dawn descent

The earth looked like a Blue Marble as we came in on our final approach. The vectors had been programmed in. It had been a long time since any of us had been on our native soil or breathed natural air. Chemically created and scrubbed air went along with everything else we had to endure and was not very pleasant. It is hard to believe that only a few centuries ago humanity was still burning animal dung as a source of fuel and now we were perched among the stars. We still had many technical problems too work out. Despite the fact that humanity has colonies on the Moon and Mars, space doesn't cooperate. Hopefully we can get some of the issues ironed out. That is what part of our mission was about. Now our crew is returning just as we left. We will be landing just before dawn back in Arizona. The landing will not be as spectacular as the departure, but we will all be glad get back home.

We left on August 1st, from the Arizona space center. It was just before dawn when the ship was placed on the launcher and prepared for hyper-acceleration out of the earth's atmosphere. Unlike the 20th century and first part of the 21st century, ships were now shot into orbit using magnetic launchers similar to the rail gun technology that was developed for a war that humanity never had to fight. Now in 2075 we have overcome our differences, both social and political through a lot of anguish and diplomatic disagreement, but we were able to muddle through the first part of the 21st century to come to this, a launch into the heavens. 8 braves souls strapped into negative gravity pods to help mitigate the G-forces of a space launch. This wasn't like the first magnetic launch in 2049 but people still gathered to watch. When the vehicle is shot out of the atmosphere, it makes a loud crashing noise as it goes hyper-sonic. It's departure leaves rings of color as it tears through the upper atmosphere. It never gets old watching the footage of our launch.

We got out of the atmosphere and began to slow down as we approached the Moon. Our ship loses some of its velocity just after we exit the Earths gravitational pull. Vectoring thrusters automatically engage at a preset point to complete the slow down, then we are given all safe to exit from the anti-G pods. The command crew then takes control of the ship. It is guided into lunar orbit where we sit and wait for a launch window to head towards Mars. We have the newest near light systems, but if you don't have the proper orbital alignment, then you can overshoot the target and you are left with a long stint to circle back to Mars. A thousand things can go wrong if you miss your launch window. As we sit in lunar orbit, a suborbital launch craft comes up from the lunar base and does a visual once over of our craft. The procedure is the same whether we are heading to Mars or coming back from it. Just under 2 days in lunar orbit and our launch window is confirmed. Satellites that dot the route have given us a clear path of any debris, natural occurring or otherwise. Humanity leaves a lot of trash where ever we go despite our best efforts to clean it up. As I sit in the vehicle looking at the video screen, I watch the event horizon as we pass from the dark to the light side of the Moon. It is kind of like watching a continual sunrise only unlike on Earth it occurs every few hours. That was short lived as we fired up the nuclear propulsion systems and began our trek to the Red Planet.

35 days after our departure from lunar orbit, we came into view of our objective, Mars. Before going to the surface, we pull up to an automated orbital station. As I said earlier, all ships get the once over during the trip. The remote operation station on the planet surface dispatches a probe to go around the ship. It takes a few hours to completely inspect the exterior. A manned ship did it on the moon, but keeping people up in orbit for a long period of time just inspect the occasional ship going to Mars is impractical, so it is done remotely. The station can be inhabited in an emergency. It has a reserve of air and water that can keep you alive in the event the unthinkable happens. Remember when I said space doesn't cooperate, well we meaning humans try to prepare for every what if. Anyway, back to our arrival at our destination. We played the hurry up and wait game again. The inspection was all clear and we were given permission to begin our descent. Every time a ship comes to or leaves Mars, the conditions for departure and arrival change. You see, we are trying to Terra-form the planet. By doing that we have to give it an atmosphere. So, the atmospheric density changes ever so slightly every few solar cycles. It makes it interesting to go down to the surface. This is my second time coming out to Mars on a mission and hopefully my last. The ships captain is on her 4th mission and wants to do a 5th. Good luck to her, I am staying on earth after this.

We made it down to the landing field at Mars Colony 3. It has 5 domes, but it was the 3rd colony set up by humans. It is a corporate site built after the first 2 were constructed by governments. It is a joint project by a dozen mega companies back on Earth. It is designed to explore Mars and exploit it's resources. With a population of 12 billion plus back on Earth, new sources of energy and living space needed to be found. In total there are 5 fully functioning colonies on Mars with a 6th under construction. I personally wouldn't want to live here, but being part of the space program pays well. I am hoping to be able to develop a piece of land back on Earth with the money I have earned from these missions.

Unlike earth, Mars doesn't have any real vegetation yet. So, looking at the Horizon is different. When the dawn comes, the barren rock formations and the Red Orange surface cause light to reflect into rainbows. I will kind of miss that but having my own place on Earth is so much better I think.

The Terra-forming is going much better than expected. Mars is supposed to have a breathable atmosphere soon. I am not sure I want to be the first to try it out. Since we arrived, the 6th dome project has been completed. More missions have been scheduled for Mars. There have been some disagreements between the corporate partners and the unified governments that built the first 2 colonies. The governments want more oversight, but the private sectors are resisting the intrusion. Much of the operational systems are automated, meaning mining and production. Humanity still doesn't fully trust automated systems, therefore humans still are required to oversee things. As impressive as this all is, I am looking forward to getting back home.

We finally finished our mission on the Red Planet. Our ship was placed on a magnetic rail launcher similar to the one that pushed us off of earth. Our launch window confirmed we were shot off into space. A quick slowdown, a brief inspection and we were off to earth. Now I sit here looking at the precious Blue Jewel of my home world and I am giddy with anticipation. Ready to get back on Earth. Arriving just before dawn, there is truly no place like my home.