“Rog, Flight. A perfect winter’s day.”
With Jack Enright watching the earth rise quickly from his jump seat between and behind the shoulders of Parker and their NASA instructor pilot, the command pilot slightly dropped his left wingtip into the wind to compensate for the wind blowing him to the right of the approaching runway’s centerline. In his final descent, to simulate the handling of a 100-ton and engineless shuttle, the jet trainer plummeted 1,000 feet every three seconds.
“Little bit ’o slip is holdin’ right on, Flight.”
“Roger, NASA 356. Go out of 2,000.”
“Okay… Preflare out of 1750, Flight.”
The 30-ton jet leveled off as her nose came up toward the hazy Florida horizon. In her empty passenger cabin, two large Sperry 1819-B and Rolm 1666 computers drove the airplane to feel exactly like the deadstick shuttle in the pilot’s hands.
“Two degrees up bubble at 900 feet.”
“Looking good, Gulfstream.”
To compensate for the wind blowing from his left, Colonel Parker first eased the left main wheel onto the concrete. Rolling down the runway on one wheel, the pilot kept the white centerline fixed beneath his seat.
With a squeal, the right landing gear kissed the ground with the nose wheel following three seconds later. Pilots would call it a “greaser.”
“Do that with Endeavor, Will,” the ground radioed.
“You got it, buddy,” the tall airman laughed.
“Gulfstream NASA 356 cleared for take-off. Maintain runway heading. No delay on the active.”
Before he had used up 8,000 feet of concrete, the pilot’s large right hand eased twin throttles forward. Without stopping his rollout, the AC pointed the glistening jet into the clear blue sky.
“And we have wings!” the Colonel called happily. Will Parker was home.
“The Russians went up ninety minutes ago, ten minutes before midnight, Washington time. Our people are in contact with Soviet controllers at the Kalinin Control Center near Moscow. To our surprise, they went from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, on the Aral Sea.”
“But, Admiral, how can they possibly shoot a rendezvous with LACE and Shuttle from there…”
“That was our first impression, Colonel. The Baikonur site sets them up for their usual Soyuz-T orbital inclination of around 51 degrees. LACE, as everyone here knows, is at a more equatorial inclination of 38 degrees. The power and maneuvering impulse required for a thirteen degree orbital plane change is huge — roughly 5,760 feet per second delta-V. It is beyond our capability to execute an orbital plane change of a side-step of 780 nautical miles. Soyuz alone could never do it…”
“How do they plan to do it?”
“They have done it, Colonel. They shot a monster burn during their first crossing of the Equator.”
“Energia? My God,” the tired Colonel argued.
“That would be our best guess from what we know. The only way they could have done such a massive orbital plane change to get close to LACE would be launching Soyuz atop Energia. They must have kept Soyuz attached to the booster and relit it for the maneuver. There is simply no way Soyuz could have done it alone. Must have left off the strap-on boosters and just flown with the Energia core vehicle. Its first manned launch until they fly their Shuttle Buran manned.”
Energia stands 197 feet high and is the world’s largest rocket. The size of America’s long-gone Saturn-V moon rocket, Energia was designed to launch the Soviet space shuttles. Energia’s 5.4 million pounds of thrust can put 110 tons into Earth orbit or send 32 tons to the Moon or 28 tons off to Mars or Venus. Like most Russian boosters, including the normal Soyuz rocket, Energia is modular with strap-on, liquid-fueled booster rockets for heavier payloads. Its first test flight occurred in May of 1987 and its second flight in November of 1988 launched the Russian shuttle Buran on its unmanned, maiden voyage.
“So, Admiral. They really can get to LACE?”
“With bells on, Colonel.”
“Have Parker and Enright been briefed on the Soyuz launch?”
“No, Joe. They went to bed two hours ago at the Cape.”
“Cleanne? Hope I didn’t wake you.”
“Real fine, both of us. Just tucked Jack in for the third time. It’s real comfortable up here. Can see Shuttle from here under her arc lights… Breathtaking! Like chains of white light holding her down. She is aching to fly, and the light holds her tail in the sand. A sight to remember!”
“Oh, he’ll be awake again in an hour. Like trying to put the children to bed the night before the fair.”
“Better, thanks. The pain isn’t so bad now. More like numbness on the inside of my calf, from my knee to my ankle. But swelling’s down. Been shootin’ up real reg’lar, as ordered. Those damn penicillin cartridges really bite.”
“Okay. Saw Emily before we flew down here. Seems more like last week. You’ll check in on her? Thanks… We had a really good day today. They’ve started the chilldown of the external tank already. They’ll top it off about four o’clock this morning.”
“C.C.?”
“I want you to listen real careful. Don’t want you to say anything when I’m done. ’Kay?… Jack and I are going to do this thing. I really think so now. The Intelsat-6 repair is goin’ to come off like clockwork. And we’ll have Brother Ivan up there to hand us the screwdriver. But… Cleanne. You remember meeting my old flight instructor from home? Well, he has this place out East. By the sea… If we don’t make it, if we bend our metal and they can get to us, I want my ashes laid upon the gray water up there. Upon the morning tide as it goes out. Please. I don’t want my friends to think of me when they stand beside a hole in the ground, all cold and dark. I want my friends to think of me only when they feel the salt wind of the sea washing cool and clean over their faces. I want my flight instructor to take me there, and to let me go… He knows the way.”
“Don’t, Cleanne. You promised.”
The tall flier sitting in the dark at the side of his bed laid the phone down gently. Jacob Enright on the far side of the little room did not stir.
Parker picked up the telephone again. He laid his long fingers upon the lighted buttons. But after a long sigh, he returned the receiver to its plastic cradle. The tiny lights went out.
For many minutes he sat in the darkness. He rubbed the heat from his sore leg.
In the stillness, he reached again for the telephone. His fingers moved slowly. Then he waited.
“Hello. It’s me, Willie… Willie Parker.”
“I know. Sorry. I know it’s late.”
“What can I tell you about hearing your voice again? Your sleepy voice… My God, how long has it been?”
“That long?”
“I have to hurry. Please. Tell me of your children. How old are they now?”
“You’ve had a third?”
“Tell me: Do they have your green eyes?”
“Oh, that’s good. So very, very good.”
“I have to ask you. I have to know: After all these years, do you think… Do you think of me? Ever?”
The big man blinked hard.
“Thank you. I remember you… I remember you. Good night.”
The large hand laid the telephone down without a sound. He reached behind to open the curtains above his bed in the crew quarters.
Laying upon his back with his hands clasped behind his head, William McKinley Parker lay by the open window. A distant white light touched the deep lines carved into his pilot’s face.
7
“Seems we’ve made our mark in the world, Number One,” Will Parker laughed through his open faceplate. Jacob Enright at his side clapped his thickly gloved hands together.