to the information I was able to glean from the Internet, there are nine surviving Buran orbiters, in various conditions and stages of completion, besides the one you sold to a German museum. I have seen a photo taken in 2001 showing a Buran still mounted on the Energia booster in a building at Baikonur, and another, much later one, showing an orbiter covered with dust in another hangar, and photos of yet another apparently stored outside at that time. So, there appear to be at least two and possibly three fairly complete Buran orbiters at Baikonur, and others are apparently scattered around Russia, including the one at Gorky Park here in Moscow.
"My greatest hope is that the two I mentioned are still at Baikonur, stored safely indoors, and that your country is willing to see them finally attain the goal for which they were built; to go into space. My minimum goal would be to obtain at least two airframes in excellent condition, regardless of the interior or electronic condition. After all, even the best of them would need the avionics and electronics updated. Another really vital requirement is that I gather all the insulating tiles I can locate, from as many orbiters as possible.
"As important as the orbiters themselves are the remaining boosters, and the information relating to the air-launch program. My point is, sir that I would not be robbing your children of their inheritance. Even if you sell me everything I need, there will remain several Buran orbiters. As for the information, I expect to receive only copies; the originals will remain with you.
"One final point, sir. From the perspective of the people of Russia, you cannot lose. If I am permitted to buy them, you will brag that the first private space launch program came to Russia for its wonderful shuttle design. If we fail, you can claim that we screwed it up. But if I succeed! If I succeed, imagine the pride of the Russian people in knowing that it was a Russian spacecraft that traveled past Mars and brought back an asteroid!
"As for the price, I am prepared to offer fifty million U.S. dollars for the materials. I will also have to spend several more millions on work here in Russia and in Baikonur to get them into condition to move, plus the cost of chartering or renovating an aircraft. It may be cheaper to pick up a used AN124 and configure it to haul the orbiter, than to charter the AN225 for a number of flights. My total expenditure will probably be sixty to seventy million U.S. dollars coming into your economy. Still another possibility would be to separately buy or charter one of the VM-T Atlant aircraft that also carried the Burans. According to the Internet, two of them still exist."
Gorneliev was looking interested, now. "And where will you move them? You will require facilities to work on them, move them, and launch them. Why have you not asked about using the facilities at Baikonur or one of the other space centers?"
Frank hesitated before replying. "They would be ideal for the purpose, I admit. I hope I can say this without giving offense." He took a deep breath. "Ours will be a truly international project. We will have Americans, Russians, Japanese, Koreans, and probably a number of other nationalities represented. I hope we will be using a Russian orbiter. But it will be vital that my people and the people of the world see that it is not an American project, or a Russian project, or is identified with any other national entity. I'm afraid that using a Russian ship and a Russian launch system from a Russian cosmodrome would undermine that perception. I don't know yet where we can work, sir. Part of the answer will depend upon whether the air launch option is workable. I can't build a 'launch complex', or at least not much of one. But I'll need a base in a country that is independent of ties to east or west, has a stable government, and is prosperous enough to not be afraid of American bullying. It's not a big field."