Part 1 Preparing for Launch

P1 T1 vlog 1

Propellant loading...

Hi Everyone. Here I am; Tazz Anderson, a Geologist with a job to do. I’ve rattled up the tower in the elevator then crawled down through a hatch which they’ve sealed behind me. My ear defenders will help muffle the boom. The whole of the inside is no bigger than a large family car. And here’s me, wedged low down at the base of the cockpit in my space suit with its own oxygen supply, studying all the familiar panels and displays.

Systems propulsion...

Vehicle electrical...

Flight transmission system... GO!

The launchpad has been busy with people since dawn but now, at 3 in the afternoon, there’s no one in sight because they are enforcing the exclusion zone. I don’t feel alone though; I’m in constant contact with the ground through my friendly onboard computer MIC. MIC stands for Multioperation Inflight Computer.

Are you comfortable Tazz?

No!

Sorry to hear that

That’s OK, MIC. It’s not your fault.

When I talk to MIC, I’m looking at a monitor with a yellow smiley face. The Tec team have made a cool graphic of a moving mouth which does make

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our lives, do we? Maybe Christmas. How many sleeps to go? Or a holiday, or a party. It’s things we are excited about...we can’t wait for them to happen. That sounds about right then.

I feel pretty warm in here, MIC.

The heat regulation system in your suit should be operative, Tazz. Your blood pressure is a little raised.

Ok. It’s probably just the excitement.

They didn’t use to design suits for women but this one has been made

specially for me; snug like a wellington boot but around the whole of me, not just my feet. I have to sit with my knees squashed up. I’m already longing to stretch. Sometimes, when a kid is little, their mums and dads countdown to force them to do something, don’t they? There’s danger in a countdown; if you don’t get that room tidied, this bad punishment will happen.

There’s danger today, of course. But there’s calm at the heart of me.

GO FOR LAUNCH

Ignition sequence is starting...

Thanks MIC

30 seconds and counting...

The smaller engines must be lighting.

Affirmative

Out of the window, there’s the launch platform, like a complex system of

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