"Von Neumann’s War" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ringo John, Taylor Travis S.)Chapter 6Charlotte could hear her mom’s angry voice through the walls of her room. She tried to surf the Internet and ignore the boisterous argument from downstairs, but it wasn’t helping. It was obvious to Charlotte that it “What do you mean it’s okay to miss a few days of school! Don’t you realize she’s worried about keeping up her grades for a scholarship and that finals are at the end of the month? No, you probably don’t because you never come around, do you?” her mother screamed into the phone. Charlotte could image in her mind’s eye her mother tapping her left foot and resting her right fist on her hip. Charlotte’s instant messenger dinged at her. “Damnit, John! You just can’t show up like that and expect her to drop everything just for you. She has a life of her own you know.” “Well, whatever! Just let her make the decision for herself.” “Charlotte! Your father is on the phone for you,” her mother yelled upstairs at her. Charlotte clicked X on the Internet browser and stretched out across her bed, knocking over the Louisville Slugger that was leaning on her nightstand, then picked up the phone, “Okay, I got it.” “Charlotte, honey?” “Hi Daddy, what’s up?” she asked. “How’d the ccd camera work out for your telescope, slugger?” “It works great, thanks! Odd thing though, I think Mars is turning gray or something,” she said. “Hmmm,” John muttered. “Could have been atmospheric interference; perhaps it was lightly cloudy and you just didn’t notice.” “Mmmm, nah, don’t think it was. What’s all the business with Mom about?” Charlotte asked, wondering at the comment. There was no way that clouds could cause the changes she’d seen. “Yeah, about that, your mom just doesn’t understand sometimes about great opportunities and priorities. Listen, I’ve been down in Huntsville, Alabama, all this week — it’s a neat little town. I’ve got to run up to Denver and see Tina’s mom for a day or so, then it’s back to Alabama late next week for some meetings and I thought you might could go with me.” “Dad, I’d love to see you, but why on Earth would I want to go to Hicksville, Alabama?” she asked. “ “I’ll go if Tina goes; I’d probably get bored out of my head by myself in the daytime.” Charlotte thought that getting out of town now that Tina had spilled the beans to Michael that she liked him wasn’t such a bad idea. “Can we really go to Spacecamp?” “Yeah, well, at your age it’s the Space Academy actually and it’s only three days, but it’ll be a blast.” “Sounds like fun.” “Great. I’ll come by Tuesday after school to help you pack. Well, let’s see.” There was a pause as her dad checked something. “It looks like our flight is first thing Wednesday morning and we’ll come back on Sunday.” “I’ll call Tina and see if she wants to go. B’bye daddy, I love you.” “I love you too, baby.” “Who loves you, baby?” Charlotte laughed and screamed at the same time as the Moonshot launched the two teens ten stories straight up at over three gees. At the top of the ride there was a split second of freefall that made her stomach lurch. Charlotte was fine but she hoped that Tina didn’t throw up all over her light blue astronaut flight suit. “I’m gonna kill youuu!” Tina screamed as the freefall broke and the ride jerked them back downward. Tina jumped from her seat the second the ride stopped and stumbled around, dizzy for a moment. Charlotte didn’t appear to be affected by the thrill ride so she held her friend’s arm and told the Space Academy instructor that she needed a break. “Ten minutes, then back around by the Saturn V out front,” their instructor told them. Charlotte nodded and led Tina by the arm under the rocket engines of the Saturn IB and to the picnic area not far from the ride. “Wheeeww!” Charlotte wiped her brow. “That was cool. You okay?” “Yeah, that was all right. I wasn’t expecting that thing to shoot off straight up that hard, wow!” “Well, it’s called the Moonshot, you know.” “Whatever,” Tina was finally catching her breath. “I could use something to drink.” “Hey, I’ll get it, be right back.” Charlotte could tell that Tina was still a little pale and was just trying to be bold in front of her. That was Tina’s way. Charlotte had learned that years ago and just decided it was easier to play along than to call her on her weakness. “Here ya go,” Charlotte returned with soft drinks and handed one to Tina who was looking at her watch. “We gotta get back.” “You okay?” “Hey, it’s me.” Tina punched her on the arm, causing Charlotte to slosh her soda on her hand. Charlotte just shook her head back and forth muttering “Dingbat” under her breath. At the front of the George C. Marshall Space and Rocket Center the rest of the teen Space Academy group had collected and was being shushed by their instructors. The instructor was going on about the Saturn V rocket and the Apollo program, then pointed to an elderly man with wild white hair and white fuzzy sideburns. “Okay, now we’re fortunate enough today to have a very special guest here.” The head instructor shook hands with the white-haired man. “The man who designed and built the first commercial spacecraft, from Scaled Composites, Mr. Burt Rutan.” “Thank you, Jan. Hi everybody.” Mr. Rutan began a short talk about how he had led his team of engineers to build a completely different type of space program than the kind that NASA had done. He talked about how exciting it would be to soon have hotels in space and tourists going to the Moon. He talked about his little composite spacecraft and how there were very few metal components on it. Then he asked if there were any questions. Charlotte raised her hand first and Burt pointed to her. “Yes, umm, what do you mean by a composite spacecraft with little metal in it? Is it plastic or something?” “That’s a good question. It isn’t plastic; actually it’s more like fiberglass. In some cases we take a fiber cloth made of something like the Kevlar that bulletproof vests are made of, then we paint it with an epoxy resin kind of like the epoxy glue you can buy. When that hardens, it’s lightweight but really strong. In other cases we mix up a resin and paint it onto a mold, let it dry, then repeat the process over and over until we build up enough of the material. The result is that the body and wings of the vehicle can be made cheaper, stronger, and lighter than, say, the body of the space shuttle orbiter. It’s called a composite because it’s just that, a composite of multiple materials — fibers, resins, and hardening agents.” Rutan answered a few more questions from the group. One in particular from one of the know-it-alls in the group was funny. “Mr. Rutan, on the first flight of Spaceship One your pilot released a bunch of Skittles inside the cockpit. That seems dangerous to me — what if they’d have gotten into the instruments?” “Hmm, first of all, it was M Ms, I believe, and secondly they melt in your mouth not in your spaceship.” He chuckled. Then there was Tina’s question. “Hey, I gotta know something. You guys keep talking about this being the rocket that went to the Moon here.” She pointed at the giant Saturn V behind Rutan. “If that’s the rocket that went to the Moon there, how’d they bring it back and set it up here?” “Dingbat!” Charlotte coughed. “So far, Mr. President, Project Neighborhood Watch is going well,” Ronny said, trying not to yawn. Yawning in the President’s face was considered a faux pas. “I believe we’ve put together an excellent team, developed a logical plan, and are implementing it with no glitches at this point. We should hit our launch window of August twenty-first.” “This looks good, Ronny. Are there any problems that the White House can help with?” The President continued to thumb through the Daily Brief. “None that I can foresee, Mr. President,” Ronny replied. “But the engineering on this is going to be complex. If anything comes up, I’ll forward it to your attention.” “Good. One more thing, Ronny.” “Yes, sir?” the DDNRO asked. “Has the situation on Mars, well, has it changed any?” “Yes, sir, it has, but only for the worse. The change is more or less visible to the naked eye at this point, sir.” “I see.” Ret Ball: Hiowa Lend: Ret Ball: Hiowa Lend: Ret Ball: Hiowa Lend: Ret Ball: Hiowa Lend: “This is funny as hell, John.” Roger laughed as John Fisher, who was from Denver, gave him driving directions through his own hometown. “I grew up in this town and never been to the Boeing Delta IV rocket factory just ten miles away in Decatur. I mean, I’ve fished with my dad by the plant, but I’ve never actually been there. You know, come to think of it I’ve fished with him by the nuclear plant, too, and I’ve never been inside that thing. Hell, I’m glad you know how to drive to it. Otherwise we’d have to walk up the river.” “Yeah, well, turn left there,” John said with a smile. “You payload guys never seem to worry about how the rockets are actually put together. That’s what I’ve been telling you all along. This rocket we’re building is different from any other Delta IV Heavy; we’ve had to make extensive modifications to the attachment points.” “So you keep telling me. And the hundred million dollar price tag on the modification didn’t elude my notice either.” Roger pulled his car into a visitor parking spot. One month into the Neighborhood Watch the first modified common booster core was being rolled off the line. John had led a scaled design “shake and bake” test out at the shake-stand at NASA MSFC and it looked like the hardpoints would hold. The finite-element analysis looked good and the scaled test looked good, but there would be no time for a full-scale test. They were just going to have to hook the three CBC tubes together, then strap on eight solid rocket boosters around them to these modified hardpoints. Roger was not as nervous about that as John was, but both men were at least apprehensive to some extent and wanted to see the manufacturing process in action. And there was still the modified second-stage fairing that had yet to be tested. It took them about fifteen minutes to make it through security protocols, stop off at the restroom, then find their way around. John had been to the Boeing rocket plant at least once a week since the Neighborhood Watch had started. He had been back and forth between Decatur and CCAFS in Florida routinely. Sometimes he would make the trip several times a week. John was trying to make sure that the rocket pieces got manufactured to design in Decatur, and that they would be integrated appropriately in Florida. “So, what exactly are we going to see?” Roger asked as he fiddled with the visitor badge on his jacket that read “No Escort Required. |
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