Post by Paffnia on Jun 1, 2020 16:23:27 GMT -5
Citizens from across the Islands gathered just outside the Islands Space Center to witness history: the launch of the first Islanders to set foot on the moon. Nine space programs—Tuga Nation's Dragon, Escanaba, the XKI Space Program (represented by Haivon), Woonsocket, Echolilia, Hakketomat, @thx1138, Haganham, and Almonaster—were ready for this momentous day.
With dignitaries including Chief Executive Markanite looking on, Mission Control began the countdown:
T-minus 10...
9...
8...
7...
6...
5...
4...
3...
2...
1...
Liftoff!
The first crew to launch were three brave astronauts from the nation of Echolilia. Their rocket soared up into the atmosphere, into Earth orbit, and toward the moon without a hitch. After four days of travel through the void of space, people across the region watched in anticipation as a lander descended towards the dusty surface. Through the static, a voice was broadcast around the world: "Islands, Klington Base here: the Camel has landed." With the lander safely down, the astronauts ran through the safety checklist, and then opened the airlock and descended the ladder. From hundreds of thousands of miles away, everyone watching heard these words: "That's one small step for an Islander, one giant leap for NationStates-kind." With that, humanity had set foot on a body beyond its own for the first time. The astronauts quickly got to work establishing a space colony of Echolilia around Klington Crater on the far side of the moon.
Not content with just a colony, the next launch was an unmanned lunar probe from Echolilia. This time, however, the mission did not go so smoothly. The probe made it to Earth orbit, but as Mission Control prepared to ignite the engine to accelerate it towards the moon, a micrometeoroid knocked into the probe, sending it into a dizzying spin. Firing the rockets then would have blasted the probe into the abyss of space away from the moon. However, before the human controllers had time to react, the on-board artificial intelligence, PAL 9000, was able to correct the probe's course and steady it, mere microseconds before the burn began. With the engine ignited successfully, the probe headed to the moon successfully and landed on the lip of a large crater on the eastern hemisphere of the far side of the moon.
After that, a ship from Tuga Nation's Dragon launched with a colony without incident. With the eyes of the world upon them, Tuga Nation's Dragon's astronauts successfully touched down on the moon a few days later, becoming the second nation to land successfully on the lunar surface and the first to land on the near side of the moon. The astronauts established a colony around Gluuland Crater in the southern hemisphere. The parade for the returning astronauts also resulted in an especially high economic boost.
Eager to join them, astronauts from Hakketomat launched soon after. However, Hakketomat's space agency had rushed the rocket into production, overriding safety concerns in a desperate bid to reach the moon early. During launch, a loose bolt came out, fell at a rapid speed, and damaged the main airlock on the lander. With the airlock broken, the crew would not be able to land successfully on the moon. Disappointed but safe, the astronauts did not attempt a moonshot and instead returned from Earth orbit safely.
Next up, Escanaba launched an unmanned scientific probe to the moon. This time, the launch and transit to the moon went off without any issue. The probe touched down successfully in the dark regolith of a lunar sea in the northern hemisphere of the near side. Sales of freeze-dried ice cream shot through the roof in Escanaba after the launch, increasing the economic boost.
Following that, Woonsocket's space agency attempted to launch the first cows to the moon. With an assembled herd sounding out "Mooooooooon!," the bovine ship rocketed up to find out if the moon was really made of cheese after all. However, when the ship was close to the lunar surface, the cows noticed that their planned landing site was actually strewn with boulders unsafe to land upon. With extensive astronaut training, though, the cows were able to manually pilot the ship away towards a safer landing site. With low-fuel alarms going off, the ship touched down just in time. The cows began a space farm growing lunar grazing grass in a colony near Noyzistan Crater at the south of the far side of the moon.
A crew from Almonaster launched towards the moon next. However, the heat shield on their rocket was damaged about 45 seconds after launch due to a lightning strike on the ship. The crew bailed out safely, but the colony failed to reach orbit.
Trying again, an unmanned probe from Almonaster was about to launch. Just before ignition, a group of "calculators"—mathematicians manually calculating launch trajectories—burst into Mission Control in a made-for-the-movies moment and stopped the launch. It turns out, the rocket's path had been angled two degrees off-course, which would have sent the probe wide of the moon. With the launch coordinates recalculated, the probe was successfully launched soon after. It touched down between Echolilia's landings on the eastern hemisphere of the far side of the moon.
After that, Haganham and then the XKI Space Program consortium each sent probes to the moon. Both made it without incident to the lunar surface. Haganham's touched town near a crater in the eastern hemisphere of the near side of the moon, and XKISP's landed in a rocky landscape at the very north of the near side.
Finally, @thx1138's unmanned probe was all set to go, but the head of the space program, who was supposed to hit the big red button to initiate launch, overslept and missed the event. The rocket remained grounded, and the launch was a failure.
The updated moon map can be found here. Payouts and details to come in a moment.
