2.
VEHICLE: Prophete /OV-221 (2nd flight)
LAUNCH PAD: 39B
KSC LAUNCH DATE/TIME: Oct 4, ——4, 17:20
KSC LANDING DATE/TIME: Oct 15, ——5, 13:30
MISSION DURATION: 375 Days 19 Hrs. 10 Minutes
PRIMARY PAYLOADS: Utilization Flight-1, Valerious Multi-Purpose Transmission Module (MPTM)
CREW: 7
COMMANDER: de Chagny
Overview — STS-1861 will be the first manned space shuttle mission to visit TITAN. Space Shuttle Prophete will deliver the Expedition Crew led by Commander Raoul de Chagny to collect and analyse sample cores from the satellite. Also, STS-1861 will deliver the Valerious Multi-Purpose Transmission Module which will provide data and carrier signal support for the Cassini-Huygens probe presently on TITAN's surface.
EXTRACT
Flight Manifest STS-1861: Titan Expedition
Property of Gattaca Aerospace Corporation
CONFIDENTIAL
SENDER OV-221.STS-1861.67843.CD.DECHAGNYR
RECIPIENT N 39 01' 12.9517" W 76 49' 41.1671" GAT.AR.B3.FDO.DAAEC
TIME ——51004T1954030
BEGIN TRANSMISSION
The video feed jiggled and blipped, before clarifying into the striking face of STS-1861's Mission Commander. Leveling a boyish smile at the camera, Raoul de Chagny waved somewhat sheepishly to his audience of one.
"Well, here we are, two-point-two billion miles from earth, floating in this bucket of rivets." He leaned forward, murmuring conspiratorially. "You have no idea what it's like to have to share a bathroom with six other people. The navigator, Morrow? He's the worst. No one needs to take that long a shower. Still." Drawing back again, he turned to the window behind him, eyes distant, lost in the recesses of space. "You can't beat the view."
As the video zoomed out, revealing more of the crew compartment, he jerked a thumb at to the nebulous ball of purple and blue in the distance.
"That's Titan over there. The surface is cloudy and kind of murky. Atmosphere's full of nitrogen...methane...argon...makes it difficult to get a good view of...anything, really. It's a bit like Fresno. But once you get underneath it, see what's happening beneath the surface...there are sheets of just solid ice everywhere, plains, hills mountains, and there are canyons carved out all over the place, filled with liquid methane. The surface temperature is roughly ninety-seven Kelvin." With a perfectly straight face, he added: "making it a little warmer than Minnesota in the winter.
"This is what earth was supposed to have been like at the beginning." His mouth quirked up into a grin as he thoughtfully tapped his lower lip. "Personally, I think it's a prime investment. We could get in on the ground floor of a few thousand miles of wasteland, build a couple condos. In three, four billion years, who knows what it could be worth?"
The smile dropped from his features, and as he gestured for the camera to zoom in once more, he paused for a moment to collect his thoughts, idly twiddling his thumbs, before leaning forward again. When he finally spoke again, it was softer. Serious.
"That, ah, question I wanted to ask you. Before I left. You told me to wait until after I had time to think about it a bit more. Well, it's been a year, and I haven't thought about anything else. So yes, I still want to ask it. Hopefully, I'll get an answer this time."
A hand nervously streaked through his short, sandy locks, mussing the otherwise neat coiffure.
"Guess I'll find out in...ten days, thirteen hours and forty-five minutes."
As the video signal squiggled and faded out, his last words filtered through, muffled, slightly garbled, but still understandable.
"I miss you, Christine. Love you."
END TRANSMISSION
PACKET TERMINATED
A/N: For some bizarre reason, during Raoul's show 'n tell, I kept imagining one of Steve Zissou's monologues. Heh.
