Small Fictional Scenario on my last trip into Space ( without any failure for once )
August 2018, Nasa decided to restart STS program for military purpose.
Vandenberg was chosen for that purpose, Hidden Launch site into the mountains on the Pacific Coast.
Top secret location for a top secret mission. 3 Astronauts, Ex Military guys, Commander, Pilot and Mission Specialist.
Aim of that Mission : " Exploratory Mission", Polar Orbit, 300 Nm.
Launch at Sunrise, new Camo for the Launch site, Trees and bushes
Cockpit ready, Holdover time finished and final countdown initiated
Burning sky at the horizon, heading South for the pole.
Not a discret Launch, they might said it was a couple of Fighters Sonic Boom..
Foggy Morning on California, soon enough we will be in space again after 7 years of inactivity
Out of Amosphere, Boosters Separation, and no more G's to handle. No Warnings, no failures, Stage 2
Main Engine Cut Off. Passing through 60 Nm and climbing towards our Apogee of 200 Nm
ET separation and Oxygen Dump by the Main Nozzles
Atlantis is still in good shape, hopefully
Sunset now, and what a view
40 mn before OMS 2 burn to raise the apogee to 300 Nm
Actively working on our Checklist to prepare the lady
Working while enjoying a view, what more could we ask for ?
Out of the shadow, overflying Madagascar and DAP manoeuvers the Shuttle to the correct attitude for the burn
Time to use our last Cannon Camera
EXEC and ignition of the ergols, monitoring of the parameters during 4 mn.
Nothing to report
Good burn, OMS are secured with Helium and Ntrogen valves closed until the next burn
300 Nm Apogee, and circularisation in 45 mn, looking good
Time for more Check list
GPC reconfigured for Orbital OPS.
2018 and my i Watch is faster than those antiquity
Doors opened, Max intensity for Halon lights.
Small secret cargo is there.
It has to be damn important to spend half a billion to put it into orbit
Last burn, 50 % of Props remaining, just enough for our deorbit later on.
ECLS fine tunning, Environnment, Control and Life Support.
In other terms, Radiators are activated and Freon cooling is monitored
All good, porla orbit, 301 by 296 and Freon Temp at 53 °
Post insertion finished. Rest time before the RMS operation
Nap is over, time to work on that INTEL Satellite
Our desk for the next hours
Very well modelization of RMS activities, giving me some headache with all those angles and positions.
Hard to master that thing
Another Sunrise above the South Pole, Breathtaking
Checks done, the arm is removed from its safety position
Very useful layout to both contemplate the scenery and work on the RMS
Let's use the coordinates to automatically position the End Effector near the point of attachment.
Item 25 to check the reachability of that position, GOOD, perfect.
For the last part, it will be manually done for the fine tunning
Satellite Grasp, some attach points to release and we can safely put it out of the bay
Probe is now working on its own, and final checks are made.
Mission partially accomplished, time to head back to Earth
Time to Go back, several checks to do before that.
First, let's close the payload doors
We can follow that process on the DPS, to see if everything is well closed and latched, so cool
GPC final reconfiguration, let's wake up those antiquities
GPC 1 2 3 and 4 for Entry Soft, 5 for Back up and System Management
Polar Orbit, so we have pretty much a large choice of terrain below use.
How ever, crossrange might be an issue there as the Earth is moving " faster"below us compared to a full eastward Orbit
I choose ZAZ and Kefvlavik, not too far from each other ( reachable from the same entry interface) and quite offset laterally to cover a greater zone of recovery.
Thermal ReConfiguration of the Shuttle.
Bye Bye Radiators, Hello again Flash Evap
Mindblowing Shadow effects
Lets rock there.
5 mn of burn, 500 ft/s to loose to decrease the Perigee around 20 Nm
Its gonna be tight Fuel wise, Shuttle is pushed in its limits .
Parameters looking good, some more monitoring
Good results, but too far laterally from ZAZ ( more than 500 Nm of crossrange, not doable)
It will then be Kef in Island, lets go for Ski and Hot Wine
4000 Nm at Entry Interface, perfecto ( it would have been 3300 for ZZA)
Glowing Plasma and last checks especially for the Hydraulic Pumps
And another Sunrise to salute our discreet arrival above the Ocean
Frozen world in sight Commander
And some Golden clouds to welcome us, Ray Ban incoming
Kef in sight, Runway 28.
180 ° into the HAC to be well on the path at 6 Nm final /12000 feet
Sliperry Runway, even maybe contaminated but who cares, no go around there
Strong Braking coupled with anti skig and chute will do the job
Welcome home Guys, Well done and be ready for a confidential debrief
Not very secret with the airliner in the back ahah