Back to the Moon - New Steps.

Chapter 1

Everybody was talking in the meeting room, some knew the news and some don't. Alexander Kerman, the chief rocket/spaceraft designer knows what was going to happend.

"Everybody, pay attention!" shouted Alexander out loud. The members of the meeting where still talking. "Everybody! Shut up and listen to me!" Shouted Alexander again out loud. The room instantly turned silent. "Miss President gave us a message that we need to get back to the Moon before the century is out..." said Alexander to the people in the room until the people started talking again. This time he threw a hammer against the wall. Everybody looked at Alexander. "If you people don't pay attention i will have to fire you all! This is really important!" shouted Alexander with anger. "So we have to send a human on the Moon before 2100, we have quite a bit of time, but i want to start developing as soon as possible! Tommorow we will start designing our experimental spaceraft for testing all our equipment. We will all work together on this project!". Shortly after, a few people with questons started appearing. Anne Poets asked "When will we start designing our Moon Lander?". "You know what? I will split the design team for this project, they start designing every spacecraft we need for the project tommorow" answered. Dick Dickson asked: "What is going to be the name of this project?" "Project, eugh... Diana, Project Diana" answered Alexander. "Euh, i think its time people, it is bed time!" said Alexander.

People start walking out of the room, it was a rather short meeting, but this is just the very beginning. Jebediah Kerman, Alexanders son who also is a space pioneer of the new age, walked up to his dad. "Now who is going to be the first one?" asked Jeb to Alexander. "You always want to be first huh? Well, ok then." answered Alexander.

A person ran to Alexander, she looked nervous. "Uhm, hello?!" she said to Alex. "Hello, young lady? How can i help you?" said Alexander back. "Euh... can i join your space program?" she asked. "Haha, of course! Can i get your snail mail adress please?" asked Alexander to her. The girl gave her a piece of paper. "So why do you want to be a part of our space program?" asked Alexander. "I really want to be an Astronaut, i already have my flight license. I also read that you do not need any special education." answered the girl, her name is Lisa Doya. "Well alright, we will sign you up tommorow" said Alexander. They said their goodbye.

Next day

It was 9AM, The designer team gathered in the meeting room. "Ok people, today we are going to design the expirimental vehicle and we are going to find a way to get a man to the Moon and back, we will start by finding out a way to get to the Moon, and then we will start designing, i will split the designer team so the designing of the spacecraft needed goes faster." Told Alexander to the designer team. 

"So lets begin! I suggest doing the same thing the Apollo did,  having 2 seperate spacecraft, one that lands and the other one that provides habitation and a way of returning back to Earth." suggested Alexander to his team. "Well we could just assemble the thing in Low Earth Orbit, so we so not need to design a new rocket, and then we can do the Apollo style thing." said Johannes from the designer team. "Who agrees with the two suggestions?" asked John Kerman, Alexanders twin brother. Everybody pulled their hand up, everybody agrees. "Now how many people should we send there?" asked Alexander to his team. "2 in the lander and 1 in the command module." said Herman, a spaceflight historian. "No, just 1 in the lander and 1 in the command module, that would save alot more time and money. We will land 2 later on, but not now. We also have 4 avaiable Astronauts that are experienced enough to pioneer, and we need a backup crew, with 2 in 1 mission, it would be enough. We need 2 more Astronauts for a 3 man mission. Does any agree?" answered Anne Poets. Everybody pulled their hand up, even Herman. "Ok people, so we have a plan for the crew and we know how tp get there, how about life support?" asked Zara Bruin, a young spaceflight veteran. "How much does an Meal Ready to Eat weigh?" asked Zara Bruin again. "Like 500 gram?" answered Anne Poets. "Ok so... wait give me a second... 24KG of food for 2 people on a 8 day mission with a regulair 3 meal day, does that weigh too much?" calcucates an asked Zara to the team. "No, i dont think so, my rockets could handle that." answered Alexander. 

"Ok people, i think we have discussed enough, the rest of the discussion will continue while designing. I will split the team in two, team 1 will design the expirimental vehicle and team 2 the lander. All the people sitting on my left is team 1 and the rest is team 2. Team 1 will go into design room 3 team 2 in design room 4, do your thing, i will take visits and checks" told Alexander to the team.

Team 1: The Expirimental Vehicle

"Ok so we need to design an expirimental vehicle, where should we start?" asked Johannes Pannes, to his team. "I think the return module needs to be bell shaped, like the Soyuz and the Shenzou." suggested Herman. "And should it have a door on the side of the capsule? For orbital EVA's?" suggested Herman again. Everybody agreed with Herman. "Where would all those computers be placed then?" asked Zara Bruin. "Above the heat shield?" suggested Jeannette. "No, the computers are the most important things we have, if we put them near the heat shield, they could be destroyed easily during overheating or during landing. We have to put them on the opposite side of the door so they can operate the computers too." said Johannes. "Agreed, we have to put the things we dont need after or while returning near the heat shield, but what?" asked Herman. "Our food, water and life support. If our scrubber gets damaged during landing, we can just put pull open the hatch for air. The rescue team will get them out of there ASAP for food and water." Suggested Zara Bruin. "Should we just install the default command system in there, above the seats?" asked Jeannette, everybody agreed. "So how about propulsion and power? How would we handle that?" asked Johannes. "I think we should use our good old Aerozine and NTO as fuel for both the RCS and the main thrusters, i think we should use the VOM-D9 for the main engine. And the the propulsion and control module needs to be skirt shaped, so it would have more Delta-V. The upper part will hold the RCS, the batteries and extra fuel for the fuel cells., and the solar panels should be extendable. The left one has 2 panels and the right 1 with an antenna." suggested Herman, he made a drawing of it. Everybody agreed. "Now how about an additional habitation module? I would go crazy in a small capsule like that for 8 days!" asked Zara Bruin. "I think we should do that fairings are for sissies thing again, with the habitation module as nosecone for the rocket." suggested Johannes. The team thought about it, they will take it for now. "You should go ahead and design that module on your own Johannes, we are not sure about it." said Zara Bruin.

^^The Modulair Expirimental and Testing Space Ship Design 1 with the habitation module designed by Johannes.

Team 2: The Lunar Lander

"Hey people, don't tell Team 1 this but, i have already designed the Lunar Lander! Together with Valentina, Bill and Bob!" said Jebediah to his team. Jeb showed the drawing of the design to his team. Everybody agreed and liked it. Alexander also knows the secret; 10 years ago when Alexander just moved to Ameschland, Jebediah dreamed of going the Moon. Together with his siblings he made a lunar lander, and they started making mockups, until they found the perfect one.

^^The Lunar Lander "Flea".

So they now have a Lunar Lander ready, what do they need to do now?

To be continued....