May 11, 2018 (Alanday, Sagittarius 25, 0031)<\/p>\n
As part of the Mission Support team, Clinical Psychologist Dr. Pamela Willis is tapped surreptitiously into the personal email transmissions to and from the crew. At the first sign of any discord or anxiety, the message in question, along with Dr. Willis’ comments, is forwarded to the head of Mission Support, Commander Lewis. He will in turn, liaise with the onboard psychologist, Dr. Thomas. Each morning Dr. Willis reads through the latest batch of email messages, and either saves them in a special storage system or addresses potential problems. A negative report is a very rare occurrence, as the crew is so well-balanced. The majority of the messages barely rate a first glance. Of course, professionalism always prevents details from being divulged to anyone other than Commander Lewis, and then only if it is deemed hazardous or essential to the mission.<\/p>\n
Commander Morgan Lewis has been with the Space Program since he graduated the Naval Academy in 1995. Though only approaching his fifty-fifth birthday, he looks much closer to sixty-five, if not seventy. A bottle of scotch, an eight-ounce ‘water’ glass in his desk drawer, and a carton of unfiltered cigarettes in the back seat of his ’07 Impala has that effect on a person. Cmdr. Lewis dresses professionally, but the odor of stale smoke wafts around him, making a first impression many would rather forget.<\/p>\n
From: Richard Devlin
\nSubject: Way to go!!!
\nDate: May 11, 2018 11:36 a.m.
\nTo: Brandon Devlin<\/p>\n
(CLT): 0.13 sec<\/p>\n
Dad, YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!<\/p>\n
You made it. Whoo Hoo!! You’re actually on your way to Mars. Congrats! Sorry I couldn’t be at the launch with Mom to see you off. I’m trying really hard to keep a low profile here at Western and need to keep myself out of the press. There are only three or four people in the entire state of Michigan that even know you’re my dad. And, I need to succeed on my own merits, without it being all about ‘the son of an astronaut on his way to Mars’ and hearing buzz about riding on your coattails. Dad, I can’t tell you enough how proud I am of you, and how very proud I am to be your son. I just want to make you proud of me, too, by making it on my own. Well, gotta head to class. If you come across Marvin the Martian, be sure to get his autograph for me. lol<\/p>\n
Rich<\/p>\n
< ≡ ♂ ≡ >
\n<\/p>\n
From: Thomas Castle
\nSubject: Blast off!
\nDate: Sagittarius 25, 0031 14:28
\nTo: Penny Castle<\/p>\n
(CLT): 0.39 sec<\/p>\n
Hi Pen,<\/p>\n
Like you saw from the ground, the launch went off without a hitch. We’ve made ready the ship, reeled out the tether, and started our spin to achieve artificial gravity to make it easier to tell up from down. Everything’s running like clockwork. (ha, ha) Of course, the clockwork part won’t come into play until the return trip, but you get the idea. Valerie and Brandon have turned in for some rest, Carl and Jackie are on duty, and Sally and I are off duty. I wanted to get some Earth photos, but I’ve shot it so many times from lunar orbit I think I’ll wait for a better angle. ;~p From LEO, shooting the Earth and Moon at the same time’s hard because the Earth is so damn close. But, just give me a week or two and I should be able to put them both in the same frame, with space between the two. They won’t quite be the nature photos you are so good at taking, but I think you’ll like the way they turn out.<\/p>\n
As a chemist\/geologist, Sally really doesn’t have much work to do until we touch down on Mars, nor most of us for that mater. Brandon and Valerie are the masters in hydroponics and we will all get our hands dirty up there, so to speak, once everything is squared away. For now, Sally’s headed down to Deck One to check on Jackie and see if she needs any help setting up the Med-lab. Though, on second thought, we really should let the rookies fail on their own ;~p so I can complete their initial evaluations. I’ll use that to chart their progress over the course of our trip. I’d better let Sally know about that. I’ll be right back…<\/p>\n
Did you miss me?<\/p>\n
Isn’t it great that we’re able to stay in contact this way? Valerie told me she remembers when Tim Creamer worked with flight controllers, setting up an Internet interface from a laptop onboard the ISS to see a desktop computer at Mission Control. Before that, we could send email, just not Internet email, as we know it. Pre-Internet email had to be copied and re-sent by someone at Mission Control.<\/p>\n
I think she said it was on January 22, 2010, that Tim sent the first tweet from space, which said, “Hello Twitterverse!” They didn’t invent anything new, but those words might rank right up there with “Watson, come in here!” We can still use the Twitters, even though that’s for the birds now days. (Speaking of birds, I had to delete all of those Angry Birds games from my laptop. They’re too addicting and I don’t get any work done. Plus, here I can play Angry Birds Space without my iPad, he he.) Besides, if I do need a distraction for a few minutes, I can always do a Sudoku or play Mahjong. Those are a couple of my favorite apps.<\/p>\n
We can also Skype each other for a couple more days. It’ll be nice to see your beautiful smile for a while longer. Unfortunately, after that, the time lag will get annoying. The further away we get, the longer it will take for a normal conversation. In a week, it’ll be worse than a dial-up connection. (ha, ha) Tomorrow, after I’ve had some sleep, I’ll give you a call to see if you’ve gotten back home. Otherwise, I’ll email ya a ‘hello’.<\/p>\n
I already have a few dozen e-books downloaded on my beat-up Nook to read. So I think that’s how I’m going to spend my next few hours\/weeks\/months. Going to clear my mind and relax a bit before rustling up some dinner. While I’m upstairs, on the HP deck, I also have another dozen or so audio-books I can listen to.<\/p>\n
Well, that’s all for now. When we talk tomorrow, be sure to let me know how everything is going on your end. I know your work is sometimes a real bear. Keep going to the gym and working through the stress. I admire your dedication to your job and know the affection you have for your co-workers. But, while I’m gone don’t let the job be your entire life. Got it? As always my love, a penny for your thoughts; the moon and stars for your love. Can’t wait to talk to you tomorrow.<\/p>\n
1-4-3 always, Your Tom<\/p>\n
< ≡ ♂ ≡ ><\/p>\n
From: Sally Chung
\nSubject: We’re on our way
\nDate: Sagittarius 25, 0031 15:32
\nTo: Robert Hackard<\/p>\n
(CLT): 0.48 sec<\/p>\n
Dearest Bobby,<\/p>\n
We have left the home world! Everything went just as it should and we’re now headed for Mars. It’s so exciting! LEO was never like this. I mean, I really enjoyed the experience of spending so much time in zero-g on the ISS. The feeling of flying through the modules was so liberating. But I’m sure glad we won’t have to live that way for the next six months. We had zero-g for a couple of hours today, before we got the tether deployed and started rotating the ship. I got a chance to fly around for a while. Now it’s just like being on terra firma. Well, almost.<\/p>\n
The only way to tell that we’re moving is to look out the window. Seeing the stars rotating past the porthole in this way is a little disorienting, but it doesn’t last long. At least the view is different from that on the ISS. The stars seem to rotate counter-clockwise past the forward window and they would appear to rotate clockwise past the rear window, but we have that side shuttered since it’s on the sunny side of the ship. It’s a very tranquil, slow rotation, 1 rpm. If we look out the side windows, the stars are going up on one side and down on the other. When you see the stars going up, you get a slight sensation of falling. That takes some getting used to. It’s like the optical illusion of standing on the west side of a building when low clouds are moving quickly to the east. If you look up at the edge of the building and see the clouds passing, there’s a momentary feeling that the clouds are not moving and the building is falling towards you. It’s a very strange sensation.<\/p>\n
Anyway, the crew is divided into three work shifts. Carl and Jackie are on duty now. Brandon and Valerie are sleeping (Or, at least trying to). And, Tom and I are off. I’m glad I didn’t draw the first sleep shift. With all this excitement I wouldn’t be able to shut my eyes. In fact, I hope I’ll be able to sleep in about 2 _ hours, when it’s my turn on the bed.<\/p>\n
A short while ago, I was giving Jackie a hand with the med-lab unpacking and setting things up, but Tom reminded me that I was on my free time and really didn’t have to do anything other than relax. Also, he was observing the work being done by the rookies and wanted a fair evaluation of their performance. I guess that makes sense, but I hope these evaluations are a temporary thing. You know I need to keep myself busy or I’m gonna go bonkers. Even when I’m on duty, I won’t have much to do for the next six months. Anyway, like one of those ex-VPs once said, ‘a mind is a terrible thing to lose’ or something like that. Ha, ha. Once the Hydroponics deck is up and running, we will all have more work to do: tending to the gardens and picking fresh fruits and veggies.<\/p>\n
Well, it’s about time to get a bite to eat and to try and relax a bit before bed. I’ll write more, later on. I miss you already.<\/p>\n
Love, Sally<\/p>\n
< ≡ ♂ ≡ ><\/p>\n
From: Valerie Thomas
\nSubject: Mars bound
\nDate: Sagittarius 25, 0031 19:15
\nTo: Steven Thomas<\/p>\n
(CLT): 0.80 sec<\/p>\n
Well Honey, we’re on our way to Mars. As you can see in the date line, we’ve tried to adapt to the Martian calendar, already. That’ll take some getting used to. I totally understand your not being able to come to the launch. Some of us have to work for a living and get the job done. I saw the CNN Internet feed of this morning’s events. Such is the price of freedom, I guess.<\/p>\n
When you finally manage to get back home from being on the road, you’ll find a pleasant surprise on the Blu-ray player. Grab yourself a good bottle of wine, then sit back and enjoy the show. But, make sure to draw the shades first. Don’t want to startle or embarrass the neighbors. (wink) Let’s save the Skype for then.<\/p>\n
I love you very much, Val<\/p>\n
< ≡ ♂ ≡ ><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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