out of bed, and his torso went crashing to the floor, his legs wrapped up in a sheet. And then, when he’d shaved, he tried to leave the after-shave bottle floating in the air. It fell into the sink, smashing into big sharp chunks.
That evening in Nepal, he was to be guest of honor at a dinner at a swank, Western-standard restaurant a mile off. He elected to walk, to clear his head of beer fumes. The road was rocky, badly made, and steep; he was, after all, in the foothills of the Himalayas here. He soon tired.
All along the side of the road as he walked, there were children, kneeling down. They all held candles and looked up at him, their round faces shining in the dusk light like images of the Moon.
It was an act of veneration.
They think I’m a god. A god, come to visit them
.
They shouldn’t do this to people, damn it
. They’d made him into a stranded moonwalker. He just wanted to walk on another glowing beach.
He tried to focus on what Michaels and Agronski were saying.
Michaels hauled his bulk out of his chair, and let his impressive, waist-coated gut hang over the polished table for a minute. ‘Gentlemen, let’s see if we can’t cut to the chase.’
He pulled a flip-chart away from the wall. The first few sheets were covered with barely comprehensible notes relating to the Apollo 13 astronauts’ abandoned moonwalk checklists: ‘DOCUMENTED SAMPLE: select sample/place gnomon upsun of sample/sample & gnomon [8,5,2] x sun/retrieve sample …’ There was a peculiar poetry in the way these technical people communicated with each other, he reflected.
On a clean page, he began to scribble. ‘Let’s see what we got here. How would we do this? What’s the minimum we have to do to get to Mars? I can see three strands of work for the short term. First, we’ll need flight tests of the nuclear rocketry. Second, we’ll have to man-rate the modules of the Mars ship itself, such as a lander. Finally, we’re going to have to get some experience of long-duration missions in space.’ He listed the items quickly. ‘But, whether we go for the Space Shuttle, or for an uprated Saturn program, or both, you’re looking at maybe five years before a newlaunch system comes on stream. So for the time being we’re going to need to use the Saturn V to get by.’ He eyed Agronski. ‘You know we’ve already announced the suspension of the Saturn V production line.’
‘Of course.’
‘Now, in addition to the moonshots, we have our Skylab program, which might have needed a couple of Vs. But a couple of months back we redirected the program; we’re going to revert to the Wet Workshop concept, which can be launched by a Saturn IB. So as of now our remaining Saturn Vs – seven of them built or in production, SA-509 through SA-515 – are dedicated to Apollo Moon missions.’
‘How many launches will you need for a Mars program?’ Agronski asked.
Michaels blew out his cheeks. ‘Let’s say, in the next half-decade, six Saturn V flights, and perhaps ten Saturn IBs. That should get Skylab well underway, and perhaps take us as far as the first Earth-orbit manned flights of the NERVA, before we get the new launcher. Joe, does that sound reasonable?’
Muldoon grunted. ‘Yeah. I guess. If you want to cut it to the bone; if you want to run the risk of another Apollo 1 fire.’
‘Now, Joe…’
‘Six Saturn Vs,’ Agronski said. ‘And there are seven Moon flights left, Apollos 14 through 20.’ His lips pulled tight into a thin grin.
So that’s it. Now I know the price, for Mars, for Paine’s job
. It was as if Agronski was taking a much-delayed revenge. Agronski had always despised the manned Moon program, opposed it whenever he could.
Agronski knows that this is the end of Apollo. Right here and now; right in this room
.
Agronski said smugly, ‘Well. Of course I’m aware that there’s a lot of opposition to further Moon flights, even within NASA. The whole system’s too complex. “One of these days Apollo
That evening in Nepal, he was to be guest of honor at a dinner at a swank, Western-standard restaurant a mile off. He elected to walk, to clear his head of beer fumes. The road was rocky, badly made, and steep; he was, after all, in the foothills of the Himalayas here. He soon tired.
All along the side of the road as he walked, there were children, kneeling down. They all held candles and looked up at him, their round faces shining in the dusk light like images of the Moon.
It was an act of veneration.
They think I’m a god. A god, come to visit them
.
They shouldn’t do this to people, damn it
. They’d made him into a stranded moonwalker. He just wanted to walk on another glowing beach.
He tried to focus on what Michaels and Agronski were saying.
Michaels hauled his bulk out of his chair, and let his impressive, waist-coated gut hang over the polished table for a minute. ‘Gentlemen, let’s see if we can’t cut to the chase.’
He pulled a flip-chart away from the wall. The first few sheets were covered with barely comprehensible notes relating to the Apollo 13 astronauts’ abandoned moonwalk checklists: ‘DOCUMENTED SAMPLE: select sample/place gnomon upsun of sample/sample & gnomon [8,5,2] x sun/retrieve sample …’ There was a peculiar poetry in the way these technical people communicated with each other, he reflected.
On a clean page, he began to scribble. ‘Let’s see what we got here. How would we do this? What’s the minimum we have to do to get to Mars? I can see three strands of work for the short term. First, we’ll need flight tests of the nuclear rocketry. Second, we’ll have to man-rate the modules of the Mars ship itself, such as a lander. Finally, we’re going to have to get some experience of long-duration missions in space.’ He listed the items quickly. ‘But, whether we go for the Space Shuttle, or for an uprated Saturn program, or both, you’re looking at maybe five years before a newlaunch system comes on stream. So for the time being we’re going to need to use the Saturn V to get by.’ He eyed Agronski. ‘You know we’ve already announced the suspension of the Saturn V production line.’
‘Of course.’
‘Now, in addition to the moonshots, we have our Skylab program, which might have needed a couple of Vs. But a couple of months back we redirected the program; we’re going to revert to the Wet Workshop concept, which can be launched by a Saturn IB. So as of now our remaining Saturn Vs – seven of them built or in production, SA-509 through SA-515 – are dedicated to Apollo Moon missions.’
‘How many launches will you need for a Mars program?’ Agronski asked.
Michaels blew out his cheeks. ‘Let’s say, in the next half-decade, six Saturn V flights, and perhaps ten Saturn IBs. That should get Skylab well underway, and perhaps take us as far as the first Earth-orbit manned flights of the NERVA, before we get the new launcher. Joe, does that sound reasonable?’
Muldoon grunted. ‘Yeah. I guess. If you want to cut it to the bone; if you want to run the risk of another Apollo 1 fire.’
‘Now, Joe…’
‘Six Saturn Vs,’ Agronski said. ‘And there are seven Moon flights left, Apollos 14 through 20.’ His lips pulled tight into a thin grin.
So that’s it. Now I know the price, for Mars, for Paine’s job
. It was as if Agronski was taking a much-delayed revenge. Agronski had always despised the manned Moon program, opposed it whenever he could.
Agronski knows that this is the end of Apollo. Right here and now; right in this room
.
Agronski said smugly, ‘Well. Of course I’m aware that there’s a lot of opposition to further Moon flights, even within NASA. The whole system’s too complex. “One of these days Apollo
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