Chuck has gotten with the General as soon as he saw the damage. The general was not in a good mood.
"Yes Chuck?" She asked clearly she was weary. She had also been informed by the cameras on the ground what had happened.
"General I am assuming by your visage you understood what happened?" Chuck asked.
"Yes Chuck we are on it but I am afraid I have bad news. The Shuttle which could become space worthy is already 6 months late that is Discovery. Atlantis could not be retrofitted until 8 months. The Russians are on schedule but that is still 6 months away for their unmanned Progress capsule. The Chinese are a long way from building anything and EU has a least a year for the eurosat module to attach to the Arianne 5. Oh Yes the H2 from Japan would only have a 2 man capsule. But the soonest would be 2 years." The general listed.
"General that is way too late there is not enough supplies for a crew of 10. I would hate we would end up like the Andes Mountain team." Chuck said.
"I know Chuck I know the situation. There will have to be some sacrifices Chuck. It will be up to you all to choose what to do. Please inform me what your decisions are." The General sadly said.
"Ok General Chuck out!" Chuck said cutting the transmission.
Chuck welcomed his team members with hugs and after the greetings were done he had to break the bad news.
"Guys the Columbia suffered Damage to the left wing. There is no way to repair it. I am sad to say there are not enough supplies for the 10 of us. 3 of us have to try to make it back to earth." Chuck said.
Casey was the first to volunteer.
"I do not like this tin can anyway Count me in Chuck." Casey said looking all stoic.
"Sarah?" Chuck asked.
"Yeah I am not needed here I rather take my chances on earth or attempting to get there." Sarah said,
"Bryce?" Chuck asked.
"No way buddy I love ya but I'm not going to go in that death trap." Bryce said.
The rest of the original station crew all had families that just left Chuck.
"Ok that shuttle is going nowhere without a pilot. I volunteer to go." Chuck said.
Sergei created a farewell feast after the Shuttle compartment was off loaded. It was nothing but spare electronic parts. Fulcrum had struck and Chuck knew it.
\\\\\
Chuck waited until the group was chosen before talking to Sergei Antolov a Major in the Russian Space Forces also the commander of the station to scrounge anything with could assist them. Casey and Bryce did a space walk to remove the parachute component and attach it to the back of the capsule. With that accomplished he turned to the station commander.
"Sergei, why is the progress module seal off?" Chuck asked.
"Bah bad central planning, ship full of Ping Pong Balls and Marshmallows!" Sergei said.
"Ping pong balls?" Chuck asked.
"Yeah and Marshmallows." Sergei added.
"How many?" Chuck asked.
"Ship full! I was hoping new ship would remove them. But last ship had even more!" Sergei said.
"Why do you keep it?" Chuck asked.
"I am not sure. Ship is not space worthy ...Cracked frame…Can not hold air. No way to place tanks in either." Sergei said "Good place for storage though."
Soon Chuck had a plan. He brought the volunteers together.
"Look it is possible the craft will break up in mid air. I see the reinforced capsule design worked well…There are explosive bolts with will detach the capsule from the rest of the wreckage. I calculated we will need to land in at least 200 ft of water but we will need assistance getting out. It is a risk but our fall will be cushioned by filling the capsule with the mixture of Ping pong balls and marshmallows. We will be immobile the whole trip but with my visor cam and Cortina the shuttle can be placed in the right free fall area." Chuck said.
"Ok Chuck we need to leave let's do it." Sarah said
Casey made a grunt for agreement.
"Ok it is settled I will inform the General. We will leave as soon as we are seated and the capsule is filled." Chuck said.
Sergei got his crew together and they off loaded the Progress module. Soon it was empty and the shuttle was detached remotely. Everyone was on the oxygen in the shuttle capsule and not on the pack at their back.
Everyone was sprayed with cooking oil so that the marshmallows would not stick to them.
Chuck only had limited view but with Cortina he was able to send the shuttle into a shallow approach.
Everyone on the ground was holding their breath. The shuttle could skip off the atmosphere then head into the sun.
Chuck prayed his calculations were correct.
The Group gave a sigh of relief when the command comms was heard. They had dropped successfully into the atmosphere. The cameras on the ground were reporting the left wing was starting to drop. Chuck knew he had to tail up the shuttle before that wing dropped off. With the thrusters he completed the maneuver. Then the explosive bolts were heard everyone switch to on pack oxygen as the bottom fell out.
Sarah's face was one of terror Casey was looking forward to the end. Chuck kept adjusting the parachute which was attached to the capsule instead of the rear of the shuttle.
At 100 feet the parachute pulled away and all Chuck could see was the blue of the lake in his visor.
"I love you Sarah" were his last words.
Oh the ground the crew watched as the capsule plunged into the inky water. They were ready to retrieve the capsule. Drivers were given Heliox and were waiting in a pod being held by a floating crane. The recovery crew only had 20 mins to locate and raise the capsule.
The general was pacing back in forth as the crews worked to locate the capsule. Chuck's pinger was working well. The sub located the capsule the drivers attached the crane cables then the crane operator began the lift. It took 15 mins when it broke the surface. Carefully it was lowered on to the barge. The door was stuck but the oxygen tanks were viable so they pumped O2 into the tanks Hopefully Chuck had remembered to have Cortina switch them on automatically.
The capsule was a bit scorched but the Unit- was still being seen. Finally after an hour the capsule was opened then the ping pong balls started spilling out on the barge. There was no word on the comms from any one in the capsule. The crew took a high pressure hose to wash out the ping pong balls. Then the medics entered the capsule. There were remnants of Marshmallows everywhere but strangely absent on the suits. Carefully the chairs were removed and a hole was made in the side which was large enough to fit them attached to the chairs. The medic plugged in the recorders then three strong heart beats were heard. The crew yelled for joy. They were all alive! The medics carefully removed the helmets and they gasped breathing fresh air. The suits were slowly removed by surgically cutting away. Finally they were free then they were slowly lifted by Coast Guard Helo to the nearest Military Hospital which was in Corpus Christi TX a 20 min ride. Chuck had done the impossible.