HMS Sophia

Chapter XXXIX - Touching the Sky 15th April 1959 Major Wolcott stepped off the C-47's stairs and onto the hot tarmac. Edward's was as hot as Florida, but unlike Canaveral it was a dry, searing heat rather than the warm humidity back East. The cacophony of engine noised died down slowly as a car pulled up, a pair of officers stepping out. She walked out to meet them, shading her eyes from the sun. "Major?" "Good to see you again, Major Dornberger." She said, shaking his hand. "How're things progressing?" "Well, thank you. Ready to watch her fly?" "Certainly am." He gestures to the car, opening the door for her. "Come on. We'll meet the pilots first, if that's okay with you?" "I'm in your hands, Major." Jane says, sliding into the back seat of the Jeep. The drive across the tarmac to the base's main buildings was a short one. Silence reigned, the heat reducing any urge to chat. Pulling up beside a hangar, Dornberger hopped out and opened the door again. "I can open a car door, Major." Jane says, smiling to limit the bite of her comment. He flushes red, gesturing to the hangar door. She steps into the air conditioned interior, taking a deep breath as the cool air greets her, before looking around. A pair of off-white X-3's sit in the centre of the hangar, the forwards one attached to a starter cart and a fuelling hose. Three men, one dressed in a pale flight suit, stand as the two officers enter and walk over to them. "G'morning Major." The one in the suit says, shaking hands with Dornberger before snapping a sharp salute to Jane. "Ma'am." The other two follow suit, and she returns it. "Major Wolcott, meet Captains McQuarry, Richards and Baker." "A pleasure. You're flying today?" She says gesturing to McQuarry's flight suit. "Certainly am, Ma'am. Hope I give you a good enough performance." "I'm sure you will." She looks back to the Air Force Major. "What's the plan for today?" "The Captain will be going up once fuelling is complete-" "As long as ATC gives me clearance." The pilot grumbles and they laugh, leaving Jane blank faced. "Sorry, something of an in joke. Captain McQuarry was meant to fly last week, but the tower kept him on the ramp for four hours instead. Weather problems." "But the sky's clear today Ma'am. Shouldn't be any reason not to get up there." Dornberger nods at him before continuing. "Once he's up he'll make his way out over Rogers and the Mojave a little way. We'll be tracking him the whole was as he ascends to about 25, 30 thousand feet, turns and makes the first of several high speed passes over the base. Following a low-high-low pattern we'll try and get the best speed out of the X-3 while it still has fuel in the tank." "It has endurance problems?" "No problems as such, but the jet burns fuel like it's going out of style. With the throttle open I doubt we could pump fuel into the tank faster than it's burned." "How long will today's flight last then?" "An hour, at the very most. That's pretty much bingo even over the strip." She makes a lost face again and McQuarry cuts in. "You haven't done much flying, have you, Major?" "Army Rocketry, Captain. We're not quite at the stage of putting someone on top of them yet." "So I heard. I've got prep to do. Major's." He says, snapping another salute and walking away towards the plane. The other two follow suit, catching up with him to help with the pre-flight. "I have to apologise, Major." Dornberger says, once McQuarry is out of earshot. "What for?" "McQuarry was rejected from your flight program. I didn't expect him to be bitter about it." "I'm sure I'll survive... He's your best?" "Yes. We were slightly surprised when he wasn't picked, to be honest, but I suppose you can't take everyone." She bites her lip, concerned. "You know... I never considered the pilot's we didn't accept." "It's the military, Major. We're all grown-ups. Anyway, if we build the next one the Captain has already requested the first flight on it." Dornberger lets out a short bark of a laugh. "Hey, we might even beat you into space." She smiles at him as they leave the Hangar. Jane watched a radar repeater as the X-3 passed over the base at some colossal speed, 20 kilometres above the surface of the planet. She had seen the first pass briefly as the aircraft passed mach 2, but this time it seemed to be moving even more quickly. "Well?" She heard one of the test staff say into the quiet of the tower control room. "Mach 3.3, 850 metres per second or so." "Goddamn, that's the best speed yet. Get on the horn, tell McQuarry he's got two low passes and then he's done." She watches the aircraft begin it's wide banking turn, barely able to imagine what it must be like to travel at those sorts of speeds. Several minutes pass as the aircraft realigns and begins accelerating again. "Hey Tower, I wanna try a climb at speed?" She hear's McQuarry's voice over the radio as he comes back in towards them, accelerating towards Mach 3. "Altitude angels twenty-four, Mach 3.2." Come the instruments check before the test commander can respond. "Uh... You want another high pass, X-3?" "Negative, Tower, I wanna go ballistic. Bring the nose up as I make my pass." "Mach 3.5, range is 18 kilometres." "No go, X-3, no go. If you've got flight plan changes we'll discuss them for the next test." A wash of static comes over the radio. "Got interference Tower, confirm I am go for climb?" "No go, McQuarry, you are No go for that manoeuvre." Another wash of static. "Mach 3.8, 7 kilometres." "Thanks Tower. Beginning climb." Comes the last communication amid a final wash of static. Dornberger sighs and puts his head in his hands on the desk next to Jane. He looks over after a moment. "You know I said he's our best? I changed my mind. He's an idiot." "He was rubbing his mike, wasn't he." "Yup. Lets just hope he comes out of this okay..." McQuarry pulled back hard on the stick, dragging the nose of the X-3 up despite the immense speed it was travelling up. The forces pushed him down into his chair, making him feel immensely heavy. It took a full twenty seconds before the aircraft was pointing close to vertical, travelling upwards at three times the speed of sound. He watched his altimeter as the speedo ticked down slowly. 20 kilometres. Thirty. He shot up into the sky, one hand on his stick and the other holding his respirator tight against his face. Forty kilometres came and went, one hundred and twenty thousand feet in the air. He looked sideways, saw the curve of the earth below him like he never had before. Johnson's ninety thousand feet was long behind him, and he was still shooting into the air. The rapidly thinning air. He pulled the thrust handle way back, essentially shutting down the powerful jet that had driven him faster, higher, than any man before him. There was nothing he wanted less than a flame out to but him into some sort of spin. He drifted up past 50 kilometres. The sky grew dark. He could see stars above him. 55 kilometres. He pulled a camera from a side pouch and took a series of shots. Sixty kilometres. Frost touched the inside of the canopy as the aircraft grew colder. two hundred thousand feet above the surface, the X-3 reached the limits of its climb and began to fall. Belly down it began to gather speed, dropping towards the surface. It passed Mach 1 quickly. Finally after several seconds it hit thicker atmosphere and the nose swung down. It accelerated as it fell, like a missile heading for the surface east of Edwards. McQuarry hauled back on the stick, trying to bring the nose up. It inched higher as the aircraft shot through the thirty kilometre limit, then 20. It hit Mach 2 at just under ten kilometres above the surface. The Pilot pulled with all his force, slowly, slowly levelling the plane out. Finally, barely four kilometres off the ground, it stopped heading for the ground and he could relax slightly. He clicked his radio back on. "McQuarry, if you can hear this you're the luckiest damn idiot I ever met." The Captain chuckled at the sound of Dornberger berating him. He took a deep breath, fighting back the shakes that were threatening to overtake him. The X-3 was towed around towards the hanger, canopy pulled back. Jane could see the mussed hair of the exhausted pilot over the edge of the canopy before he stood up, wobbling with the movement of the plane. The ground crew was cheering the lucky fool, impressed by the insanity of his flight. The plane pulled up and stairs were rushed over. Captain Richards hurried up them, helping the apparently weak legged McQuarry out of the cockpit and down the stairs. She watched Dornberger having a quiet moment, though from the Captain's face they weren't words of encouragement. Then the man was dragged back into the adulation of the group gathered around him and Dornberger was walking back over to the Major. "I'm sorry you had to see that, Major. They normally have a slightly better grasp of what's appropriate behaviour." She nods, letting the silence hang. "I have to admit though... a little part of me is impressed." "Me too, Major. He's smashed the last flight records by one hell of a margin." "Most of them don't disobey orders to attempt it though." "No, that's true... Is he going to miss his chance at the rocket plane because of this?" She says, frowning. "Are you kidding? No, he'll fly it. He might miss his shot at the first go though." They share a brief smile before she turns away. "I'd best get going. I'll be needed back in Florida tomorrow." "Roger that, Major." Dornberger says, smile fading. "We'll see you again soon though?" "Absolutely. Some of my team at least. We need to start looking at the next one." She grins, and he returns it, before waving his Jeep over. He opens the door before she can reach it and she shakes her head at him, smiling. "Thank you, Major. Have a good night." The door shuts, the Jeep heading for her transport. Media: Images taken from the cockpit of the X-3 by Captain Chris McQuarry on his record flight

Chapter XXXVIII - The Trouble With Being Pleasant 8th April 1959 Dr Carter stepped into her office without knocking, a habit he had that annoyed the Major to no end. Still, he at least only did it when he had something important on his mind, usually something that further reduced SREP's limited budget. She straightened her back and rested her hands on the top of her desk, ready for whatever was to come. He took a seat and frowned, crossing his arms. "At least one of your pilot's is never going into space." He said bluntly after a moments silence. Her eye's widened. "I'm sorry?" "Each of them had a full medical yesterday. One of them isn't going to space. Or rather, I'll never medically release him as fit to fly." "Who?" "Charles Pleasant. They underwent full medicals over the last few days, and his was failed." "Isn't there anything he can do?" The Doctor shakes his head firmly. "I'd rather pull him from training now. I... can't go into it, but it's not a condition that will go away no matter what he does." He smiles a little at her look "Don't worry, he's not dying. Normally, it would be nothing to worry about. But the effects of a launch on the human body..." "You don't want to risk it." The Major says, and he nods. "I can understand that." She sighs "This is going to be devastating... What are you going to tell him?" "Well... I'd hoped you would help, actually. If we can offer him something, a... I hesitate to call it a consolation prize, but essentially that's what it would be. I don't want to tuck him away, I want him to have an active role..." "From what I've seen, administration isn't going to suit him in the slightest. What about mission control? I know you'll be managing the pilot's health during a flight, but what about their morale? If we have someone in there who is from their world, who can talk to them in language." Carter shrugs. "I suppose it might work. As long as they don't interfere with my work." The Major gives him a look. "I hope you're not besmirching the Army, Doctor." She watches his face fall before breaking out in a grin. "I'll pass your concerns on. And you still have a good eight months to train together before you have to run missions together." He chuckles nervously, standing. "So... speaking to the Captain?" "I'll bring him in later today. We'll see you there." "The hell do you mean I can't fly!" The young Captain was on his feet, leaning on the Major's desk. "Captain, the Doctor says you have a medical problem-" "I don't have no Medical Problem! Major, I've been flying jets for years. If I had a medical, don't you think some Doc would'a grounded me long before now." "Captain Pleasant, I wouldn't consider this a problem for flying aircraft-" "That's because it ain't. And it ain't gonna be a problem for Mercury either." "I'm afraid Doctor Carter makes the final call, Captain" The Major said firmly, standing to look him in the eye. "Sit. Down." She says, in her best parade ground voice. The other officer's shoulders sag, and he collapses back into his chair. After a moment he lights a cigarette from a packet he produces from nowhere. "Okay. Fine. So, what? I'm going back to the 16th, right?" The Major leans back in her chair and frowns. "We'd rather you didn't." He gives her a look of confusion. "Mercury is going to start flying soon. We want you in Mission Control when it goes up." "Doing what? I'm a half decent pilot, sure..." "Crew Command. You're going to be our link to the astronauts here on the ground." "Like a TAC?" He gives a small smile at their faces. "Tactical Air Control. The poor guys on the ground who keep us on track." "Essentially, yes." "And I still get to fly the jet's down here right?" The Major glances at Doctor Carter, who nodded. "Good. I think I'da quit now if you'd banned me from those as well." he says, grinning. "Sure. I'll do it. You need a pilot down their anyway, far too many desk jockeys and engineers. Uh, no offence Major." "Don't worry, Captain. I'm sure you're still getting over the shock." "Yeah, sure. So I'm out of the training program, right?" "I'm afraid so. But we'd like you to begin looking at developing procedures with the mission team." He nods, stubbing out his cigarette. "Will do, Major." He throws a somewhat sketchy salute. "Dismissed, Captain." She says, returning it from her seat.

Which one? I mentioned three. Yeah? That kind of implies age and maturity, which you're not really showing. See, I kinda believe you knew it, but I like to double check myself before demanding that something is true... Did you? Lets see: No, they didn't cancel 18 or 19 because of a lack of Saturns. They did it because of budgets. Yes, one was taken for Skylab. You're right there. That was intended for Apollo 20. I'm sorry, unless you're being totally disingenuous (heaven forbid), that last part parses as 'NASA didn't want to use it'. And neither the Nixon Administration nor NASA just 'didn't want to use it', it was no logical decision made. It was funding cuts, plain and simple. They couldn't afford to fly Apollo 18 or 19.Oh, and it wasn't one leftover Saturn, it was 2. My point is, none of this has to do with the shutting down of the Saturn V production line. But if you'd like to back-pedal further, please don't let me stop you.

Excuse the double post, but this sounds like a great idea. Von Braun was a little in love with 'Wet laboratory's.' Which this would represent nicely. (See, I agree with some things you say )

Uh... no. Apollo 18-20 were cancelled by Nixon because of budget issues. The Saturns were already built for them. Skylab was a 'Well, we have a spare Saturn now, what shall we do with it?' EDIT: Okay, to cover myself I'm gonna hold my hands up here and say I was wrong... sorta... In 1969, it was decided that Apollo 20 would be scratched and replaced by the Skylab launch instead. Buuut (here's the Sorta) Apollo 18 and 19 were scrapped in 1971, due to both budget cuts and the cash-hungry development of the STS. So you're still wrong There are two flight-worthy Saturn V's on display as museum pieces, so it wasn't a lack of Saturns. But I wasn't as right as I thought I was.

Depends on what you mean by 'on-arrival'. If you mean by the time of the moon landings, then yes the saturn lines had been shut down, but Apollo 18+ was only cancelled in 1970 ish?

Well... do you need too? It'll vanish after you get a certain distance away. Make it drone controlled without a kerbal aboard and it's no big deal. Yes, well done dear. I think we can all safely assume that the OP means that the Saturn assembly line stayed open when they plan for after Apollo.

Chapter XXXVII - Changing Intentions 22nd March 1959 Jane looked up as a young woman was shepherded into her office by her Chief engineer. She smiled at the almost fearful look on the other woman's face. Jane knew who she was, of course. She had met Julia Kehoe several times, most recently when the Chief introduced her as the head of the new development team for SREP launchers. "Hello Julia." She says, smiling warmly. "Uh... Good Morning, Major Wolcott." She's clutching a report folder to her chest, and it stays there as she sits on the edge of the chair opposite Jane. They sit in silence for a moment before the Major gestures at the folder. "Is that for me? I understand the Chief had you working on a few things." "Yes, Major." She puts the folder on the desk slowly. "It's... not quite what the Chief requested. I'm afraid I used my initiation to develop this plan." "I can honestly say I've never complained about initiative, as long as it goes along with a good chunk of common sense." Julia's expression flickers through a smile for the briefest of moments before returning to a professional mask. "I hope you'll be pleased then." She says, opening the folder. "The Achilles is intended to be a replacement light lifter with payload capacity beyond that of the RL-3 at a similar cost. It's projected to be able to lift some 400 kilograms into LEO." "Relay satellites then?" "Or small scientific payloads. We don't expect it to be launched as often as Ajax is, but it's more flexible for minor satellites, rather than requiring the full cost of an Ajax." "How long from now until the first flight?" Jane said. "Four months, assuming we don't hit serious problems. And I'm not expecting any of those." "Will we need to refurbish an RL-3 pad?" "That would be preferable. It's that or upgrade the existing Ajax facilities, at considerable cost." Jane pondered for a moment. "We'll refit LC-3 for the Achilles, and leave it at that unless the call for light lift becomes greater. I'm afraid I just don't see it being launched very often." Julia nods, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "I understand. I'm grateful for the opportunity, Major." "Please, it's Jane." She says, glancing at the other woman, who is still perched on the edge of her chair. "I'd suggest having a conversation with the Doctor as well. This might inspire him to create slightly more... value efficient explorer satellites." She gives a dry chuckle, then frowns at Julia's continuing nervousness. She shakes her head minutely. "Do you have anything else for me? Or would you like to get on with your work?" "Yes Major, thank you." She stands, gives a small smile and adds "I'm glad you liked the design" before hurrying out. 1st April 1959 "The people of the German Democratic Republic continues its successes in space flight today. This evening, before Europe sleeps, Mondsonde-3 will complete it's 45 hours of flight from the surface of the Earth, to the surface of the moon. It will become the first man made vehicle to land on another planet as it hits the moons surface at three kilometres per second. Not only has this new probe provided the Republic with knowledge of the hazards of space-flight, but the aftermath of its impact will also begin to teach us more about the moon. Even now, German astronomers at Sonneberg, Jungfraujoch and Göttingen are watching, waiting for the plume of debris that the impact will throw up. We expect the flight of this advanced probe will lead to many great discoveries, discoveries that can only lead to the betterment of the GDR and it's people. -News release announcing the flight of Mondsonde-3 2nd April 1959 "Yes Sir, I saw the article." Jane said into the phone, hand massaging the tension out of her neck. "Your thoughts?" The voice at the other end said. "Well, I'm very impressed. I don't think we can draw any more conclusions from it though." "No?" "Is the third rocket the first one planned to be an impactor? Or is it the first one they've managed to get on target? Or is it simply the first of several shots towards the moon that happens to have hit it? We have no real idea whether they're doing anything more than firing blind." "Good point, Major. So, what's SREP's plan moving forward?" "Plan? I don't see how this changes anything." "You don't? Perhaps you should re-think the impact this sort of achievement has on the American public." "Sir, the American public is not really of any interest to me." "It should be. How's your funding Major?" "I think you know exactly how poor it's been. I'd have been surprised if I hadn't been in the services for so long." "And how are you going to see any improvement?" "The whim of Congress-" "No, the whim of the people, Major Wolcott. I would suggest some sort of moon program might be just what your budget needs." "But we barely have the money-" "No buts Major. Find a way to make it happen. You aren't going to get very far without making the public happy." She pauses, biting her lip, running through numbers, statistics. She glances at the budget folders in one corner of her office and sighs. "Yes Sir. Thank you Sir." She says, before realising all she can hear is a dial tone. She'd been hung up on. She slumps forwards, leaning her head against her clenched fists and takes a few deep breaths. "Are you okay, Major?" She jumps, straightening up and sweeping her hair back over her shoulder. "Oh- Arthur! You surprised me." "Apologies, Major, I simply meant to come and see how you were getting on." "Fine, fine thank you... Actually, can you do me a favour?" "Anything, I am yours to command." He says with a coy smile. She returns it before speaking. "Can you get the Chief and Doctor Pickering up here? You should come too, saying that." "Something has happened?" "I... have come to a new decision regarding the German moon probes. We're going up there as well." Arthur breaks out into a broad grin almost as soon as the word 'moon' comes out of her mouth. "And Lieutenant MacMillan as well?" Jane blushes, before smiling again. "I suppose so. I just thought I'd tell her tonight." Arthur chuckles, shaking his head. "I'll be back shortly, Major. I can't wait to hear what you have to say." Media: A blueprint of the new 'Achilles' light payload lifter.

There's no reasons you can't sublaunch a vehicle from another. Just stage it off and switch too it. Use a big in-atmo carrier bird to get it up to altitude and away you go.

While you can't build exact replica's of the X-15 or it's B-52, you certainly can build a sub-orbital rocket plane.

Depends on if you want to go for the most efficient one or not. Though equally, LOR was only accepted at the last minute, so it wouldn't be that surprising if one of the Full-Team landing methods was chosen. You should see how damn huge a direct ascent lander is though, it's somewhat scary.

Well, no, if you tried coming back from a lunar orbit in the shuttle, it would burn up before the wings had a chance to tear away. It's ceramic tiling wasn't designed to cope with the heat of such a fast re-entry. Of course, if you have the delta V you can always bring it back into a nice stable LEO orbit before re-entry, but that's not the point... What I actually wanted to say, was look up the original STS plan, not the shuttle. Originally the shuttle was intended to be just a single part of a range of both vehicles and space bases. It was a very interesting proposal. Also, if you want a serious, realistic development of the apollo program, look at the Apollo Applications Program, not one of Von Braun's monstrous insanities. He was a visionary, and a genius, but that doesn't mean his idea's were feasible. Assume your budget doesn't drop. You have 4-4.5% of the US annual budget. AAP can be run under that with ease. Most Von Braun idea's would need significantly greater funding. Equally, once you have Saturn V, there isn't really a need for Nova. One of the main reasons for rejecting Nova was the sheer quantities of propellants involved in building such a god awfully enormous rocket. A launch accident would wipe out not just whatever brand new launch complex they built for the rocket, but a decent chunk of the land around it as well. Saturn V can do serious on-orbit construction, it has a payload to LEO of 118 tons, there were proposals for mars ships smaller than that. Nova is, quite simply, unnecessary, and considered dangerous.

Vanguard, Jupiter, Atlas, Titan, Redstone, Thor (later Delta), Saturn I and V... You'll also want upper stage boosters like Agena (yay for docking training) and Centaur. Timetable? Explorer 1, 1958, Mercury is 1961, Gemini is... 1963?4?. Apollo first fly's in 67. Are you going to go pure Original Timeline up until the end of Apollo? Or modifications earlier on? The Nova was a proposed follow on to Saturn V, but it was neither seriously considered nor planned. Saturn V was all that the Apollo applications program needed to build a moon base and run mars missions. You might also want to look at the STS plan (Space Transport System, which eventually became the shuttle) for what Nasa wanted to do in the late 70's. EDIT: Also, even if you just go for manned missions, this is circa... 25 launches or so. That's before you get into AAP and STS.

Chapter XXXVI - The Map-Makers Successor 1​9th March 1959 The launch of Cartographer-1-3 a week before had gone perfectly. The booster had flown like a dream, the engineering team having worked around the clock the day before to ensure that every single part was exactly as designed. Explosive bolts split the first stage away, then the second, leaving the payload to complete its insertion into a polar orbit. There it would orbit for two weeks, perhaps even three, however long the Air Force would require it. Then perhaps it would finally return usable images of the GDR, of the USSR, of wherever the people flying it decided to point its camera's. That, of course, was why Katharina was in her office, a brief report in her hands, and a troubled look on her face. She had carefully laid out a set of plans in neat rows, each showing one of the launched Cartographers at the point of failure. The first was a problem in the camera's, a notation ascribed to a piece of equipment she couldn't name. It didn't concern her whatever it was, the camera's were supplied to them. The second identified part of the guidance system for the return payload, something jolted out of alignment by the launch which led to the failed re-entry. The third plan was scrawled over in what she recognised to be the Chiefs writing as well as Katharina's. Some problematic wiring, plausibly a failed explosive bolt in the separator. An oversight, not the significant failures of the previous two flights. Hopefully the one they had just placed in space would not have anything like the same problems. "I don't understand, why are you showing me our failures?" Jane said, pushing the three papers back across the desk. "Context. These are the three failures, the reasons behind them." The other woman said quietly. "I can read that. Why?" "For this." Kat pulls another drawing out, filling the page it's on. The picture is still recognisably a Cartographer payload, but with several major differences. "This is block 2?" "Absolutely. Sections of it are almost completely re-engineered." She says, holding her hand out to take the paper back. "Look, here. The camera bay has been totally redesigned to be more sturdy. I removed the upper ring of solar panels, using a new production method for the lower ring that improves power generation substantially. Everything aft of that I've left alone, but the return capsule has been modified in a similar way to the camera bay. It is more sturdy, more likely to be able to survive re-entry with the film intact." "What about the stabilisation?" Jane says, remembering the problems one of the Cartographer payloads faced. "Additional thruster ports. The fuel wont last quite as long, it will deplete more quickly, but they'll be able to maintain the heading of the capsule much more effectively." "Good, good..." She pauses, looking at the page. "How would you rate the chance of success of the block 1 payload?" Katharina takes just as long to think, before sighing. "10 to fifteen percent. Maximum. It has a lot of problems that weren't foreseen by the original design team, that we're only now experiencing due to repeated flights." Jane nods, unsurprised by the answer, as disappointing as it is. "And the block 2?" "Sixty percent. Seventy-five percent at the most hopeful." Jane balks, and Katharina shrugs "I'd love to be proven wrong, and I'm reducing that based on previous failures, not expected faults." "I can hardly complain with 50 to sixty percent improvements can I?" Jane shakes her head, eventually giving a small smile. "When will block 2 be ready to fly?" "Ah, well... Several months. If the Air Force continue to schedule them bimonthly, then the fifth production launch will be a block 2 payload." "Not the next one?" "The fourth is already under construction. Retooling now would be a large amount of wasted money." She frowns, thinking. "Four will be ready in... two weeks, anyway. Then we can convert over to constructing the block 2 and be ready for the next launch date." "I suppose that will have to do then" Jane says, grinning. "I approve of your plan, Ms. Hölzl." "Thank you, Major Wolcott." She says, mimicking the others formality with a smile of her own. Media: The plan for Cartographer block 2, as presented to Major Wolcott.

Chapter XXXV - The Flying Dart 22nd February 1959 Orbiter-7 and it's Ajax booster balanced carefully on the pad at launch complex six as the sun sat high in the sky. The tarmac was baking, the heat coming up distorting the Major's view of the rocket from the blockhouse. Spirals of steam drifted away as the fuelling hoses retracted, and the twin arms of the launch tower fell away from the rocket. Unsupported for the briefest of moments, it swayed before the motor ignited. A flash of flame and then it was away, slowly at first but quickly accelerating. It roared off into the sky, and Jane could feel herself tensing. They'd suffered failure after ignominious failure recently, and they needed a good flight to get them back on track. Orbiter-7 flew off into the upper atmosphere, long since vanished from the observers at Canaveral. The first stage burned out, followed by a perfect firing of the second stage. Securing the payload and the third stage booster in orbit, it then seperated as well to spin around the planet until it was dragged to a fiery end by the wispy edges of the atmosphere. The fat little Finckley booster then fired, mixing fuels in its numerous combustion chambers and rapidly lifting the orbiter's apoapsis far beyond the upper reaches of the atmosphere and into the cold depths of space beyond. When the fuel pumps turned off and the feed valves closed, Orbiter-7 was set to race away from the earth, all the way out beyond one hundred thousand kilometres, before gracefully sailing back in towards the planet again on it's never ending journey through space. Then, as it sailed up towards the most distant point, almost a day since it was launched, the valves opened again, re-igniting the motors. Shifting it's orbital path away from the surface of the earth, it left the little scientific platform vacillating between 500 and 100,000 kilometres from the surface. It left it in the perfect position to study the belts of radiation around the planet as it whisked through them at thousands of metres per second. Antennae extended, data recorders running and instruments powered, Orbiter-7 was functional and transmitting, a totally successful launch. 2nd March 1959 Jane had kept Colonel Taft's warning in mind ever since they'd spoken last. Even so, she hadn't quite expected a visit from a USAF officer so soon or with such a surprising proposal. "Good morning, Major." The man smiled, hanging his hat from the corner of the chair opposite Jane's and unbuttoning his jacket. He slumps into the seat casually, dropping a folder on her desk at the same time. "The same to you, Major." She returned his smile. "Have to say, I'm glad to finally be here." "Oh? I can't imagine the gate guards gave you that much trouble, did they?" He lets out a sharp laugh, throwing his head back. "No, no, not that. I mean here, to tell you about this at all." He says, patting the folder. "I've been lobbying my seniors for permission to come down here and show you some pictures for... well, months now." Jane frowns, nodding to the folder. "Well... you're here now. What have you got for me?" "Have you heard of the X-3?" She shakes her head. He laughs again, more quietly this time. "I have to admit, I'm glad of that. I'd have to get some burly enlisted to come and find out how you found out." She blinks silently and he pouts before continuing. "It's a classified Air Force program to test high mach speeds and their effects on flight characteristics. I say program, it's an aircraft." He pulls a photo out of the folder, an aircraft mounted in a wind tunnel. "Lucky for us, I've been given clearance to talk to you about it." Jane pick up the photo, looking over the jet. It's sleek, skinnier than any plane she'd ever seen, and it had tiny wings that jutted from either side. It looked like a dagger. It looked fast. If she was honest, she'd say it looked mean. "You've done flight tests?" He nods. "How does it handle?" "Well, I'm no pilot-" "Neither am I. Carry on." He smiles in thanks before continuing. "As far as I've been told, it's twitchy as all hell going low and slow. The pilot's have been joking that it flies about as well as their morning cup of coffee." She chuckles at the terrible joke. "Get it up to it's highest speeds though, and it flies a lot smoother. Just don't pull the stick too hard." "What sort of speeds have you achieved?" "She can break mach 3." He says and her eyes widen. "Yup, and we're pretty sure it can go faster as well. She's barely been flying a year so far and only recently have we got the turbojets working at full spec. Should be performing a top speed run later in the year." "I'm impressed." Jane says, tossing the picture back down. "But what's SREP got to do with any of this? Even if it does go faster than mach 3, it's not going to get into space. You're short about, ooh... three thousand miles per hour?" The man almost looks surprised, and his eyes widened for a moment. "Well, this is the X-3 right? We want to build the next one. Well, when I say we, I mean the Air Force. And when I say build, I mean we want you to design and build it... You being SREP." "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but we do rockets. I doubt we have an experienced aerospace engineer amongst us, other than a few of the Chief's guys who do shockwave dissipation and the like..." She trails off, realising she's rambling. "Maybe so. But if you're guys know one thing, it's rocket design, right?" She shrugs, nodding. "We want the next one to be a rocket plane and we want to build something that we can fly up to, oh... 100 kilometres and beyond?" The Major is silent for a minute, waiting for the 'gotcha' moment. When it doesn't come, she clears her throat. "You realise you couldn't sustain that altitude, yes?" He nods. "Oh sure, we're talking about a zoom climb. We've read some writing on rocket fuel consumption and so on. We're not completely out of it on this one." "Then you seriously want to build an aircraft capable of sub-orbital space flight?" He nods. She shakes her head, leaning on the table. She pulls the folder over to her side, flipping it open and looking at the pictures, the graphs, the reams of data. "Well... I can hardly say I'm not impressed." "So you're on-board?" "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Where's the funding coming from for development." "The USAF X program, mostly. Your team's salaries come from you, and any costs for private development you do in rocket design is SREP's to eat." "And pilots?" "We have a flight team established already. Three USAF test pilots. If I'm honest, they're all guys we thought you'd take for the Mercury program. We have flight support crews and everything as well all already established for the X-3 flights." He grins, obviously well prepared. "Got any more?" "One. Facilities?" "We're based at Edwards AFB out in California right now. We'd like to look at doubling up at Patrick down the road if you wouldn't mind." "Major Dornberger... I think we have a deal." They shake hands, grinning at each other. To Jane the excitement is almost palpable. It's another step for SREP, another step that might not further their current programs but extends their reach and their capabilities. Media: Orbiter-7 at apoapsis, an artists impression. The X-3 high performance jet aircraft in flight, ascending shortly after take-off.