Free Launch by Richard Perth Page B

for the time you will have here
with this simulator. It won’t snatch your hair off while you are trying to deal
with a dozen problems at once.
    “One of you will be in one maneuvering control compartment,
and your spouse will be in the other. All doors will be closed and sealed
during flight, including the door between these compartments.
    “You will spend at least five hours per week in
your maneuvering simulator. Your standard work day will be one hour shorter to
give you time to spend in here. A NASA computer will assign training tasks and
monitor your progress. Your simulator flying scores will be part of the primary
crew selection process.”
    Doors led from the back of the maneuvering control
compartments to the sides of a king-size bed. After the group had arranged
itself around the bed, Jim said, “This is the bedroom compartment. As you can
see, off to one side of the bed is a medical treatment area with an examining
table. The ship’s medical supplies will be stored in cabinets built into the wall
nearest the table.
    “Three doors are at the end of this
compartment. The one in the middle with frosted glass is the shower. Like all
doors on the ship, it can seal air tight and can be opened or closed from the
control panels. In the event of a pressurization emergency, you can stay alive in
there until your spouse can re-pressurize the bedroom compartment. Communication
facilities are built into the shower and every compartment in the ship.
    “The other two doors lead to toilet
compartments that also have doors to the cabin. A toilet, wash basin, a mirror,
and storage for toiletries are in each.
    “In the event of a cabin pressure emergency,
the command center can be sealed. You can live in it and fly the ship from it.
The shirtsleeve control compartment and each of the toilet compartments can be
used as airlocks to allow access to the rest of the ship. Space suits will be
stored in the maneuvering control compartments in Origin .
    “That is the end of this tour. You will become
very familiar with your quarters as you live in them, starting tonight.
    “Are there any questions?”
    Claire felt like she had just had a tour of a
travel trailer, and she felt as stunned as the other astronauts looked.
    Are we supposed to spend three years in
space confined in an oversized beach ball?
    After Jim’s question was met with silence, he
led everybody down the fireman’s pole to the bottom floor and out of the cabin.
    Jim took the team to headquarters to sign
official papers and get ID badges. The rest of the day was spent to moving in.
    ▼
    Before Claire and David went to sleep that
night in their new king-size bed, she said, “I’m not an experienced fighter
pilot or test pilot like Leah and Susan, and I’m the lowest ranking member of
the team. Do you think we have a real chance to be Primary Crew?”
    David kissed her. “From here on, it’s how we
perform in training that counts. I think the rest of us on the team will have
to work hard to keep up with you.

Chapter 15
     
     
    After a typically hard day during their fourth
week of training, Claire and David returned to their quarters to find a message
from David’s grandmother. When they returned her call, Karen Sands invited them
to have an early dinner at her home and to go to the opera with her.
    He raised an eyebrow about the opera as he
asked Claire. She nodded her head vigorously and said, “Yes!”
    After he accepted and put the phone down, Claire
explained. “She’s the only family we have. I liked her very much when I met her
at our wedding, and I’d love to go to the opera.”
    ▼
    That Saturday afternoon, David drove Claire’s
car: It did not leak whereas the snap-on windows on his MG were little better
than a sieve in heavy rain. She was surprised as the GPS led them ever deeper
into an exclusive Houston neighborhood. They arrived at classical wrought iron
gates, which opened immediately.
    David drove through and stopped the car in