Breaking Orbit

by milesprower06

Liftoff

The orange-colored Launch Entry Suit, or LES, was certainly the bulkiest set of clothing Apogee had ever worn. She was pretty sure she could compare it to a thick winter coat, had she ever worn one. But with the coldest temperatures recorded in Las Pegasus being well above freezing or even approaching chilly, she could only imagine. The LES was a partial pressure suit that was to be worn by all crew members during the launch of EQSA's new Space Shuttle Orbiters. The craft wouldn't be able to completely escape Equss' orbit, but they were the last crucial step in beginning the construction of the long-planned Equestrian Space Station, or ESS.

It was going to be the largest astronautic undertaking in EQSA's history since the Apono Program that landed ponies on the moon. The shuttle orbiter's large and expansive cargo bay made it possible to take the station's separate modules up to Low Equss Orbit, where they would then be assembled into a functioning space station. This assembly process reminded Apogee that the LES used for the shuttle launch was the least of her mobility woes. The Extravehicular Activity, or EVA suit was even bulkier and required even more time to get into... But still, she couldn't wait to get into it up there.

The pegasus stood as comfortably as she could as a couple suit technicians around her helped fasten and secure the suit, making sure everything was functioning properly. Around her in the massive fitting room were nearly identical holding areas where each of her six shuttle crew members were also getting helped into their suits, with various machines and racks and shelves of spare suit pieces lining the outer walls. She wasn't the very first shuttle pilot; the first shuttles with ESS modules began to launch barely a month into her employment with EQSA. It was six months of training, classes, simulations, and tests before she was fully qualified to sit at the controls of a space shuttle. But she tried her best to be in no hurry; the station would be years or maybe even decades in the making and using, and she was still participating in the opening months of assembly and operation. Being in a hurry would only complicate things. As exciting as her very first shuttle launch was, one of the most important things was to keep a calm and level head during all points of the mission.

But for as long as she had worked for this, as many times as she had practiced getting in and out of the LES and EVA suits and going over pre-flight checklists in preparation for today's launch, sometimes it was rather difficult to keep one's excitement down. As the suit techs lowered and began to fasten the helmet and visor, her eyes glanced to the left, to a steel flight-rated briefcase sitting on a small table in her fitting area, and her smile widened slightly.

After the solar panels already on board the shuttle, that case was her most precious piece of cargo that would be going with her into orbit. It took a bit of convincing with Mission Control, but her test scores, reputation, and simulator performance helped EQSA's most promising pilot get some personal items onto the shuttle manifest.

With a final twist, a metallic click and a soft momentary hiss of air, the helmet was locked and her suit was sealed.

"Alright Apogee, you're all set." The head suit tech told her, his voice muffled from the sealed suit's isolation. She gave him an affirmative nod, and she walked over to the table, and grabbed the case, before the techs began to escort her and her crew to the launch pad.

In just under four hours, she would be in orbit.

She hadn't spoken to her dad since she had accepted EQSA's job offer seven months ago, and if she was honest with herself, it was bothering her less and less as the weeks passed. Her childhood fantasies had faded years ago, and far more obtainable adulthood fantasies had taken their place.

Her imagination had seen her through her first 16 years; euphoric headspaces of a happy, functioning family. Birthday parties, vacations to destinations far away from the deserts of Las Pegasus. She would lose herself in them as she silently cried herself to sleep most nights, always under the blankets, out of earshot of her father.

Those fantasies stopped being a comfort after her mom had shared the truth with her; that she had been the result of a desperate attempt to glue a family together by one half, and an unwanted burden that had driven away the other half. Her mom gave her life, her dad gave her a roof and an education, and she had suddenly decided that those were going to have to be enough. She wasn't sure why their hatred for each other consistently overpowered their love for her and her desire for a normal family, but she decided that she wasn't going to be a burden, imagined or otherwise, to anypony again. Thus, her imagination gave way to pure determination.

For how hard she had pushed him and Diamond Gavel for mandatory visitation with Delta, Jet was perplexed when she came back from those two days completely uninterested in going back. She was afraid he would push the issue, but since she was coming up on her junior year of high school, he decided to accept the role of a single parent once again, and let her focus on her schoolwork.

It had worked amazingly. The previously academically-struggling Apogee saw her grades and test scores skyrocket almost overnight. She wasn't sure how her body turned heartache into brainpower, but you didn't look a gift horse in the mouth. But just when you think the past is over and done with, it sometimes had a nasty habit of rearing its head all over again, and one of the hardest-stinging moments of her late teenage years came right before she was going to graduate as valedictorian of Las Pegasus High School North. Jet thought he would take one last shot, and invite Delta to the graduation ceremony.

...Only to discover that she had died in her bed the week before. The coroner couldn't be absolutely certain what did her in first; the booze or the cocaine, both in her system at lethal levels at the time of autopsy... Or the lungs that looked like they came from a 70-year old chain smoker. There was no will, no next-of-kin listed, and barely a bit to her name; the junkyard property was virtually worthless; only its square acreage brought the value up to a laughable 5,000 bits.

When Apogee received the news, she locked herself in her room and had one of the longest cries since her mom revealed the circumstances of her birth to her two years prior. She fell asleep that night not really knowing how to feel. Though she had tried to ignore the hurt that had started to fester when her mom never came around, the last sliver of the exuberant filly hoping against hope for a family had vanished by the time she woke up the next morning.

It had taken her most of the next week to steel herself, but she assured the school administration that she could go on with commencement and her valedictorian speech. When she stepped off of that stage and halfheartedly into her father's arms, diploma in hoof, and scholarship offers all around, she decided that she would continue fighting. Not fighting for her family, but fighting for her future.

But first, there was the two months of summer to consider, and she was determined to use it to, literally, bury the past. While she told her dad that she was taking a summer sabbatical to see Equestria before she settled into college, in reality, she had taken the considerable sum of bits he gave her as a graduation gift, and headed just 40 miles south. She purchased the next-to-worthless deed to her mom's junkyard back from the city, and spent the majority of the bits having nearly every scrap of metal on the property melted down, fence and old trailer included.

Apogee's reminiscing was brought to a halt by the mid-morning sunshine and tropical wind of Cape Caneighveral as she and her crew stepped out of the Operations and Checkout Building at EQSA Headquarters, with the shuttle orbiter Harmony, hard docked to a trio of massive rocket boosters on the launch pad that dominated the horizon four miles away.

---

Jet Stream came to a soft landing on one of the low grassy hills surrounding Cape Caneighveral and the South Luna Ocean. It was off the official property of EQSA proper, wasn't quite as good a view as the grandstands 3.5 miles from the pad, but he caught the last flight here, and there were no seats left if he went through the Visitor Complex. Up on this hill, 5 miles from the pad, was as close he was going to get right now. He could still hear the loudspeakers, announcing that all crew members were on board and pre-flight checks had begun. In about an hour, those rocket boosters would be taking that shuttle into the sky.

The first test flights of the space shuttle were carried out every few weeks, and needed minimal supplies, as they spent very little time in orbit, if any. Once the actual orbital missions began, launches were often months apart, as they required more planning, fuel, and supplies.

EquestriAero had been a critical supplier for these first shuttle missions. His company had been responsible for most of the rocket fuel, as well as a good portion of the on-board consumables, and Jet had access to each shuttle's crew manifest, so he had known for several weeks that this would be Apogee's first spaceflight. Still struggling with his personal feelings about Apogee's professional choices, he had internally debated, clearly for too long, whether or not to come to this launch. Which was why he was back here on an isolated hill of grass instead of with all of the other spectators in the viewing area.

It was as good as he was going to get.

---

"Pre-flight checks complete, Mission Control. Everything is in the green." Commander Comma Cloud said into her headset flipping one final switch on the console above her.

"Copy that, Harmony, we are T-minus 3 minutes."

Commander Comma Cloud sat in the right front seat of the Harmony's cockpit. To her left, sat Shuttle Pilot Apogee. Behind them, sat their Payload Commander, Mission Specialist, Flight Engineer, and the two Payload Specialists that made up their crew of seven. With their current vertical orientation, behind them in the cargo compartment, were the secured pieces that would make up the second wing of the ESS's solar array, and enough crew consumables for the six months they would be up there.

Apogee had never been away from home for six months, not even for college; let alone off the planet for six months. For a split second it made her nervous. But then she thought back for a moment at what she had accomplished in just half a year. It was breathtaking and at times, unbelievable. She had stopped yearning for something most other fillies and colts had within easy reach, and in just under three minutes, plus another eight-and-a-half minutes of some of the most intense velocities imaginable, she would reach something only a few other ponies had achieved, something countless beings on Equus still considered unobtainable. The irony was not lost on her.

The cockpit shuddered for a moment as she looked out the window at the central and massive liquid rocket booster that the shuttle was attached to, and the sky waiting above them.

"Harmony, fuel pumps are primed, we are T-minus 2 minutes to launch." Apogee heard through her headset.

"Copy that, Control. 2 minutes." She replied, her eyes carefully monitoring fuel pressure as it steadily rose in preparation for ignition. It was like clockwork to them with all the times they had practiced. For the Commander and Payload Commander, this was routine, as they had prior spaceflight experience under their belt. But for the other five, this was a first, and would no doubt be the ride of a lifetime.

"Harmony, we are T-minus 60 seconds. All external access arms are retracted. Ignite the main engines at T-minus 5 and solid boosters at T-0." Mission Control instructed.

"Acknowledged, Control. We are go for launch."

---

"Launch in 10... 9... 8... 7... 6..."

Jet Steam saw the plumes of fire erupt from the shuttle at the five second mark. Those were nothing compared to the vibrations he felt from five miles away as waves of smoke and fire spilled from the solid rocket boosters, and slowly but surely, the shuttle began to ascend with its four and a half million pounds of fuel.

"We have liftoff!" He barely heard the loudspeaker exclaim over the roar of the rockets. The shuttle had cleared the tower in just under 8 seconds, and continued to accelerate towards the blue expanse above them, twin pillars of fire erupting from the solid boosters that left trails of smoke behind. The shuttle's trajectory began to slowly curve over the ocean, and it was nearly a speck against the sky when he saw the twin boosters separate and begin to fall towards the ocean, and the liquid booster and the shuttle it carried disappeared into the heavens by the two minute mark. Jet managed the faintest of smiles.

She had done it. She had actually done it.

Euphoria, pride, disappointment, and shock all clashed in him as he made his way off the hill down towards the Luna Space Center Visitor Complex. At the very least, the distance from which he watched the shuttle launch from all but assured he'd get to the building before all the other spectators at the main viewing area. The next flight back to Las Pegasus wasn't until this evening, so he might as well take a look around the visitor area of his biggest and most frequent contractor.

It was a five minute glide down to the complex, where he saw the large EQSA globe surrounded by shrubbery just outside the main entrance. To the right, was the Rocket Garden, where various launch vehicles from programs and missions passed were put on permanent display, for visitors to look at the beginnings of this new age for Equestria. He glanced at all of them, from the absolutely massive Selene V rocket, to smaller ones that had put the first satellites in orbit, even spotting one of the prototypes he and Delta had worked on in years past. With that, he headed into the main entrance.

After the front desk, the complex began to branch off immediately, depending on which part of EQSA's 40-year history you wanted to have a closer look at. Jet looked at the map directory, and found the Space Shuttle exhibit, second from the right, and made his way into the large room.

There were all manner of information kiosks containing pictures, diagrams, definitions, and scale models, all explaining and sharing the history and development of EQSA's latest venture in pony space travel.

"Fancy seeing you here, Jet." He heard a voice greet him from behind. He turned, and saw a colleague he'd become familar with.

"Solstice? I was wondering what had happened to you. Haven't dealt with you in months. What, you get tired of managing supplies and manifests?" He greeted in return, coming up and offering a wingshake to the fellow pegasus.

"In a manner of speaking. I needed a change of pace, so they transferred me to direct operations here at the Visitor Complex for a season or two. It's great. More and more ponies come every week. You just come from the launch?"

"Yep." Jet nodded. "My flight home isn't until tonight, so I figured I'd come in and see what you guys have done with the place."

"Well, take all the time you need, Jet. If you need anything just..." Solstice trailed off as he noticed he had lost the cream-coated pegasus' attention as he stared off towards the far wall of the room, where two dozen photographs hung.

Solstice followed their contracted supplier as he slowly stepped towards the wall that displayed the official portraits of the Space Shuttle Program's crew members. Jet's eyes were locked on the bottom right one. He raised a trembling hoof as he softly touched the bottom of the frame.

"You know her?" Solstice asked, aware that the aging stallion had been quite obviously affected by the picture. Jet barely nodded as his eyes started to become wet.

"My daughter." He answered, his voice filled with awe.

Jet took in all the details of Apogee's official portrait. She was in an orange spacesuit, her right hoof resting on her helmet, which was sitting in front of her on the table. The Equestrian national flag was presented behind her, as well as patched onto her suit's left sleeve. His gaze rose up to her face; her lively ruby eyes, and that smile... That infectious, pearly white smile overflowing with pure joy, and he found himself having to blink away tears.

"That was taken just yesterday. She just went up today on Harmony. Flight controllers say she's one of the program's youngest... and best. You should be proud, Jet. She's gonna do great things." Solstice told him, patting him on the shoulder.

"I bet she will." Jet replied, his voice quivering.

"Welp, I've got a building to run. Enjoy yourself, and let me know if you need anything. See you around, friend!"

Jet didn't notice Solstice turn and walk away, attending to employees and visitors alike. He just kept staring at Apogee's portrait, for exactly how long, he didn't know, but all of a sudden it felt like somepony had just dropped a boulder in his gut, as he turned, and hurriedly left the building.

Comments

[overlord-flinx]

Not bad at all. Hope to see more sometime.

[Thunder-Bolt]

Good shit man. Good shit.