NationStates Jolt Archive

THE DREAM OF A NATION REALIZED
Howard Nims Orbits Earth

CRETAL CITY, CRETAL (CFP)-A national holiday was declared today as the citizens realized a shared dream: to send a traveler into space. Heavenaut Howard Nims orbited the earth four times before his craft landed safely in the Kythian Sea to a hero's welcome.

Following a medical evaluation that declared him free of any extraterrestrial diseases, the new national hero addressed a crowd of wide-eyed students and families on Democracy Hill, the famed demonstration site at the National University here in the capital.

"My countrymen, I did not know if I would return alive. We did it! We touched the fabric of the heavens, and I saw the earth as one might see the sun or moon, a celestial body adrift among an infinity of others. I am confident that someday we will not only land on the Moon, but we will visit Mars and beyond. By we I mean all the people of Cretal. All of us will one day be able to safely travel into space. We can if we believe, if we support our space program, and we never lose the national spirit of adventure," he said.

The Cretalian Space Agency is pleased to announce that it will begin work on the Pilgrim program, unmanned craft sent to fly by the planets of the solar system and hopefully someday reach deep space.

And the Cretalian Parliament has voted to cut military spending to 5% of the GDP, leaving a full 5% for the space program.

The President of Parlim applauds your effort.

We offer you the use of our space vehicle launching facilities for small space-bound objects (in reality a modified ICBM launch facility). If the object is small enough, we can provide you cheaper launch costs.

Prince William I sends his congratulations to your people and space program. While our terrain and lack of a navy for recovery operations prevent us from exploring space, we would be happy to cooperate with you on the production of measurement equipment. Furthermore, should you choose to send machines or people to other bodies in our solar system, we would be happy to offer our weather sensing and all terrain vehicle technologies.

Prince Willaim I,
High Ruler of Asheville

Lord Martin of Skyland,
Minister of Science

The Star Empire of Thunderstraat sends the near-obligatory letter of congratulations to Cretal along with a gift set for Mr. Nims' wife and a brand-new toy pen for his kids.