Tag Archives: Rockets
Inner Revolution
The further down the path we went, the darker our world became. The clouds thicken and bruised the sky. We came to a point where the path was blocked. Side to side, they had strung razor wire across out path. We had expected this; we had a way around the wire: We went underneath it. As soon as we had cleared that barrier, we saw our next problem.
Slowly, lumbering up the hill toward us was a giant rocket on a mobile launch vehicle. The white girders of the launcher were heavy and unwieldy. The weight of the rocket sunk the wheels of the transport into the soft earth, making progress slow. The diesels pushing the launcher up the rise moaned under the stress, the ground reverberating in sympathy with their laboring. Slowly, deliberately, the back end began to swing around as the pushed the launcher into its final position. Continue reading
Of Mice and Magicians
He knew I was coming; he could see me and watch me at his whim. When I arrived, he looked at me hard. He was not worried about me, and not scared. He was not amazed, nor was he startled. He was not warm or inviting. Like the rocks around him, he just was.
He nodded slightly to me, inviting me to follow; he turned and went into his home. The door was old, once red, but the paint worn and faded. In many placed the paint was completely worn through to the wood beneath. But the door was thick and solid. It would have to be to seal off the home from the ravages of the sand storms it was there to buttress against. Continue reading
My Words, Unconstrained
And then I saw the name painted on the side: Challenger. The story came back to me. All of the shuttles had trainers for backup. After the disaster, it was just assumed the training shuttle would be upgraded, outfitted for space and pushed into service as a replacement vehicle. But to honor the men and women of the Challenger, NASA ultimately decided that there would be no more Challengers in space. Continue reading
Rocket Man
Though it could not be seen, even from our great height, I knew what was between the next two fingers of land: a space port. I told the woman that this was where rockets were launched from. In fact, had just looked at a rocket being prepped there. Continue reading
