The Aquila Mission

It is 2023. Finally, the Altair is ready for launch; man is destined to walk on Mars. Commander Coby Brewster, Dr. Abby Denton, Pilot Vik Ivanov, and Dr. Ellie Accardi have been specially selected to enter deep space and study the asteroid Bennu and the comet 125P in preparation for mankind's first voyage to the red planet. The crew face thirteen long months in space, and Brewster wants things done by the book. But in the face of the unknown, even the best-laid plans count for little. When an electrical discharge almost kills Vik on Bennu, a leaking sample core tube threatens to infect the crew, and the telltale signs of sabotage appear, fear begins to fester. Each astronaut-an expert in his or her field-starts to wonder whether they'll ever make it back to Earth. Their only hope is to trust in, rely on, and love one another. The Aquila Mission is both a thrilling story of man's first journey beyond the Earth-Moon system and a carefully researched proposal for such a mission in the real world. Rigorously scientific and emotionally stirring all at once, The Aquila Mission is sure to appeal to fans of hard science and adventure alike. ----------------------------------------------- After a forty-four year hiatus since the landing of Apollo 17, we have now developed the technology to send a crew to deep space beyond the Earth-Moon system, to boldly go where only robots have gone before. We have not sent a crew beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo. We do have significant technology dedicated to crew habitat systems and long duration life support on the International Space Station (ISS). Technology today enables crewed deep space missions but we need vision and commitment to fund such a mission. We will look at heavy lift vehicles, crew modules, and mission costs. Science objectives are important to justify any deep space mission. The main purpose of this book is to propose the Aquila Mission, a crewed asteroid and comet rendezvous mission. Such a mission could be the first to send a crew to a heavenly body beyond the Earth-Moon system. This mission would serve as a necessary intermediate step to landing a crew on Mars. On September 12, 1962 President John F. Kennedy gave the "We choose to go to the moon" speech. When? By the end of the 1960s! That gave America eight years to accomplish the goal. We had not yet developed the technology and had not even sent John Glenn to orbit the Earth! Apollo crew missions to the Moon were accomplished on schedule and were perhaps the greatest achievement of humankind to date. The Apollo 8 mission preceded the Apollo 11 crew landing but was arguably the single most daring and aggressive crew mission in space history. Apollo 8 had the first crew to launch on a Saturn V booster. Apollo 8 had the first crew to leave Earth orbit. Apollo 8 had the first crew to enter orbit around another body in the solar system. Apollo 8 had the first crew to restart the Command/Service Module main engine to leave lunar orbit for return to Earth. Apollo 8 had the first crew to navigate back to Earth and reenter the thin blue line of Earth's atmosphere at over 40,000 km per hour. The proposed Aquila Mission crew will endure greater risks and set a bold new series of mission firsts beyond the Earth-Moon system.Our robotic exploration of the solar system has exponentially increased our knowledge of planets, moons, asteroids, and comets. A robotic mission gathers data but can only partially fulfill humankind's nature to explore in person. A human's senses and ability to reason with the unexpected cannot be replaced by a robotic mission operating remotely with long two-way communications delay with Earth. A crewed deep space mission will truly feed the human spirit and our nature to explore the unknown.

• | Author: Doug Cook
• | Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• | Publication Date: Apr 22, 2018
• | Number of Pages: 474 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Paperback
• | ISBN-10: 1717308406
• | ISBN-13: 9781717308405