We’re going to the Moon…Part 1
“Dear Lord. Please look after our family on this beautiful Thanksgiving Day. Please watch over us as we plan our Christmas Vacation. In your name. Amen.” “I’m so glad you could all make it this year. Before we start discussing Christmas let’s start our meal. Please pass the turkey….”
Well, while we are eating, you were all told we were going to discuss our Christmas vacation trip this year. Our trip has been kept a surprise until tonight. This year, we are going to the moon. I know you are all surprised. It was such a great deal. Your mom and I got a call from our friend. He has a friend working at the space station and he told us that for $5,000 a piece we could go to the moon this year. We took him up on the opportunity
Now, Jen and Ben, you and the girls, Elly and Addy, will ride in the middle cabin. You all have window seats so it should be a great view. Kelsey and Ryan, you and your kids, Jaiden and Bodee, will fly on the upper deck. Again, all of you will have window seats. Uncle John, you will fly with your mom, Sandy and me (Terry). We are on the lower deck. Also, we all have window seats. “Could someone please pass the pumpkin pie?”
Now, we need to get to the command center a few days early to try on our suits. The center has received all our sizes. We will also use the centrifuge system to see what “G” forces feel like on takeoff and landing. The centrifuge practice will take 12 minutes for each of us in the centrifuge and approximately 30 minutes more at the site.
I want to stress that our command center is being powered by geothermal-created electricity. Our command center was one of the 1st sites powered by geothermal energy in the United States. The spaceport contracted with a company that drilled two miles underground, tapped into a super-heated area of rock and sent a source of water to that spot. This created steam that is sent to an energy creating station near the space center. This is creating a huge amount of inexpensive energy for the space center and in the past few months, energy for the surrounding community. This helped hundreds of families employed at the space center.
We did send the center suit sizes two weeks ago and we need to double check those sizes today. The suits cost over $2000 each how-ever, we are lucky as they have been so well constructed that they are getting 4 and 5 trips out of each suit.
We are the 48th, 49th and 50th families to fly to the moon and use this Sub-T hotel, which was built last year. It has 8 cubes with 3 bedrooms in each cube. It can sleep all of us in five sub-t cubes. As you know, this is like the Sub-T we stayed in last year in Montana. One family in each cube, and 4 human astronauts and 4 AI astronauts in the 4th and 5th cube.
Most of the sub-T is below ground to help maintain the average temperatures in the daytime and at night. We are coming in following 27 days of sunshine with 48 hours of daytime remaining. Most of our stay will be at night when we can view the stars. As you know, day temps on the moon are 250 F. and night temps are around -200 F.
We will have great observation decks; however, you will not be allowed outside on this trip. We will need to be very careful with daytime temperatures at 250 degrees when we arrive. Nighttime temperatures will be below -200 degrees in 48 hours. Your views of the stars will be awesome. They have to be inside views, however, from the observation platform because of the extreme temperatures. Any questions? Remember, no question is a bad question.
“Are there more families going to the moon this year after we go?”, asked Elly. Originally 2 more families were scheduled, however they are now going next year. We are the last to go to the moon this year. Plans are for us to leave in the morning on the 22nd and land on the 24th. We will spend Christmas eve in the Sub-T-Hotel3. This is the newest hotel on the moon and is partially underground. We will have two days of sunshine when we arrive. When we leave it will be in the dark and be a new year when we come back home.
We’re going to the Moon…Part 2
How have you all been for the past three weeks. I am so glad you all made it here to the space center. As you know we came yesterday to go over details. This afternoon we will meet the crew, try on our suits and practice those items we will need to perform during the trip. We will then load our supplies. We get to eat together at 6:30 pm this evening and we get to have most of your favorites, lasagna and pizza. In the morning you will be able to order your choice of breakfast in your rooms. Our crew will have loaded by 10 am, before we get to the ship. We have to be at the shuttle and ready to load by 10:30 am and be on the ship by 11:30. Our flight will be taking off by 12:30 pm.
Are there any questions? What is that question? “Will we have a movie on our trip to the moon?” asked Bodee. I said, “I had hoped for a question about stars, however, that is a great question. We will have access to movies, books and music on the way to the moon and in our rooms at the moon. Because we are going to the moon at Christmas time. We get to share some of the best Hallmark Christmas movies. While you take time to look at the stars you can also take time to watch movies, listen to your choice of books and listen to great music……. The space shuttle’s AI programs will have each person’s 3 favorite movies, 2 new movies and 2 favorite books. You’ve also been asked to list your 30 favorite songs. All of this information is available to each of you through your individual AI systems located in your helmets. In your family’s cube you will also have 85-inch TVs in the living room and 48 inch TVs in the bedrooms.
I would also like to share with you that our ship is getting energy from a small modular reactor fueled with uran-gallium. This is only the 5th trip to the moon with this reactor. Our Sub-T-Hotel also gets its energy from a modular reactor. Because of the long hot days and long cold nights it takes a modular reactor to provide the energy for the sub-T-Hotel. There is also a backup reactor in case something goes wrong with the main unit on the shuttle and a backup reactor for the sub-T-hotel.
I would like to stress that we have 2 live doctors on the shuttle and 2 live mechanics. We also have 4 AI staff. Each AI staff member will be loaded with all of our medical information. They are also engineers. The AI staff have so much info storage that they will each be able to act as Sudo-Drs and nurses…. This means that whichever AI staff is closest to you, they will be able to help in case of a medical emergency.
Also, in addition to the live mechanics all of the AI staff are trained shuttle mechanics. Each AI staff has direct contact with AI and live staff on earth. All staff have traveled to the moon on other flights; however, this is the first flight they have all traveled together. This is the most trained flight staff ever sent to the moon.
Again, each of us and our families are very fortunate to have this opportunity to fly to, and stay on the moon.
We’re going to the moon….Part 3
5, 4, 3, 2, 1 lift off….. Each family member and staff member feels 2 “Gs” of force. 1 G is what the gravity feels like by a person just being on earth. All of the family members handle the “Gs” well. Both families feel excited and
feel the rush as they lift off. They are now feeling the Gs they observed in videos and in practice lift offs.
Sandy and I feel the lift off also. We are older and the stress of the Gs affects us a bit more. We are not the oldest astronauts to fly; however, Sandy is 68 and I am 75. The oldest male astronaut to date was 90 years old and the oldest orbiting astronaut was John Glenn, 77. The oldest female astronaut was 82.
All astronaut seats start out laying at an angle. Then the specially design seats allow the astronauts to sit up like in a regular chair for the balance of the flight. When they reach the moon, the seats will again allow the astronauts to lie down, for landing, to help absorb the Gs.
In flight, on day 1 the skies over the earth are 30% covered with clouds. It is a beautiful sight. As we fly, we see the earth going from daylight to dark. This is like what happens to the moon when we look at it. While flying they all listen to their favorite music and when the earth becomes dark, they watch movies on their special headsets. Time goes by quickly as they talk with each other about the amazing sights followed by viewing their favorite movies.
Somehow, their great movies do not overshadow the great sights of the earth they have just seen. All fall asleep as it is midnight on day one.
Day two begins with breakfast for all. It is a light breakfast. Everyone has fruit. The kids look forward to their studies as they are looking at the snow leopard and view how it survives in the cold. When they land on the moon the temperature will be above 200 degrees and within 2.5 days the temperature will drop nearly 400 degrees. They will go from day to night.
The snow leopards can handle temperatures on earth of -40F which is not close to the cold on the moon, however it is still very cold. They have fur and a fur covered tail that can help keep them warm during cold on earth. They also have the color to help them blend into their surroundings to protect them from predators. The kids love to hear about snow leopards and would love to have one as a pet however snow leopards can weigh over 150 pounds and are too dangerous to have as pets.
After their light breakfast and their first class on the trip the students are ready to have mandarins and bananas for a snack and eat the peels of both.
The students learned that there are more nutrients in the peels of both of these fruits than in the actual fruit. They also learn that you do not have to waste anything.
Back with their families they all realize they are still nearly 30 hours from landing on the moon. Everyone has music for a few hours and observe the earth.
The students love a video about animals in Africa. They enjoy watching and hearing about lions, zebras, hippos and giraffes. These are great animals to study; however, they look forward to seeing the three small puppies on the moon. Rosy, Daisy and Duke have been at the space station hotel for 9 months and will be coming back to earth in March, after one year.
The three dogs were put to sleep while flying as it is easier for the dogs to sleep while in flight. It is also easier to keep control of the dogs while they sleep during the flight. Daisy and Duke weigh 20 lbs. each and Rosey is 7 lbs.
The kids will see videos of the dogs during this afternoon’s flight and can hardly wait to see them in person..
The students are watching three stars during the evening trip to the moon.
They can see Vega, Atair and Deneb. These stars are seen more clearly during the summer; however, they are visible all year. They are part of the Summer Triangle. Watching stars is not the favorite way to spend time with the kids. They like being presented with information and talking about it. When someone tells them a story about the stars It adds to their interest. The AI robots were told about this and in the future, they will add some stories to viewing the stars.
Day 3 is the landing day. They are all up at 7am. They have eggs, bacon and pancakes for breakfast. The earth is much smaller today. By noon they are 48 hours away. By 6 pm they will be 54 hours away. The plan is to land on the moon at 6:00 pm. This will make the trip one of the fastest trips to the moon. The moon will still be in day light and the earth will be in daylight when they land. Everyone will have great views of the earth. As the earth turns, they may be able to see a southern hemisphere hurricane. That big storm is heading for Australia. It is very large and dangerous. Australians were preparing for the storm while the families were preparing for their trip.
By noon everyone is getting ready to land. They did see the hurricane closing in on Australia. It was an awesome sight. The hurricane seen, they must be in their space suits. They must put their helmets back on. They have to have their air hooked up. While dressing the AI robots explained that the hurricane they saw had sustained winds of 145 miles per hour. Thiw is a category 4 hurricane. They also get to lay back in their seats. They get to talk with several family members from earth. They are all excited.
When they are two hours from landing it is back to the business of landing. They each review what they will do. They take a few last looks out of their ship. The ship slows. This ship is different from the original lunar module. The entire module lands and the entire module will return to space when they go home. The module contains many supplies needed fo this trip.
The lunar landing must be exact. They have to land very close so that a special unit from the hotel may be extended and contact the ship. A s they are coming in they hear 5, 4, 3, 2, 1….Landed.
The ship shakes. They hear motors operating and the ship shakes more. All helmets are still on. They cannot see a 7-foot-tall tunnel extending to the ship. It is attached with help from the AI robots. All family members are personally talked with by living astronauts. It is explained that in 15 minutes the air will be sanitized and cleansed. At that point family members are helped out with their helmets. The air is fresh and relief is felt by all. Their seats are back and begin to feel like chairs.
Helmets are taken off and members are asked to turn their bodies and stand. As all family members try standing several clap. They are happy. They talk with each other. AI robots begin explaining what is available for each family member to do. Each option includes viewing stars and different kinds of evening meals.
Supplies are coming in from the ship. This includes clothing and some equipment to look at the stars. Each family has a 1200 sq foot room. It has bedrooms for Dad and Mom and two children. Each child has their own room. There is only one window, in the living room, to view the outside. It is an 8 foot by 6-foot window facing, at an angle, that allows everyone to see the stars and not allow the sun to shine in.
The windows were created to handle the heat and the cold; however, the angle allows those inside to see the stars during the night. Night will last 6 of the days they are on the moon. The moon turns very slowly, and the days are 14.5 earth days long and the nights are 14.5 earth days long. They arrived on the moon with one day of sunlight left. They will leave in the dark in 4 days,
On the first night the kids and parents are all at the main viewing deck. The first 24 hours on the moon the glare is very challenging, so they wait until day 5 when they are in the moon’s nighttime to view individual stars and constellations. While on the deck they learn what equipment is available to use to view the constellations, planets and stars.
Going to the moon: Part 4
On Day 4, in class, the students study constellations they will view. Orion, Taurus and Video are three constellations they prepare to view. They will also study terms related to circles. Radius, circumference, diameter and pie are terms the students learn and review. The students also study the formula to determine the area of a circle.
The fourth day starts with sunlight disappearing. By noon, on day 4, darkness begins to happen. All supplies arrived during the nighttime; unloaded from the ship by the AI robots. They utilize some benefits of light still available for the last 12 hours of daylight. Everyone slept in until 8 am and then everyone had a great breakfast. All ham and eggs are freshly made; along with oranges and grapes. All were soon ready to go. Today is viewing the stars and another study of constellations.
Day 4 has another special event. The AI staff act as dentists. Each student and parents get to have their teeth cleaned. Cleaning teeth had never been done in space before today. The AI staff are very effective. It only t 30 minutes a piece for cleaning. There were no complaints from anyone. The AI robots told stories about stars and the planets. Stories about how clouds were made. The kids listened closely as they heard about how hurricanes were made. They learned why there were no clouds on the moon. The stories were so interesting they forgot about their teeth being cleaned. Sandy and John both had their teeth cleaned. So, did I. After 77 years I still have teeth, I am proud of them and they are very clean.
The study of circles helps the students relate to their movement around the sun. As part of their studies, they also learn some of their words in Spanish using Duolingo. This will help them when they return to earth and speak to various classes at school. They will not speak fluent Spanish however they will be able to share some words. After discussions at the viewing deck both families return to their rooms and fall asleep. When they wake up in the morning, on day 5, the sunlight will be disappearing and nighttime will begin.
The temperature started to fall during the day on day 3.. It is already down to 150 degrees by evening. When they wake up tomorrow morning the temperature will be “50 degrees”. By evening on Day 5 the temperature will be under minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Watching the stars has started to become easier. By 10 pm everyone is getting tired. Most are now watching a movie. By midnight the temperature is minus 75 degrees. By morning the temperature has fallen to minus 100 degrees. The sun will slowly disappear all day. The temperature will be under minus 200 degrees.
Going to the moon …Part 5
On day 5 students review the study of circles and begin the study of magnets. They study how they attract and repel each other. The students get to work with magnets in class. They put the North poles and the south poles next to each other and watch them attract each other. Then they put the north poles together and watch then repel each other. The question existed whether magnets would work the same on the moon as on earth. They found that they work the same accept compasses do not work the same because there is no lunar magnetic field.
The students then received 2 additional hours of star study. They learned about the North Star and Faling stars. The North Star is called Polaris. It is a yellow supergiant. Polaris has a diameter 46 times larger than the sun. It is 1000 times brighter than our sun. They also studied falling stars. The students learned that the falling stars are meteors. They travel into our atmosphere at 160,000 mph. About 25 million particles hit the earth’s atmosphere each day. These millions of particles equal over 48.5 tons daily. That is over 96,000 pounds in one day.
The students soon find out that the AI Robot lesson today is about the planets surrounding the Sun. Planets being talked about are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. There is so much to know. Planet temperatures range a great deal. Much of the discussion by the AI robots compare the other planets to earth.
Students learned the average earth surface temperature is 59 degrees. Venus has the hottest temperature at 867F and that falls to -375 degrees on Pluto. The sun is 25 million degrees at the core and only 10,000 degrees on the surface. It is very hot.
The earth travels around the sun at 66,000 miles per hour and the fastest planet, Mercury, moves at 29 miles per second or 107,000 miles per hour.
Neptune moves around the sun in 165 earth years. (0ver 60,000 earth days). The students find it amazing that in their lifetime Neptune will never make it around the sun. They learn that 1,000 earths can fit inside Jupiter. One day on Jupiter is around 10 hours even though it is so much bigger than earth. That is really big. The earth is 93 million miles from the sun. The students are impressed and overwhelmed with the numbers. This was a great lesson; however, the dogs fell asleep during the lesson.
The families are also having a birthday party for Elly and Uncle John. It is Alley’s 10th birthday and Uncle John’s 38th birthday. Uncle John is a very good mechanic. Uncle John has spent much of the trip talking with AI robots about how the spaceship operates and how the special engine works. He has started planning on how to use a design from the space engine for trucks he works on. He is hoping to save energy costs when he returns home.
A special strawberry cake was made for the birthday party. The kids asked if candles would light on the moon. The AI robots responded that outside of the hotel, the candles could not be lit as there is no atmosphere on the moon. There is oxygen in the soil, however, that would have to be mechanically set free, and it is not.
Inside the hotel the candles are lit as the hotel has oxygen in the environment and it is maintained at the same level as on earth. The puppies also get to come to the birthday party. They got to attend the class today for the first time. Though distracting, the dogs loved being around the kids and the kids loved the dogs. The AI robots supply food and water for the dogs. When sessions are finished, they return the dogs to their kennels and clean up as needed. The party is at 9:00 pm. The candles are lit on the cake, and everyone sings Happy Birthday. It is a great evening topped off by watching the stars.
Going to the moon…Part 6
On day 6 the families start with breakfast on the main deck. It is dark outside and will remain so the rest of the trip. The families can easily see the stars and constellations. Three constellations they talk about include Orion, Ursa Major and Cassiopeia. Orion, called the Hunter, is easily seen in winter months. This includes three stars in a row called “Orion’s Belt”.
Ursa Major is also called the “Great Bear”. This constellation includes the Big Dipper, which is used to find the North Star, Polaris. Finally, they studied Cassiopeia, the Queen. This is a W or M shaped constellation found in the northern sky. It is visible year-round. These three constellations are visible during the 6th day on the moon. The students and parents take turns viewing these constellations and the AI staff helped everyone locate the constellations.
The students love studying the stars when the AI robots tell stories about them. Studying the stars from the moon gives views that are not available on earth. They also get to discuss the moon’s surface. This includes sending out special robots that can collect soil and stones from the surface. Each robot has special lights. These lights allow the searching of the moon’s surface. The search is controlled by the students, their parents and AI robots on the trip. They have storage space on the rocket to bring back around 200 pounds of collections to study.
During 4 days on the moon, robots that can travel on the moon’s surface, are sent out. Each robot can travel about 10 miles from where they are staying. Much of this research is operated by AI robots with help from the humans on the trip and help from the staff on earth.
On this 6th day of the trip, our families discussed how we can empower our moon trip to help research items we can help those on earth with. We want our trip, the one we are taking, to help others.
Going to the moon…. Part 7
Our discussions, from day 6, cary over to day 7. After breakfast we discuss how someone as young as 10 years old can have input on helping the earth. It was discussed with the idea that we can start these discussions at young ages. These discussions can then be continued in classes, back on earth, when the students return to classes on earth. Two hours were given on day 6 for the students to share ideas and discuss questions they can take back to earth to share with other students.
There is some discussion about politics back on earth. The discussion centers around how the moon travel can help our homeland. It is limited to the points about how what students learn can help them help other students. The adults consider how what is learned can help all Americans and the entire world. These discussions take three hours on Day 7. They have three 1-hour discussions. There are breaks between each discussion. This takes the entire morning on day 7. Students have 2 one-hour discussions about how to share their experience with other students. They are well trained on how to help other students learn about their trip.
During the afternoon on Day 7 everyone discusses the materials recovered from the moon’s surface. The adults have three-hour discussions. It is broken into 3 one-hour research periods of time. Students, again, have 2-1-hour discussions in the afternoon and are helped by the AI robots to create educational materials for students on earth. This was serious work for the adults and for the students.
Now, everyone did get to watch some football from back home. Two games were chosen, before take-off, to be shown. They got to see Penn State play Clemson and Houston play LSU while on the moon. Also, through a first-time connection, they also had the opportunity to listen to Iowa play Vanderbilt on the trip home. Stars, education and football….it was quite a trip.
During both evenings on days 6 and 7, the families got to stay on the research / viewing deck. They had three hours each evening watching stars.
They also watched the planets. They got to share what they had been able to observe the last several days and nights at the space station. They started to discuss what the next three days would involve to prepare to return home and what the flight home would include.
Going to the moon…Part 8
Day 8 began with a smaller breakfast; not as big as some of the previous four days. They had 45 minutes to eat, and they had 2 hours to clean their rooms. Much of their supplies were loaded the evening before and this was time to prepare their last supplies. By 10:30 am everyone was trying to finish and had their supplies ready to be loaded for the return trip. By 11:30 everyone was out of their rooms and headed to the loading facility. By noon everyone finished putting on their equipment to fly. By 1pm all started loading. Final loading took until 2 pm. Take-off was scheduled for 3:30 pm. All staff were loaded by 2:45 pm. All checks were made by 3:15 and the countdown began.
All pre-checks occurred and at 3:20 the countdown started. Just before 3:30 everyone heard 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2,1 take off. The ship shook. They were soon back in space. They did not have to reconnect to an orbiting ship and went directly into orbit around the moon. By 4:30 pm additional checks were made and they were contacted from earth about readiness to start the travel back. They were soon traveling to earth. Again, all families have great views of earth as they return home.
The southern hemisphere hurricane has disappeared. Weather across the world looked great. It was appearing to be a great trip home. The engines on the spaceship were working well. At current speeds it seems we will return home by 6 pm on January 1, 2026. We are traveling well and everyone is talking about the great view of the earth. Everyone was also checking out their videos and music. All was working.
One Day 9 everyone was awakened to great views of the earth… The earth had grown in size. We were in flight for 16 hours when we got up. With new technology were travelling home faster than we had originally flown to the moon. Each family member had breakfast in the specially prepared meal pouches used for travel. They talked about what they had seen on the moon. They also talked about what they would see this afternoon for football games and what games they will watch tonight and tomorrow afternoon.
There was also discussion about whether they could see fireworks from the spaceship. The AI robots informed everyone that the fireworks were too small to see well from such distance as outer space. They did have the first special glasses to allow some vision of the fireworks. They were informed that they could watch the fireworks being televised on their space helmets. This was the first time this had been tried. Also, they were informed that they would get to view the Iowa football game that was playing during part of the trip home on December 31st.
Day 10…We come home….
On January 1st everyone wakes up and is excited about what the landing will be like. Everyone is getting their last views of the earth as we get closer to landing. We talked about the trip and ow great it was. It seemed to be ending quickly, and we all wished we had more time. We watched a little football.
We talked about how school would start in 7 days. We shared what we wanted to talk to our friends about. We made sure everything was operating correctly. It is nearly 6 pm. In 50 hours, we were landing at Cape Canaveral 10 days after liftoff. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. We are home.
