Chapter One Thousand Seven Hundred Eighty-One
30th January 1967
Washington D.C.
Nelson Rockefeller looked through his notes at the revised version of the public statement that he was about to give. A Nation might be united by loss or a triumph could open a preexisting wound. One could never tell. How would they react to a failed attempt at getting ahead of a rival and restoring their country to a position of international leadership?
Apollo IV had failed shortly after launch resulting in the whole thing being aborted. The Command Module had to be jettisoned and the rocket itself had been blown up by Mission Control. This had come at a time when many people throughout the country were questioning the priorities and mission of the Space Program, especially when it increasingly looked like the United States versus the rest of the World. It was inevitable that Congress was going to get into the act, but not too much though. No one facing reelection next year wanted to face the prospect of telling their constituents that any high paying aerospace jobs in their State might be going away because of cutbacks. Rockefeller figured that the Democratic Party would be carrying on about how they could have done it so much better and beaten the Germans, as if they hadn’t squandered sixteen years failing to do exactly that.
The news wasn’t entirely bad, the Launch Escape System had worked much to the surprise of many people who worked within NASA. The Navy was saying that Alan Shepard was furious after he, Michael Collins and Ed White had been fished out of the Atlantic Ocean. The Command Module of Apollo IV and its passengers were safely aboard the Aircraft Carrier USS Concord. President Rockefeller was seriously considering ordering the Concord to circle around in the Atlantic until Shepard had cooled down a bit and he most certainly didn’t want the Mission Commander to go anywhere near the Press. The trouble was that NASA had been pressed hard from every quarter to get Apollo IV to the Moon before the rainy season in Southern Vietnam had ended and the Taxidiotis Program resumed. Shepard was blaming that for the loss of the mission.
The result was a near calamity.
NASA had told Rockefeller that they intended to conduct a full investigation on exactly what had gone wrong and work on fixing it for next time. At the same time that he had spoken with NASA’s Director he had known that in only a few hours, four Astronauts; two Germans, a Russian and a Frenchman were going to land on the Moon if everything went well. Considering the obsessive testing that the Germans conducted on all their equipment, anything that might have gone wrong probably would have by now. He was not looking forward to the phone call he would need to make congratulating the Kaiser and Chancellor when that happened. Fortunately, neither of those two were the sort to gloat. However, the President of France, who Rockefeller was certain would probably call him, would probably take a great deal of joy in gloating.
In transit from Lunar Orbit
It was strange to see the Hansa I Command Module growing smaller with distance. Strapped into her seat aboard the Landing Module Baltic, Sigi just looked out the window and watched. She might be the Mission Commander, but for a little bit she was just a passenger as Erich piloted the Baltic. This was entirely his show and that was a bit of a relief for Sigi.
For every waking moment since Taxidiotis IV had lifted off, Sigi had felt the crushing responsibility for the Mission to go perfectly. From the various engine burns, to deploying and linking up with the LM Baltic, Sigi had been there running through the checklists in contact with Mission Control. While most of the processes were automated, the crew of the Hansa had still needed to be in position in case of a system failure. Over the previous two days, Erich had been in the Baltic practicing the procedures for the landing. The various probes that had landed on the Moon and Recon Module that Taxidiotis III had left in Lunar orbit had detected gravity anomalies. So, Erich had been told that he needed to be prepared for anything. Kat had once told her that part of being in Command was knowing when to let her people do their jobs without interference. This seemed like one of those times.
Sigi hadn’t had a chance to relax that entire time until they had sealed the hatches between the Hansa and Baltic. It had also occurred to her to wonder who had come up with those names. Supposedly they had been selected to be as inoffensive as possible after the capsule names during the Atgeir Program, Huginn, one of the ravens that the Norse God Odin used to watch the affairs of man. There were rumors about how many spy agencies throughout the world had tried to find out if there had been more to Huginn than just the name.
Minutes ticked by and Sigi just watched and listened to Erich talking to Mission Control as the descended towards the targeted landing site near the Rille called Vallis Schröteri or Schröter’s Valley. One of the stated scientific purpose of the Mission was to obtain samples from the region that was believed to have been formed ancient Lunar volcanism and related to the formation of the far larger Oceanus Procellarum just to the south.
Looking out the windows, Erich expertly guided the Baltic towards the landing zone that the orbital photography said was free of large debris. The sound of the engines could barely be heard, but the vibration could be felt through the floor. The Baltic lurched slightly as it came to rest on the spidery legs that folded out from it. The Baltic had landed.