Sol 147
AMICITAS FLIGHT THREE – MISSION DAY 147
ARES III SOL 147
To: Cherry Berry (a1_48@ares.nasa.gov)
From: Melissa Lewis (mlewis@ares.nasa.gov)
Subject: One Commander to Another
I asked Dr. Shields to give me your email address so I could talk to you directly. First, how is Mark doing? He was always a handful to manage when he was on my crew. He always has these ideas he wants to pursue, and even if some of them are good, you have to ease him back on task without discouraging him. And then, of course, there are all the smartass remarks. He doesn’t mean to be disrespectful, but he definitely wouldn’t last long under any military discipline, let’s put it that way. I hope he’s not being too much of a pain.
To be honest, I’m writing you because I miss my sixth crew member. Mark Watney should have evacuated with the rest of us back on Sol 6. It was a very good thing for you and your crew that he didn’t, but I still feel guilty about leaving him behind. It was my duty to see him safely off the planet, and no matter why, I didn’t. I did everything I could, and I can’t think of anything I would have done differently, but the fact is that Mark is down there with you and not up here with me.
It’s a very heavy responsibility being commander of a spaceship, as you know yourself. You have to keep your crew active, motivated, and working together, even though they’re all highly skilled, strong-willed people with their own ideas, plans and hopes. You have to make sure their needs are met before your own. You have to correct them, discipline them, encourage them, and back them to the limit.
But the thing is, leaders aren’t alone. Just as I look out for my crew, so my crew have looked out for me since we left Mars. A good crew will support each other. Yes, they look to their commander for strength and purpose, but they will have your back when you need them.
How are your flight sims coming? I bet our flight systems are a lot different from yours. I wish I could have seen the inside of your ship for myself. From the pictures Mark sent, it must have been a fine ship before the crash. I’m sure you’re still proud of it. You should definitely be proud of your landing. I don’t know any human pilot who could have pulled off that crash-landing with everyone alive.
Write back to me when you have the chance. I want to hear how our systems look like from your point of view.
Cmdr. Melissa Lewis, USN
Mission commander, Ares III
To: Melissa Lewis (mlewis@ares.nasa.gov)
From: Cherry Berry (a1_48@ares.nasa.gov)
Subject: Re: One Commander to Another
I am sorry if my English is bad. I type slowly. Starlight helps.
Mark is fine. He tries to take care of us. He says a lot of things we don’t understand. I guess those are jokes, I don’t know.
It’s not the same thing, you and me. You wanted command. I only want to fly. Back home we have princesses to command. Here is only me.
Mark helps much. We follow his orders when in the Hab mostly. Rest of my crew helps too. Sometimes I wish they would help less a little.
Flying your ship is tough. The navigation system is all different. You have so many systems, not work together by themselves. I think your machines work better, but are not built as well as ours. What we build works, every time, or else we don’t fly it.
The main thing I see is that we use all the power, all the rockets, that we might need for the mission. You seem to use the least power, rockets, etc. you can and then hope nothing goes wrong.
Thanks for writing. I will write again.
Cherry Berry
Chief pilot, Bug-pony Space Program
To: Cherry Berry (a1_48@ares.nasa.gov)
From: Melissa Lewis (mlewis@ares.nasa.gov)
Subject: Re: One Commander to Another
One question: “Bug-pony Space Program”? Do you not fly for your country’s space agency?
Lewis
To: Melissa Lewis (mlewis@ares.nasa.gov)
From: Cherry Berry (a1_48@ares.nasa.gov)
Subject: Re: One Commander to Another
When we first started flying in space, Pony-Land Space Agency wanted only pegasi for pilots. Bug-ponies were only people need enough to try an earth pony pilot. We made it work. Now all space agencies work together. But I am still proud of what we did at Bug-pony Space Program.
Cherry
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I guess NASA is a lot more budget-limited than ESA/CSP. Imagine what NASA could do today with enough funding.
"and no matter what why, I didn’t"
"and no matter why, I didn’t"?
I hope that your trip's going well!
8825107
Could be partly that, could also be a fair bit more caution in most human space programs courtesy of multiple accidents killing people.
The pony and changeling space programs to date haven't had a single death. Without a single death, they have reason to be much less cautious in their building, and they haven't had deaths because of the genre. NASA has also had a budget to stick to, while Changelings as a whole devoted their funds towards the program and Twilight has the resources of a fairly prosperous nation to throw at the program.
Additionally, magic frankly makes it much easier for them. Systems can work autonomously, or are much more durable than equivalent human ones.
8825107
I'm not an expert but I think it has more to do with keeping as much fuel/resources in reserve as possible for when anything goes wrong.
Decent talk with Cherry/Lewis, though most of it feels like well-tread ground at this point.
Kinda wish the whole Pegasus-only thing didn't get brought up, but I don't imagine it will be a big thing thing here.
8825107
No, NASA just has to deal with the real world. CSA is a comedy, so it only needs to acknowledge reality when it wants to.
8825107
If the president was head of NASA? Yeah, funding would not be an issue. Then again, changelings obey their Queen without question, mostly. I'm pretty sure it was a [slightly] harder sell to the pony version of congress when Celestia got up there and said they were going to do this and the other thing by putting a pony in space. Still, being the beloved supreme leader of your country goes a long way when you want to get something done.
8825125
Fair points. I wonder if we'll actually manage to land on Mars within the next two decades.
Wait, what prompted this?
Did I miss something?
On another note, it occurs to me that humans have a good chance of reading...certain problems, in the declaration that Cherry wasn't allowed to fly because she was the wrong kind of pony.
I'm wondering how long it will be before the terms, 'Bug-pony Space Program' and Pony-land Space Agency' get into the public domain, and how much longer after that before the inevitable mods for Kerbal Space Program get made.
"Why are there eight pedals if there's only six directions?""
8825129
I'd like to see it happen too but with how slow NASA's become; the funding, defunding, refunding, oh wait, we're taking it back again... the constant yo-yo of permissions and directives isn't helping any.
I'm also really curious if Luna's been able to contact the crew or just the ponies? Her dream power is never truly explained and it's even more vague than "magic, don't gotta explain squat" as far a limitations go. Has the crew been experiencing nightmares? If not, was it Luna's doing or merely good luck until a doozy does hit?
8825112
Not quite the genre thing by itself; the pilots of all Equestrian races are, frankly, significantly more durable than humans. Their close calls would likely be human deaths.
Plus, the combination of magic making things cheaper/more accessible, the fact that space race craze was universal (even diamond dogs did it!), the fact that nations exchanged the tech and cooperated even with fairly cool Equestria/Chrysalis hive relations... Compared to the conditions under which human space program was learning to walk? And then swiftly almost forgotten after Soviet Union stopped being relevant*? To be fair, this IS the case of friendship and magic making a legitimate difference.
* after all, now the world desperately needs those railguns instead, to fight barely literate guys with AKs in pickup trucks...
8825130
No, they won't. NASA's original Mercury astronauts had to be pulled from a certain pool of elite test pilots. It wasn't about racial discrimination, the Mercury Seven also had to meet stringent physical requirements. When you need to fly in unfamiliar conditions, you pick the best fliers.
https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4407vol7.pdf
Page 130 is the qualification advertisement.
too bad the ussr and the usa didn't do this to go to space faster..... OH WAIT! he did but then he got a sniper bullet to the head and that ended that dream
8825238
and if we ignore the most experienced flying part: Pegasi ARE the first choice for "first attempts". If something goes south, without instantly exploding, then you want the pilot to be able to exit the vehicle an have a chance to survive.
Sure, won't help once you reach space, But while you are still inside the atmosphere, where you end while learning, a pegasi-"EVA" would end with the Pegasus landing under his/her own wingpower.
8825215
Another part is based on the changelings themself. They are idiots, at least most of them. They had to overengeneer every system to be idiot-proof.
Human death were due mistakes from humans most of the time. Changelings? They take making mistakes/idiotic decisions as a baseline and make sure those don't cause a Bad Day. Then add the fact that the CSP is the leading program AND trades the tech to the other agencies and you get all agencies working with said idiot-proof systems.
Really, CSP and ESA it's like Korolev and von Braun working together and having a nearly limitless budget. If something like this happens in our world I'm pretty sure that at this point we would already have a settlements on Mars, several cities on the Moon and so on.
8825130
8825238
8825253
Just wanted to add something from the previous story which might put things to context
This is what Berry had to say about reaction to her trying to get into Pony Space Program:
This is what Celestia said about her:
Do note how contradictory those two reasons are, Celestia states there is no openings and Twilight told Berry there was no openings for Earth Pony as a pilot due to "instinctual knowledge" of flight and Berry's license of flight was utterly disregarded. They do not even have their stories straight as of the reason. I also recall Berry being mocked for being an Earth Pony in the story but i wont read it over to find those cases.
And as humans go naturally someone will be triggered by this, it is part of the modern culture to react to this kinds of things quite heavily, and Earth Ponies in faraway dimention would make perferct silent things to protect while letting everyone know how virtuous you are. This is something which would happen definitely, but they DO have a leg to stand on.
Matter of Cherry Berry as a pilot was definately handled improperly, she had the qualifications, maybe even better than most Pegasi due to her reliance to flying apparatuses. And that is before even going to the "Canterlot Unicorns" and what they are doing.
8825324
"Instinctual knowledge of flying theory"...that's like saying a bird knows more of aerodynamics than a physicist.
Only one Pagasus innate flight conditioning wont get her killed in supersonic flight, because she is used to it. Cherry Berry learnt all the way, the hard way.
That, and Earth Ponies are much tougher than humans, and the occasional human survives impacting the ground at terminal velocity.
The biggest problem with space access isnt getting it built by the lowest bidder. Its getting it built by who claims to be the lowest bidder. Who have to know little to nothing for what theyre bidding for, as long as they can say that they are purchasing the expertise from elsewhere to cover it at some time before the contract is due. Creative Accounting.
8825324
IIRC (and I totally could be wrong) Daring Do and Fluttershy were both technically back up pilots for the ESA at the beginning of that story. Yes, that Fluttershy
Now you can make the case that this was more about Twilight and company wanting to prioritize friendship over expertise in the field (and it's not a bad case), but it is sad that Pegasi with little or terrible flight experience were prioritized over an actual pilot.
A thing to note, other than Rainbow Dash getting angry at Cherry Berry there wasn't much blowback from her working with the Changelings. They didn't even attempt to recruit her back.
8825382
I checked that quickly and you are correct.
Fluttershy was indeed considered more qualified for space flight than Cherry Berry. Could be that "Instinctual knowledge of flying theory" and more keen reflexes which made her more prominent choise.
I'd trust most Earth Ponies as a pilot over Fluttershy any day.
Well, maybe not Applejack.
Cherry may not want to be in command, but this was still some great interaction between commanders. I think this may be exactly what Cherry needs to get some more confidence.
You know, while checking out CEP I just find out this interesting extract:
Apparently, even after finding out about Mark's race, she didn't make the connection.
8825455
"Ah said,i want to fly that thingamajig-" Applejack pointed at the rocket "-`round the world,to see if the world bein`round is horseapples or not!"
"Oh you poor stereotypical earth pony farmer," Mocked Chrysalis. "I bet you want to take your brother for a ride too- if you haven't already."
The last thing Chrysalis remembered after that was a dirty horseshoe coming for her face.
You know. One would have to wonder if the pony 'harmony' is helping their systems play nice together. Using magic instead of science, less voltage leaking, less cross wiring... More interdimensional travel and lost socks.
Gotta weigh your options.
8825133
Oh that is GLORIOUS!!!
"Target aquired."
"That's not a target. That's Mars."
"Target locked."
"What?! No! Target unlock! Target UNLOCK!!"
8825125
8825121
8825107
Keep in mind that the vast majority of labor in CSP is unpaid changeling drones. They also use a LOT of off-the-shelf technology and compensate with expanded design tollerances.
8825382
Or maybe the fact that Fluttershy actually seen fly equal to Rainbow Dash in the show, so she is quite capable flier.
Of Course the story mostly used this as a reason to have Berry fly for CSP instead of the ESP and nothing else. If capability would truly matter than The Princesses and the Queen would be the only pilots, they much better in every sense then the others.
8825757
Science is, according to wiki, "a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe". In case of ponies magic is part of their world and their science and not some nonsensical thing that antagonistic to science. In CSP it been established, as far as I remember, that magic have it's own working magic theory, research, tests, and all other things that attributed to science.
8825982
I was implying that maybe magic follows different, more helpful rules in this circumstance than mundane sciences. I'm aware both are logical unto themselves.
Voltage and current, for example, are used for analog reading, but metal can interfere and cause voltage drains and drops that lead to inaccuracies. Maybe magic reads cleaner all the time, ergo they've never had those failures.
Did Equestria ever have the infamous 'bug' in a circuit? Would it even have had the same results?
Magic certainly allows for different options and you can't deny that.
the fact that twilight was stupid enough to demand only pegasai was from my point of view one of the things that shot her program in the hoof. pegasai are masters of in atmospheric flight, but most astronauts would claim that makes them less then under qualified for space travel.
8826035
Are you sure that magic doesn't have its own problems like.. I don't know... 'bug in spell matrix'? And I'm sure that our ancestors also really lucky that our world doesn't have a hyperintelligent animals like we see in the show which in my opinion also a byproduct of magic.
In general, I doubt that magic comes only with positive things.
8826050
As far as I remember most of the first cosmonauts/astronauts also been a "masters of atmospheric flight".
8825395
Because Twilight at that time had convinced herself that pegasi make the best pilots and thus only pegasi were treated as pilot material on the pony side of the space program.
Yes, Twilight was being an idiot - as per usual.
Oh you poor naive fools. You are really having this much problem understanding redundancies?
How aren't they dead yet?
8826392
I am pretty sure they have lower gravity,super-durable magical materials,cheap and safe magical materials processing techniques,cheap magical component manufature,instant full component and spacecraft analysis spells,magical life support,more durable astronauts,real-time FTL comms in third-person view,lack of serious space debis,ability to scry for space debris if it is there and on it goes.
Without magic,they would simply glue a cardboard box onto a rocket booster. Oh wait. They did.
I'm afraid British Summer Time (which kicked in on Saturday) has really scuppered staying up to see new chapter updates for me. It's 3.50 a.m. here, and I'm bowing out for the day. Catch you in the morning about eight hours after everyone has already had their say on the new chapter
8826872
5 AM here, know the feeling.
Goodmorning!
wasn't this chapter uploaded yesterday?
8825133
Must not be thinking with portals.
8825133
Isnt it obvious? One is the gas pedal and the other one is brakes
So basically human technology is super effective while equus ones are super efficient?
8832015
Other way around.
8835244
Both ways around. :)
I think Cherry just don't want to admit she don't quite get how it works, and the two are closely equal.
Cuddlebug space program!
8826080
Yeah, I'm pretty sure most of all of the first astronauts were pilots. Test pilots even. It's one thing being a pilot and flying well tested designs. It's a whole other level being the first guy to fly a new design and hope it actually works correctly!
I guess changelings are all fliers anyway... they didn't need any more of those.
Oh, and I see a certain bug-pony has still not shared her vocabulary upgrade for the term "bug-pony".
Um...I mean Cherry was certainly a force for stability, caution, and common sense in a program that desperately needed it. But this is probably not a fair assessment of CSP.