A final mission debrief was held a few days before the mission lift off. All the crew members were called in. Punctuality at NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) was taken very seriously and all the crew members knew that. David Anderson, the commander of the ship that was going to be used in the mission was the first to arrive at Meeting Room A at Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas.
He was a US Air Force Colonel and a Mechanical Engineer and he had been a pilot in many missions before this. He had been called back for service for one last mission as he was the only one equipped with the knowledge of an old carrier that had to be used for this mission. Tagging along with him was Mission Specialist Linda Anderson, an Aerospace Engineer. She was his sister and she had been on previous missions with him as her mentor.
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Slowly the rest of them arrived as well. This was a fifteen member crew and each and every member had a specific job profile that was required for this mission to succeed. NASA took the safety and security of their astronauts very seriously so in the fifteen member crew were not one, not two, not three, but four ship specialist in charge of the space ship’s smooth function.
All had worked on previous missions together and were very well acquainted with each other’s style of work. They were Anthony and Kevin Garcia, Steven Martin and Edward Brown. Anthony and Kevin were brothers too. As the ship commissioned for this mission was one of its kind, there were two pilots that were needed to control its guidance functions.
The pilots were Lt. Helen Wright and Lt. Michelle Roberts. They were both US Air Force Pilots before they joined NASA. Michael Hall, Jeff Adams and Elizabeth Carter were Mission Specialists and in charge of collecting the sample rocks and analysing them accordingly. The payload commander was Sarah Collins and the payload specialists were Kenneth White and Deborah Jones. Dr. George Hill was the medical incharge of the team. All had met before during the mission trials and training. They were all set for the mission. This debriefing was the final one before the mission on Sunday, 18th May, 2008.
Image Courtesy: The Martian (2015) Nautilus X has a similar design 😉
The debriefing consisted of key flight plans and timings. There was some explanation of the new additions to the Nautilus X Space Ship. It was one of its kind and the first space ship that could hold a crew as large as this one. It had separate sleeping compartments for each of the crew as their journey was going to be a long one.
First they had to make a stop at the International Space Station or the Alpha Station as they called it. They had to uncouple an old carrier from the station and dock it with their own ship. This carrier was going to be responsible for carrying the rocks that the mission specialists thought needed more examinations and were supposed to be brought back to the earth labs. The complete mission was planned to last about 20 days. The first two days were traveling to the Alpha Station and taking the carrier.
The next three days were for traveling to the moon. The next 11 days were staying on the moon. Then finally a 3-4 day trip back home. The whole crew was excited because it was the first of its kind mission but David and Linda looked a little uninterested. It was as if they did not want to go but only because they were the only one with the expertise of the old carrier that was to be picked up from the ISS, they had to tag along. Neither David nor Linda were the ones that backed out of their duty towards their nation.
It seemed as if there was a harsh memory that was troubling both of them. During their last trip, the one where the payload carrier was attached to the ISS during the construction of the USOS part of the Alpha station, they had lost a crew member due to exposure to space. His space suit had unfortunately ruptured from some debris floating around that was invisible to the naked eye.
He was exposed to radiation and was eviscerated right in front of their eyes. They did go through the regular psych evaluations necessary to join the mission but from the looks of it, it felt like they still felt guilty for the death of Major Daniel Young who was also Linda’s fiance. Linda’s close friend Sarah Collins was also on previous mission with them but she was fine.
Daniel’s death wasn’t much of a shock to her. She didn’t like him anyway. One thing was for certain. This trip was going to be a trip down memory lane for all three of them. Maybe there were a few surprises awaiting them in that locked old carrier which hasn’t been used since the death of Major Daniel Young.
Stay tuned for more crisp…
