The eagle leaves the nest
Deep in the night a lonely L001D Eagle 01 stands on top of an Arrow IIIB2 for a sub-orbital flight test, it blasted off in a ballistic arc and engineers checked out all systems before the thing fell back and burned up in the atmosphere.
“Capcom, all systems are green, the mission is a success,” Gene reported.
A few days later Eagle 02 took off, this time angling the approach more and heading for an orbit that would allow a low-cost Rendez-vous with the UKSS.
The guidance system had some issues, so UKSS took control and docked the spacecraft with the unused port on the Salyut 01. There it would stay and perform duration tests of the life support systems.
Reusing shuttles
Two days later X400B Orbiter 03 launched, this time with a serious compliment of crew. The craft took aggressively, and dumped the external tank, just before circularization.
On board were tourists: Dizon, Doodald, Leesbuy, Shefield, Brooke who had paid a small fortune for the ride. In the cockpit, pilot Samus Kerman and Bill Kerman glanced over the controls and made a solid dock with the space hotel.
After an easy dock, Bill started immediately with an inspection of the Eagle’s exterior systems and instruments. He then powered up the craft and performed automated docking maneuvers until the system was perfect.
He did some free flight testing and dock, left the craft docked to the station as a training vehicle for upcoming missions. “Bill here, all systems green. This bird is ready to fly.”
Two days later Castor 6 returned with Thomwin, Dizon, Dobal and Bill after an uneventful deorbit and landed safely at Desert airfield.
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