May 12th, 1991
Low Earth Orbit
The spacecraft glistened as the first rays of light slowly began to brighten the vehicle from the darkness of which she swam in. The nose began to brighten up first, the black of the nose and gray of the tiles giving way to the white that enveloped the entire 'top' of the spacecraft. The near entirety of white across the top of the spacecraft (barring the payload bay), gave way to the gray of the tiles stretched across the leading edges of the wings and bottom of the spacecraft. Upon the left wing of the spacecraft bore the insignia of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, while the right-wing bore the 50-Star flag of the United States and the name of the spacecraft, North Star; a Space Shuttle.
As the Space Shuttle glided over the stark white of the Arctic, the light of the sun shone upon the open payload bay, and the robotic arm sticking out from the bay. The arm was latched upon the payload, bearing a highly similar appearance to that of the Hubble Space Telescope, but yet sharply different. A single nozzle hung from the 'top' of the payload alongside that of the communications dish, with the rest of the payload being closed. Beyond the nozzle at the end of the spacecraft, few would notice any differences between it and something like the Hubble Space Telescope, but that was where appearances had ended. As the Shuttle finished crossing over the Hudson Bay and over Ontario, the energy inside the Space Shuttle seemed to climb.
“Kennan is ready for deployment,” the mission specialist reported over the internal communications.
“Understood,” Commander John H. Casper said, before switching to the air to ground loop. “Houston, package is ready for release. Over.”
“Roger, North Star. You are clear for release. Over.”
With those words, the KH-11 Kennan reconnaissance satellite found itself released from the Space Shuttle. Slowly drifting away from the North Star, two short and nearly back to back bursts of reactants from the Shuttle increased the pace of drifting, bringing her away from the reconnaissance satellite they had delivered. They had completed their primary mission, that of delivering rather than recovering a reconnaissance satellite. Now, it was time to start preparing the seventh Orbiter to complete her secondary mission and then return back home to Vandenberg.
________________________________________
An alternate title to this (which would've likely given the vignette away) was Slick Six's Keyhole.
Low Earth Orbit
The spacecraft glistened as the first rays of light slowly began to brighten the vehicle from the darkness of which she swam in. The nose began to brighten up first, the black of the nose and gray of the tiles giving way to the white that enveloped the entire 'top' of the spacecraft. The near entirety of white across the top of the spacecraft (barring the payload bay), gave way to the gray of the tiles stretched across the leading edges of the wings and bottom of the spacecraft. Upon the left wing of the spacecraft bore the insignia of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, while the right-wing bore the 50-Star flag of the United States and the name of the spacecraft, North Star; a Space Shuttle.
As the Space Shuttle glided over the stark white of the Arctic, the light of the sun shone upon the open payload bay, and the robotic arm sticking out from the bay. The arm was latched upon the payload, bearing a highly similar appearance to that of the Hubble Space Telescope, but yet sharply different. A single nozzle hung from the 'top' of the payload alongside that of the communications dish, with the rest of the payload being closed. Beyond the nozzle at the end of the spacecraft, few would notice any differences between it and something like the Hubble Space Telescope, but that was where appearances had ended. As the Shuttle finished crossing over the Hudson Bay and over Ontario, the energy inside the Space Shuttle seemed to climb.
“Kennan is ready for deployment,” the mission specialist reported over the internal communications.
“Understood,” Commander John H. Casper said, before switching to the air to ground loop. “Houston, package is ready for release. Over.”
“Roger, North Star. You are clear for release. Over.”
With those words, the KH-11 Kennan reconnaissance satellite found itself released from the Space Shuttle. Slowly drifting away from the North Star, two short and nearly back to back bursts of reactants from the Shuttle increased the pace of drifting, bringing her away from the reconnaissance satellite they had delivered. They had completed their primary mission, that of delivering rather than recovering a reconnaissance satellite. Now, it was time to start preparing the seventh Orbiter to complete her secondary mission and then return back home to Vandenberg.
________________________________________
An alternate title to this (which would've likely given the vignette away) was Slick Six's Keyhole.
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