He looked directly at Tom and Luke. “So, gentlemen, you are headed to Mare Serenitatis. The Sea of Serenity.”
Luke rolled his eyes. “Idiots!” he muttered.
“Okay, it boils down to two main new objectives,” Gene said. “One—do a rendezvous and close approach to this Almaz, and linger there long enough to accomplish the DoD’s objectives.” He thought a second. “Any idea what success looks like to them, how much maneuvering will be involved and how long we’ve got there?”
“On the order of an hour, maybe two,” Kaz said. “You’ll need to burn some fuel in order to position Pursuit to take detailed photos. Success is a close look-see. Nothing the Soviets would see as hostile.”
“Then we land in the”—Gene glanced at the blackboard—“Le Monnier crater, where we do how many EVAs?” E-V-As, or Extra Vehicular Activities.
“Our first guess is that one moonwalk is all we’ll have oxygen and fuel reserves for,” Kaz replied.
Gene stared into space for several seconds, calculating. They hadn’t saved Apollo 13 by guessing. “We’ll see about that. But for now, we plan on one EVA. What exactly does the DoD want Tom and Luke to do on the Moon?”
Kaz counted on his fingers. “A detailed survey of the area. A close-up of the Soviet rover to check out its latest sensors and discern its purpose. Retrieval of rock and dust samples, to see what is so interesting to the Russians.”
“Michael can get good area imagery passing overhead,” Gene said. “We’ll lower his orbit as close to the surface as we can.”
Michael added, “I’ll need another long lens for the Hasselblad.” Gene nodded.
Kaz looked around at the group, now all deep in thought, revising, replanning, updating their options. Like five high-speed problem-solving computers.
Tom broke the silence. “A more fundamental ops question, Kaz. Who came up with this and who’s actually in charge?”
Kaz paused. Spaceflight, like test flying, relied on the crew’s sense of control. Al Shepard, America’s first astronaut, had set the tone when he sat atop his Mercury rocket after hours of delay and said, “Why don’t you fix your little problem and light this candle?” You couldn’t tell a test pilot or an astronaut that their opinion mattered less than the people pulling the strings. Or a flight director, either, especially not one as experienced as Gene Krantz.
“We want to keep Apollo 18 as close to a normal mission as possible. Training, development, launch, flight ops and return will all be run by NASA, as usual. The difference will be at the management level. In addition to your Flight Ops Department here in Houston, representatives from the Air Force, the National Security Agency and the White House will work together. They’ll have their people here starting later this week, and they’ll be around throughout the flight.”
Chad, who had remained quiet until now, laughed out loud. Kaz knew these men’s years in the military had ingrained in them a mistrust of political meddling, especially with NSA spooks involved.
Luke shook his head, summarizing it in US Marine terms. “What a clusterfuck.”
Tom looked around at his crew. “This is actually going to be pretty interesting, guys. We still have the mission components we’ve been training for, but with added pieces that make perfect sense for us as military astronauts. A chance to do some stuff that no other Apollo crew has done—rendezvous with a non-cooperative foreign target in Earth orbit, and run what is essentially a military reconnaissance op on the Moon.”
Chad piped up. “It’s going to require some really efficient flying. Previous missions’ fuel reserve margins are going to have to be shaved all the way down the line.” He looked pointedly at Michael, Pursuit’s pilot, and Michael nodded soberly.
“So, Kaz, what exactly is your role in this?” Gene asked.
“They sent me down here as liaison—to translate what Washington wants for you, and to tell Washington what you can deliver. My aim is to free you guys up to concentrate on training while I run interference with management.”
Luke was the one who laughed aloud this time. “Mismanagement.”
Gene spoke again. “So you need to be in on everything for this to work, Kaz. We’re going to be buried in the details, working the problem, building something that will hold together. I’m going to need you in Mission Control from here on out, attending all the sims.”
Kaz nodded. “Of course, Gene. I figured as much, and that’s what I told the folks in Washington would happen.”