The Orion Missions

[Surdra]

(OOC: If you wish to join this lunar program please PM before posting.)


Standing several miles away from the launch pad Mission Commander Steven Pitts watched as the 335 foot tall heavy launch vehicle carrying one lunar lander blasted off into the sky. From above him call a quiet, “Wow.” Looking up Commander Pitts watched with amusement as his seven year old daughter Emily watched with slack jaw amazement as the white SLS (Space Launch System) climbed ever higher into the sky. Giving his daughter’s left arm a tug to get her attention and then asked, “What cha think honey?”

“That was so cool daddy,” the young girl beamed as she still watched the white plume hoping for something else to happen.

“That was awfully loud,” a voice next to Commander Pitts softly said. Looking over he watched as his wife Tracy pulled her ear plugs out of her ears. Smiling Pitts replied, “I would have thought you would have been used to it by now.”

Smiling at her husband she answered, “No one can ever get used to that racket dear,” to which Commander Pitts responded with a small chuckle.

Commander Steven Pitts was a long time veteran of the Surdran space program. He had five missions under his belt, two of them as mission commander. This made him the most experienced active duty astronaut in the Surdran space program and because of that he had been selected as the commander of the first mission back to the moon. Taking a look around him he surveyed the rest of the Orion 13 crew.

Standing closest to him and his family a few feet away was Gwen Knapp, the pilot for the mission. She was going to be the first pilot for the maiden flight for the STS Pegasus but she had contracted Chicken Pox a month before the mission was scheduled for launch and she had been bumped off. Lucky for her that meant she then was selected to pilot the Orion 13 mission. Now the recently divorced mother of one three year old girl was getting ready to pilot not only the second flight of the STS Pegasus but also the first lunar flight of the Orion Lunar Transit Vehicle and the Altair Lunar Lander. Only Gwen’s father James and her daughter Miranda where present to watch her leave in four days for her lunar mission, Gwen’s mother had died five years before of cancer and she no longer had any contact with her ex-husband.

Next to Gwen was the crew’s youngest member and first time astronaut Kevin Mason who was busy joking with Gwen’s daughter. Kevin had been selected day one after finishing his Astronaut training for the lunar mission. Commander Pitts believed that it was equal parts that NSEA wanted a young face on the mission and that Kevin had broken more than a few records during his training. Regardless Pitts was glad to have the Kid, the nickname the Commander had been calling Kevin from the first day they started training for the mission months ago, as he knew the Kid was very sharp and most likely had a bright career in the space program ahead of him. The only family that Kevin had was a younger sister named Jessica who Kevin had raised after both of their parents died in a car accident. Somehow Kevin had made enough money to pay for his four-year college education and to raise his baby sister until she entered college herself. When he graduated from the University of Avalon Kevin then joined the Kingdom of Surdra Air Force and became one of the first operational F-22 pilots. Unlike most pilots Kevin hadn’t been a test pilot before being accepted into the NSEA Astronaut Corps. Kevin Mason was actually a pilot like Gwen but he would be riding as a mission specialist for this trip and acting as a back-up pilot in case something happened to Pitts or Gwen.

Commander Steven Pitts, Pilot Gwen Knapp, and Mission Specialist Kevin Mason made up the Surdran side of the mission. The other five seats on the mission were filled by Boltorian Mission Specialist Dr. Robert Hawkins, Kannexian Mission Specialist Pu Pakhming (Ru2 Pax4 Ming2), Globexanterian Mission Specialist Alexei Billard, Central Russian Mission Specialist Joakim Pavlov, and Malecian Mission Specialist and Medical Officer Dr. Thomas Carroll. Over the last several months Commander had learned a lot about his fellow foreign crew members and had developed a certain level of respect for all of them.

[Globexanter]

Alexei Billard, the recently forty-six year old Globexanterian cosmonaut stood to the left of the group, observing the heavy launch vehicle take off through a pair of binoculars before turning to his wife as the noise died out, looking at her through the wrong side of his binoculars "Hélène, have you ran away from me?"

Grinning, his wife snatched the binoculars off him before pulling out hear ear plugs before giving a perplexed look to Alexei "It doesn't have many engines compared to the Soyuz..."

"Do not worry, they are big enough to compensate for that lack." he said, taking the offered binoculars off his wife to quickly get a last view of the launch vehicle.

In the first place, it had been the wish of many Globexanterian politicians to send those whom had already been on the Moon in Globexanterian missions in the first landing. This was soon however found to be impossible, due to the age of those whom had already been to the moon, and the public suggestions seemed to want the renown Alexei Billard instead. Alexei had worked for the Globexanterian National Space Agency from the age of 22, quickly passing through the required physical and mental tests as well as the required army service for becoming a cosmonaut. Between 2012 and 2018 he had spent a total of a two years and six months on-board the Globexanterian Pascal station, six months on-board the ISS and had been one of the main non-pilot testers of the PPTS. In October 2018 Alexei broke the Globexanterian record for the longest total time spent in any Kiev Project space station (in this case, the Pascal), the previous record being two years and three months, beating it by a full three months and two days. Due to this, Alexei is generally regarded as being one of the most experienced cosmonauts of Globexanter. He had married his wife five years ago (having proposed to her immediately upon his return from a 3 month operation in the Pascal station), although they had been together for more than twenty years and had two boys together, both to arrive to following day after having received time off from work, and leave for the other.

[Kannex]

The man appeared to be in his late twenties, young and cheerfully chatting away in rapid-firing Kannexian with his girlfriend as their four-year-old daughter ran around the dirt road. The man had that bemused expression on his face, one that mirrored his mate's when he cracked a joke and both broke into laughter. Having known each other for several years but dated only for one, the two were now inseparable. Family and friends sometime suggested they married, but neither was very willing to be chained by such an ancient custom. Ru Pakhming and his girlfriend Vang Shu did love and live with each other, but they were of the new generation of Kannexians, who were accustomed to rebelling against tradition.

As smoke spewed out the bottom end of the vehicle, the little girl, Su Ting, pointed a stubby finger and shouted in Kannexian, "Rocket!" Her parents momentarily ceased their conversation and looked at the launch vehicle, blasting off and ascending in the atmosphere, with much admiration and amazement.

Vang Shu leaned in and gave Pakhming a quick kiss. When he looked at her, inquisitive about the unexpected gift, she said, "Ah-Ming, that rocket has a long journey to go and so do you."

[Central Ruska]

Joakim stood there, watching the Rocket climb into the sky. The Twenty-Nine year old tapped his fingers against is leg, the nerves were all ready beginning to get to him. The whole space program of the U.S.S.C.R rested upon his shoulders, as he was to be the first cosmonaut to be sent into space, let alone the moon. He would have been joined by his wife, Tasha, Just like the rest of the group. However, she was back home... ready to go into labor at a moments notice.

"wow..." he whispered as he watched the plume of smoke fade away, He never really imagined becoming anything successful in life, and now... he stood several miles away from the launch pad, and the Biggest adventure of his life...

[Boltor]

Robert held his wife Jenna as they watched the rocket carrying the lunar lander soaring into the sky, and would be waiting in orbit around the moon for the Orion astronauts to use. Both in their thirties, Robert nearly 40, and both experienced astronauts from the Boltorian Space Agency, Jenna would be staying on Earth looking after their teenage son and daughter.

This was one of the few months in the last 3 years that the Hawkins family were all together on Earth, as Robert and Jenna have spent alternating missions aboard the ISS and recently Robert has been training with the other Orion Astronauts and Cosmonauts for the moon mission.

[Mal]

Dr. Thomas Caroll, the flight physician from Malecia watched the others watch the launch. A medical man first and an astronaut second, his primary concern was the physical and mental health of the crew.

He was confident thatthe respective nations had sent the best and was looking forward to being entrusted with their care.

[Surdra]

As the excitement of the launch died off Commander Pitts lifted his daughter Emily off his shoulders and set her down on the ground. Turning to rest of the Orion 13 crew and their families, “Alright everybody, we better get moving.”

“Right,” astronaut Kevin Mason said as he swung three year-old Miranda by her arms, “let’s go, there’s a steak with my name on it waiting for me.”

One by one the crew and family members of Orion 13 returned to their personal vehicles which were parked along the side of the dirt road. The Pitts drove their own personal dark blue sedan, while Gwen Knapp and family rode in the back seat of Kevin Mason’s black SUV (Land Rover) while Kevin’s sister rode in the front passenger seat.

The small convoy of personal vehicles then set out and quickly covered the last five miles to the Astronaut beach house. Officially called the Astronaut Training and Rehabilitation Building, the beach house was a two-story house built in 1962 and bought by NSEA for $31,500 in 1963 to accommodate the expanding King George Space Center. The beach house is set 50 meters back from the shoreline and it serves as a private conference center, and for astronauts and their families for private gatherings and bar-b-ques before launch. The house contains memorabilia including wine bottles signed by crew members identified by mission decals.




As the Orion 13 crew pulled up to the beach house they were greeted by Orion Flight Director Michael Anderson and Capsule Communicator David Mahar. Anderson had overall operational responsibility for mission’s operation and Mahar was the only person that would communicate directly with the Orion 13 crew.

As the two young girls made a b-line to the ocean to the far away with their moms quickly in tow the two male Surdran astronauts and the Gwen’s father began unloading coolers from the back of Kevin’s SUV. Shortly each had a beer in one hand and where gathered around the open pit BBQ grill along Anderson and Mahar trading stories and jokes.

[Central Ruska]

Joakim sat quietly in a chair away from the main group, on the phone to his wife. “Дорогая, все будет хорошо ... Такие вещи, как это случилось ... это не ваша вина ... N-никто не мог предсказать это ... Не волнуйтесь, я буду дома скоро ... пожалуйста, не вините себя ... Я люблю тебя, Пока.” He put the phone down, and covered his with his hands. A tear began to roll down his cheek as he looked out across the water, at the other families. He slowly and gently rubbed his eyes and pushed back his short black hair. He quietly looked around the beach, just as another tear flowed down his face. Rubbing his eyes again, he stood up and left. He continued to walk straight onto the beach. Taking a deep breath, he sat down and stared out to sea. It was a good hour before he moved again, only to go and turn back for the building and sat in another chair.

[Surdra]

(OOC: post in progress.)