NationStates Jolt Archive


Telewest Launches It's First Space Rocket

16-01-2004, 20:46
Friday January 16, 19:23 hrs

St Drenadune, Telewest (Telewest Today)
http://members.lycos.co.uk/sharpcircle/space2.jpg
The 16th of January will long live in the memory of Telewestians. At exactly 19:00, Milwamber, supreme ruler of Telewest, sat in his luxuary box and gazed skyward, watching the fruits of many years hard work and billions of bloodcoins. Today was the successful launch of Titan 2. Over 60 million people watched the launch at home with trepidation after Titan 2's predecessor Titan 1 exploded less than 2 miles from its launchpad.

Titan 2's primary mission is to simply orbit the globe for 4 days and hopefully land back here at St Drenadune Airforce base. Its seven crew,( Commander John Harford, Mission Specialist Janet Frinten, Mission Specialist Frank L Renford Jr, Mission Specialist Grant Wanten, Mission Specialist Helen Rogers, Mission Specialist Timothy Howard and Pilot Simon Michaels) will guide Titan 2 around the globe and perform menial tasks to see how space travel affects their daily lives.

Milwambers eventual goal is to colonise parts of the solar system, starting with the moon as he told us earlier today " Space is the last refuge of a dying race, we need to get off this rock as soon as possible and I plan to be living on the moon or mars within the next 20 years". Strong words from our illustrious leader. The question does arise however: Is this just another way for Milwamber to waste our tax money? Leading scientist Elric von Thrinburg doesn't think so. "For all our leaders faults I think he's hit this one right on the head, this planet is not going to sustain us forever and we will need somewhere to retreat to once we've suitably damaged Mother Earth to the point of no return"

So there you have it, Telewest are finally in the space race, we'll all sit and pray that Titan 2 arrives home safely on the 20th - Godspeed.
17-01-2004, 01:22
^^
Kecha
17-01-2004, 01:23
*Applause*.
17-01-2004, 22:52
Saturday January 16, 21:00 hrs

Telewest (Telewest Today)


First video feed from Titan 2.

Yesterday saw the the first sucsessful launch of Telewest's space rocket, Titan 2. The launch went like clockwork:

T plus 2 min - The SRBs separated from the orbiter and fuel tank at an altitude of 28 miles (45 km). The main engines continued firing. Parachutes then deployed from the SRBs. The SRBs then landed in the ocean (about 140 miles (225 km) off the coast of St Drenadune.
Several tugboats recovered the SRBs and towed them back to St Drenadune for processing and re-use.

T plus 7.7 min - The main engines throttled down to keep acceleration below 3g's so that the shuttle didn't break apart.

T plus 8.5 min - The main engines shut down.

T plus 9 min - The ET separated from the orbiter. The ET then burnt up upon re-entry.

T plus 10.5 min - The OMS engines fired to place Titan 2 in a low orbit.

T plus 45 min - The OMS engines fired again to place Titan 2 into a higher, circular orbit (about 250 miles/400 km).

The astronauts are currently orbiting Earth at a speed of 18,000 miles an hour (25 times the speed of sound). This means that they will see the sunset and sunrise 16 times in a 24 hour period. In 4 days the men and women up there will see a total of 364 sunrises and sunsets, nearly a years worth.

At 21:00 hrs Commander John Harford sent the first live video feed from space. He said that all the crew were doing fine, the food was lousy and the sunsets spectacular, if a bit frequent. He gave thanks to Milwamber for giving him the opportunity to see the spectacular sight of Earth from space and thanked every Telewestian for their thoughts and prayers.

The astronauts will continue their study of human behaviour and the effect of zero G on the body.

Titan 2 is scheduled to attempt te risky re-entry on Monday at approximatly 18:00hrs if everything goes to plan. This is one reporter that will be extremely happy to see the brave men and women of Titan 2 brought back down to Earth safely

Glossary
SRB - solid rocket boosters
ET - external fuel tank
OMS - orbital maneuvering system
Orbiter - the space shuttle
18-01-2004, 07:46
^^