CHAPTER THREE

THE FIRST MISSION

The day is finally here! Eric thought. He was basking in excitement. His dad came to their headquarters to wish him safe travel, together with all his friends and well wishers. Eric and four other astronauts were going on their ever first mission  to explore space.

Eric and his crew got in an astronaut transfer van that was waiting to take them out to the launchpad (where the space shuttle is launched). When the driver pulled them at the launchpad, they looked on in wonder at the space shuttle. It seemed to get bigger and bigger as they approached. The shuttle was making extraordinary sounds. He could hear the fuel pumps working, steam hissing , metal groaning. It felt as if a beast was waiting for their arrival.

It was at this moment that the five of them got excited. This had been the reason for their rigorous exercises, trainings. They were finally going to explore the realm beyond. 

The ground crew took each one of them; one at a time, into a small white room. In this room, they helped Eric and his crew put on their garb. After being dressed, Eric waved at his dad and friends on the closed circuit camera and went into the space shuttle through it's hatch. He entered the crew's living quarters ; the mid deck. The pilot and commander sat on the flight deck for launch , while Eric , Zach and another astronaut sat on the mid deck.

 The ground crew strapped them in. When  they had  strapped in Eric,  he checked his oxygen and gear to make sure everything was intact. He longed to look outside hoping to catch a glimpse of his dad.  Then he remembered there were no windows on the mid deck. Windows were only on the flight deck.  So he and his crew waited for about one hour. This was the longest and most apprehensive wait of Eric's life.

After the long wait, he heard sounds of the engine starting up. Wow! He and Zach looked at each other and smiled.  Then there was silence. A bang was heard! That was the only warning they got. The shuttle had been shot into the atmosphere and they were going at a very high speed. They accelerated from 0 to 17,500 miles an hour , and it would take about eight and a half minutes.

Eric didn't know before now , that eight and a half minutes was this long. He felt he wasn't with his body any longer. He felt he was gone… gone.  Now the question is , gone to where? He didn't have the answer. He just laid there looking at his mates, listening to the deafening roar of the engines, feeling the shuffle shake and shudder as it fought to break off the Earth's atmosphere.

Then he felt as if a car was crushing him. He already knew about this because, gravity had increased to three g and so his body weight had increased to three times his normal weight. This feeling continued for about two and a half minutes.

Eric knew when they left the Earth's atmosphere. He knew due to the following reasons: first off, he heard two muffled explosions through the walls of the shuttle, indicating the breaking off of the fuel tank. Secondly, he felt completely weightless; gravity had reduced drastically.

Immediately, the engines cut, the roaring stopped and everywhere became quiet, peaceful. All he heard was the cooling fans of the engines and system.  He beamed at his mates.

They were in space!

He couldn't believe they were here!

Eric, Zach, their commander and the other astronaut floated out of the shuttle through the airlock for their extravehicular activity.

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Eric felt so free. Thanks to his steel tethers that held him in place to avoid spinning. The space view was so breathtaking. He used mostly his hands to get around, pulling himself where he needed to go. He wanted calling out to their commander but knew it was futile, because space is a vacuum and air does not go through a vacuum. Hence no sounds can be transmitted. He just beemed at Zach, who was with him.

He turned back carefully to view Earth and was amazed at how blue it looked, signifying the oceans . He also observed the green part of Earth signifying the vegetations. Wow! this was how Earth looked to people in space. He could see the Himalayas and grand canyon. He noticed how Earth orbited around the sun, how the ISS orbited around the earth. How there was alternate light and darkness for every forty five minutes. Although he had been taught about all these, it still felt very different to witness these occurrences.

Eric used hubble ; a telescope provided for astronauts, to view the celestial bodies. He viewed Venus ; the 'evil twin' of Earth and Mars the 'brother' of Earth, the moon and many other bodies. He saw that Zach was also enjoying his space walk. Eric and Zach kept viewing and floating for a long time and got tired because their space suit was pressurized and so they needed to put some effort to move their bodies. Hence,  decided to rest in the ISS.

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In the ISS, Eric ,Zach and the other crew members were in the crew cabins. Each of them had their sleeping bags attached to the wall, to hold them in place, to avoid bumping into anything. They slept near an air vent to avoid breathing in the expelled Carbon dioxide, thereby preventing suffocation. They were told that they would be returning to Earth the next day. He couldn't believe that he was actually sleeping without a bed. Wonders of space. No matter how prepared you think are, things you come across in space are always mind blowing, Eric thought.

This made him think about his mum. She floated away? But how? There was no way something like that could ever have happened , considering the tethers, 'safer' and help from fellow crew members. It didn't feel right here. Something worse than he thought, had happened to his mum. Well that was his first reason of being an astronaut; to find out what really happened and decided not to dwell on that thought for now.

His face was sort of bloated, which wasn't surprising, as fluids in the body were concentrated in the upper part of the body due to absence of gravity. Space travel was really great! he thought. He had taken lots of pictures during the spacewalk, when he got home , would view the pictures. He thought of his dad and aunt Tessy while he drifted to sleep.