The Space Mission Adventure (6 page)

Ziggy had a wonderful time pretending to be the captain of the shuttle on the mission of Team America, which they completed with great success. Their ship launched and landed safely, and they all felt proud.

But Ziggy kept thinking that something was missing. He fingered the strange object he had found and wondered if it would lead to the answers he wanted.

NOW THAT THE MISSION WAS OVER, IT WAS TIME
to launch the rockets they had made the night before. Made of plastic, cardboard, and wood, and loaded with a real explosive device, the rockets had been carefully put together and decorated by each team member. Ziggy had painted creatures he called Martians all over his model, while Rashawn had painted a flag of the United States on his.

Team America walked leisurely along on the path that led to Area 51—the grassy knoll where rockets could be safely launched. It took about ten minutes to get there. Samantha, proud of her group for doing
so well on their mission, let them laugh and joke as they hiked together, feeling not so much like strangers anymore but like a real team.

Cubby, still spouting facts about space travel, told them, “Did you know that a space shuttle goes 17,300 miles per hour? If we had really launched during our mission, we would have been going five miles per second!”

“Man, that's fast!” Rashawn said. “We coulda got here to Alabama from Ohio in just a few minutes.”

The path was covered with leaves and dirt, and packed down where the sneakers of hundreds of other kids had walked, kids who had also been carrying rockets and maybe some dreams as well.

“The sky is so blue today, it looks like you could slice a piece of it and eat it like candy, mon,” Ziggy said as he glanced up. He stopped for a moment, making Rico almost bump into him.

“Yeah,” Jerome said, agreeing with him and pausing to look up at the sky as well. “And the clouds look like whipped cream.”

“Are you guys gonna eat dinner or launch a
rocket?” Neil asked as he stopped and looked up also. “What's the big deal? It's just sky and clouds.”

“No,” Alan said, as he too stopped to look at the crystal-clear sky. “It's more than that. It's the place where the real rockets go.”

Everyone was quiet for a moment, then Nicolina said softly, “I wonder what it looks like from the other side of the clouds. What I mean is, what do the astronauts see when they look down at the clouds from space?”

Samantha started to answer, but Cubby said, “Remember the movie we saw last night? From space the world looks like a giant ball, resting on nothing, just spinning in darkness and light—depending on where the sun is.”

“Do you think astronauts can see the lines that divide countries?” Nicolina wanted to know. “I mean, like the line that separates the United States and Canada or Mexico. We see it on maps, but can they see it from up there?”

“Those lines don't exist,” Samantha told them all. “Those are made by people who have divided the
world into countries. In space, all that divides the world are mountains or rivers or deserts or oceans.”

“That's deep,” Rashawn commented.

“Can astronauts see clouds like we can?” Amy asked.

“Much more than clouds, I imagine. They see whole weather patterns—rainstorms and wind movement and such,” Samantha explained. “Sometimes they see hurricanes forming in the ocean and heading toward land.”

“That's really awesome, mon!” Ziggy said with feeling. The group quietly continued their walk to Area 51, glancing upward occasionally, but no one else spoke until they reached the place where the model rockets were to be launched.

When they got there, a series of launching pins had been set up and each person on the team got to set his or her rocket on the device that would send it soaring into the air. Two guides waited for them—a balding man with the navy blue shirt and khaki pants that all the counselors wore, and a woman with black curly hair who was chatting with him.

Samantha looked startled but said nothing. It was the same woman who had passed them on the sidewalk as they discussed the first monkeys in space.

“I bet my rocket goes all the way up to the moon!” Rico boasted.

“No way, mon! My rocket will surely go higher than yours because it's got Ziggy power! It's going to Mars for sure!”

“Actually,” Cubby said, “these little rockets will only go a few hundred feet up in the air. You need liquid oxygen and solid rocket boosters to go into space.”

“We know that,” Rico said with a sigh. “It's just fun to dream.”

The rocket launch captain told the group how to load the rockets onto the pins and showed them where to stand behind a glass partition when the rockets took off. The woman observed, but made no comment.

Ziggy's was the first to shoot off. “To Mars!” he shouted.

“Kerpow! Ziiiiph!”
The rocket's tiny engine exploded, then the slender barrel of it whizzed into the air, over the trees, and then arched and landed on the grass several hundred feet away.

“Zowie!” Ziggy cried with excitement. “That was TOO cool!” He jumped up and down behind the observation partition. The woman gave him a genuine smile.

The rest of the team, one at a time, got to take a turn at shooting their rockets and watching them whoosh into the sky. Rashawn's rocket landed up in a tree. Jerome's exploded on the stand and never took off at all. Rico's rocket shot a little ways up, then seemed to change its mind and it fizzled on the grass. Nicolina's rocket seemed to go the highest and soar the longest. She smiled with great satisfaction.

“Good job,” the woman who had been observing them said to her. “Your rocket was well-built, which was why it flew so well. You'll make a fine engineer one day.”

“Me?” Nicolina said in disbelief.

“I was a little girl with dreams of building great
machines that would change the world one day,” the woman told her.

“Did you?” Nicolina asked.

“I haven't changed the world yet, but I'm doing my best to make a difference!” she replied. “Don't be afraid to aim for the stars.”

Nicolina smiled shyly and looked up at the bright sky.

AS THEY HEADED BACK DOWN THE PATH TO THE
cafeteria for lunch, the woman who had watched their launches and spoken to Nicolina walked with them. Samantha chatted with her quietly, then stopped the group.

“Hey, Team America, I want you to meet somebody,” she said. “This is someone you'll be really excited to know.”

The attractive lady with the large smile grinned even wider. Her skin was the color of copper, and her softly curled hair rippled in the breeze as the wind whipped up a bit. She was tall and lean.

“She looks tough,” Jerome whispered to Ziggy. “Like she could beat up a bad guy if she had to.”

“You've been watching too many movies, mon!” Ziggy whispered back. “She's too pretty to be mean.”

Samantha was grinning like she had found a puppy. “Team America—I want to introduce you to Denise Washington. She's a NASA astronaut.”

“I'm really pleased to meet you, ma'am,” Jerome said, using his best manners. He even reached out to shake her hand. She took his hand in her own and shook it firmly.

“Delighted,” she said. Her voice sounded strong and confident.

“You've been in space?” Rico asked, awe in his voice.

“Not yet, but I'm on my way!” she replied.

“I read about you on the NASA website!” Cubby said excitedly. “You've been assigned to go on one of the next shuttle flights!”

“That's right, son. I'm assigned to
STS-116
, scheduled for next year sometime.” She seemed impressed that he knew.

“Are you going to Mars, maybe?” Ziggy asked. He was breathing hard and almost dancing with excitement.

“No, not to Mars on this trip, but I hope to get as far as the space station.”

“We just finished our Space Camp mission,” Rashawn told her. “I was a mission specialist, in charge of payload.”

She placed her hand on her jaw. “That's my job as well. I take care of the robotics.”

“They got robots on the shuttles, mon?” Ziggy whispered to Cubby.

“Not like the robots on space movies that you're thinking about, Ziggy,” Cubby whispered back. “The astronauts use robotic equipment to reach things and go places that humans can't safely go.”

Ziggy nodded in understanding.

“Can you tell them a little about your training, Ms. Washington?” Samantha asked.

“Well, I've been in training to be an astronaut since 1999, but I'd worked for NASA for almost ten
years before that. I guess I've done about every job there is. I've been a CAPCOM—”

“That was me!” Rico interrupted. “Communications was my job on our mission.”

She smiled at him. “Great! I've also run tests on payloads, worked on simulations to make sure the real deal would work in space, and done vehicle testing and troubleshooting.”

“Have you ever seen a shuttle be launched?” Neil asked.

“I have actively taken part in over fifty launches,” she replied quietly.

“Wow.” The voices of all the kids were filled with awe.

“What's it like,” Nicolina asked, “when the shuttle blasts off?”

“It's the most exciting thing I've ever seen. The sky has to be clear blue—like today. The orbiter sits on the launchpad, its nose pointing to the sky, the two white solid rocket boosters sitting next to it, both of which are connected to the huge orange
external fuel tank, waiting to take it to the heavens.”

“Just like the one in Rocket Park, the one that you thought aliens were hiding in, Ziggy,” Jerome said, teasing him.

“Yes,” Ms. Washington continued. “Just like that one. And I'm sure there are no aliens hiding there.” She chuckled. “In the control center, just like on the mission you guys simulated, the countdown begins. T-minus thirty minutes, then twenty, then ten.”

Ziggy wriggled with anticipation.

“If everything is a go, the launch sequence continues to T-minus one minute. There's a buzz of activity, and everyone is tense, but we all know our jobs, so it's like controlled excitement. Each person has a specific and extremely important job, and critical decisions are made every single second.”

“Like the flight director,” Amy said. “That was what I did. It was a lot of responsibility, and our mission wasn't even real.”

“You're right,” Ms. Washington replied. “The pressure is enormous. Finally, the launch sequence counts down to the final seconds. Ten, nine, eight,
seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. . . .” She paused.

“Don't stop!” they all cried out.

Ms. Washington smiled. “Even at this point, the launch could be aborted. But if everything is a go, you hear the words ‘We have liftoff,' and the shuttle rises from the ground. It's the most amazing sight in the world.”

“What does it look like?” Alan asked.

“Thick, heavy plumes of white smoke as the fuel is burned. A sound louder than the voices of a million football fans screaming at the same time. And a vehicle soaring into the sky, getting smaller every second. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is more awesome.” She took a deep breath and looked at the sky as if she was remembering.