"William Forstchen - Article 23" - читать интересную книгу автора (Forstchen William R)

was also a major tourist attraction. As they shifted over to the express track that cut straight through the
station Justin caught a glimpse of dozens of tourists out in the vacuum of open space, standing along the
railing and leaning over for a look straight back down to Earth.

"Better not slip," Brian observed with a chuckle. "It's a long way down."

"Hey, I heard that somebody jumped off right after the station was completed," Matt said.

"Yeah, the dummy thought that since he was out in space, it was zero gravity. He didn't understand that
you needed to be in orbit moving at twenty-seven thousand five hundred kilometers per hour around the
Earth to fall free, so he stepped off. They said he screamed all the way down until he hit the atmosphere
and burned up."

"What the devil is that?" Matt exclaimed as he leaned forward and pointed.

Four white figures leapt from the side of the station and started to fall, shooting past the car and heading
straight down towards Earth.

"Newest sport around," Brian said eagerly. "That guy taking the fall sort of invented it, I guess. Space
diving. You leap from the five hundred-kilometer station and free fall for almost four hundred klicks. You
have a small reentry shield on your back and retro-rockets to slow you down when you hit the
atmosphere. When you get to ten thousand feet, your main chute opens. Best darn thirty minutes of your
life!"

"You've done it?" Justin asked.
"Yup," Brian said with a grin. "The Academy opened it up as a competition sport last year. There's talk
that it'll be part of the next space Olympics and I plan to be on the team. We see who can land closest to
a target back down on the Earth's surface. We're scheduled to do some jumps later this month. Hey, we
need a couple more members on the team why don't you two try out?"

"Sure, I'd love it!" Matt said enthusiastically. "It'd be a kick to fall from the sky like that."

Justin nodded as if in full agreement, but in his heart he wished that Brian would forget about it. The idea
of falling hundreds of kilometers and thundering through the Earth's atmosphere was not necessarily his
idea of a good time.

"I'll put you guys down on the list then," Brian announced.

"Yeah, thanks," Justin replied, wanting to kick Matt for agreeing.

Another jumper leapt off and Justin found it strange that the tourists were applauding, their gloved hands
striking together soundlessly.

They shot through the middle of the station past a docked car on a side track, and several seconds later
they emerged topside. To his right Justin saw an old-style low orbit transfer ship departing from the
station. He had heard that it was a heck of a ride. The moment the ship undocked from the side of the
tower it'd start to fall straight down towards Earth, all rockets firing until it accelerated to orbital speed;
then it would climb back up and insert into orbit. It was definitely not for the weak of stomach. He was
glad that for this trip up he had made sure that he had put on an anti-space-sickness patch, unlike the last
time.