Chapter 25
Baikonur Cosmodrome,Kazakhstan
July 17, 1996
Natalie York sat in the cramped compartment of the Zond Spacecraft with her three crewmates. The Zond was slightly larger than the Soyuz, but still not as large as the Block V Apollo. They were squeezed into their seats. Sergei and Loren sat in the middle, so they could reach the command console above them if needed. It was so high, they needed a stick to poke buttons or flip switches. Charlie and her sat on opposite sides of them, next to the windows of the craft, both of which were covered by a launch shroud.
Far below them, on top of the conical rocket, the 30 engines of the N-1 prepared to ignite. There was no countdown. Just an announcement of “30 seconds” in Russian.
She thought back on the strange pre-launch traditions the Russians had. Apparently, Yuri Gagarin had to relieve himself before his flight. Since no toilet was available on the pad, he relieved himself on the tire of the van that brought him to the pad. Since his mission succeeded, all of the remaining crews did the same thing. Natalie cheated a bit, and poured some water from a bottle on the tire, making her own mark as best she could.
They also planted a tree sapling in a garden, as every crew had before them. Lucky that it was summer and the ground was not frozen. The night before the launch, they watched a 1970s Russian “western” called The White Sun of the Desert. They also added their signatures to a wall in the museum at the space center. When their launch vehicle was rolled to the pad, they were not allowed to watch, but it was blessed by a priest. These rituals may seam strange to outsiders, but the Russians had a pretty good record and they were not about to change anything.
344 feet below them , the 30 pumps of the NK-15 engines began to rumble as fuel and oxidizer began to flow through them. The 30 engines ignighted and the entire rocket began to rumble and shake. Nothing happened for a few seconds as the engines built up to full power, and they burned off enough fuel so they could begin to lift the rocket.
There was no gimbals for any of the engines of this machine. A very sophisticated computer could control the thrust of the various engines in the outer ring, and thus, control the direction of the flight. It has taken the former Soviets several disastrous tries to get the N-1 right. However, it had flown 27 times since its first success in 1974 without incident.
135 seconds later the second stage ignited and the first fell away. The N-1 did not drop a stage and then ignite another like NASA's Saturn rockets. A truss surrounded the interstage connection and the second stage fired while still connected. The second stage, or Block B as it was known, used eight variants of the NK-15 engine. This stage fired for two minutes, taking them just short of orbit. And when it completed its flight, the third stage, known as the Block V with its four NK-21 engines fired for 370 seconds, placing them in orbit.
They were still attached to the Block G stage which was the Earth departure stage and Block D stage which would provide mid-course corrections.
They stayed in Earth orbit for one revolution. Sergei Krikalev and Loren Shriver communicated with flight control in Moscow while Natalie and Charlie Bolden checked subsystems and made calls to Houston. When both control centers had agreed that the Zond spacecraft was ready to go, the Block G stage engine fired and set them on their trajectory to the Moon.
After a two hours, they were given permission to get out of their couches and remove their Sokol launch suits. Natalie and Charlie moved into the upper module of the Zond and packed away their suits first. They began unstowing equipment needed for the journey to the Moon. Natalie unpacked her cameras and took photos of the Earth from higher orbit. Charlie prepared lunch for the crew, which was basically foil packed bags. Zond did not have a kitchen. They would be roughing it for the next few days.
Mission Elapsed Time
49 hours, 20 minutes
The Zond spacecraft was making its final approach to the White Space Station. The crew took photos of the station. White Station looked very similar to a smaller Skylab. Solar arrays protruded from both sides of the main module. At the multi-port docking module, several spacecraft were docked. A module built by ESA, a new Apollo Ferry and their lander, Columbia. To Natalie, it looked like a MEM that was still under construction. Gold trusses replaced most of the heat shield and components of the original vehicle. Fuel tanks stuck out from behind the trusses, with six landing legs sticking out. A conical crew module was on top of the lander and was docked to the station.
They would board the station and prepare for the landing on July 22. Before then, there was the customary interviews. TV and radio stations from around the world interviewed the crew. While the landing crew was American and Russian, Japan and Canada both had astronauts as part of the orbiting White Station four person crew. Natalie had a special moment when her old friend, Adam Bleeker came into mission control to talk to her. He had left NASA the previous year and was an elementary school teacher in Houston, Texas. He loved his job and the kids loved him. He was also engaged to be married. Ralph Gershon was again training for a future mission. He would follow Natalie at some future date to the moon.