2001 SPACE SHUTTLE

Kenneth Jon Rose

When NASA built the first space shuttle and with it the first chance to carry both men and equipment inexpensively into space, it opened the doors to the eventual building and operating of commercial shuttles by private corporations that, possibly within the next generation, may be able to fly us to a space as routinely as we are flown to Europe.

What follows is a highly speculative look at what it may be like to shuttle through space. However, with space technology changing at the speed of light, today's blueprint will likely be made history by tomorrow's research.

You'll need tickets first. Unlike the NASA shuttle, which launches like a rocket, the future passenger shuttles will take off the way jets do now, that is, horizontally on a runway. Ticket and reservation counters, as well as the shuttles themselves, most likely will be located at several airports around the world.

The tickets won't be cheap, though. One round-trip fare may cost four times the amount of a flight from New York to Tokyo, or about $4,500. This might seem a lot to pay for a flight that is going to take 30 minutes to get up and the same coming down.

Once you've sat in the cushioned seats and have strapped yourself in (the belt across your shoulders and lap will be needed to keep you in your seat when the shuttle is in weightless space), the large ship—which will be totally controlled by an on-board computer—will fire its engines and rumble down the runway.

Before you notice the steadily increasing pressure of the acceleration pushing you gently back, the craft will have already lifted into the air.

Looking out your window, you'll see the earth rapidly falling away, and the light blue sky progressively turning blue-black. You'll now be about 30 miles up, traveling at about 3,000 mph. Within minutes, the sky will appear jet black, and only the blurred curve of the earth will be visible. Then, at perhaps 130 miles above the surface of the earth and traveling at greater than 17,000 mph, engines will shut down and—if the shuttle is in orbit with the planet and not accelerating—you'll become weightless.

There are some very strange effects in weightless space. At first you may feel as if you are endlessly falling; soon it will pass. You may notice, too, that the faces of your fellow passengers look swollen and puffy and that they can't keep their hair in place. Without gravity to pull down your hair and skin, your features will become distorted. It won't do any harm; it'll just look funny.

Lack of gravity will also affect what you will eat. For instance, because zero gravity causes water to form round masses which are uncontrollable in confined spaces, you will not find running water anywhere on board. And you probably will also not find food that is apt to crumble for the same reason that tiny crumbs are not kept down by gravity. What you will find are liquids that can be squeezed from a tube into the mouth as well as foods that are sticky, or at least ones that stick together.

Looking out the window, you will see the best sights of the trip. Because there is no up or down in space, earth may loom either above or below you, but in any case you'll see the blue of the oceans covered with swirls and patches or white clouds. You might even see the brown-green fabric of a continent or two. And, if the sun goes behind the earth, there will be a billion clear, bright, non-flickering (because there is no distorting atmosphere in space) stars.

You will realize that the ship is entering the earth's outer atmosphere when, once again, you feel an invisible force pushing you back into your seat. You will still be seated as if the craft were horizontal and, in fact, it will descend in just that way. As the shuttle passes through much of the outer atmosphere, the bottom of the craft, covered with special tiles will glow red from the air friction. Then the rapid descent begins. The shuttle slows to five times the speed of sound (3,750 mph).

Meanwhile, the sky turns lighter and layers of clouds pass you like cars on a highway. Minutes later, still sitting upright, you will see the gray runway in the distance. Then the shuttle slows to 300 mph and drops its landing gear. Finally, with its nose up slightly like the Concorde SST and at a speed of about 225 mph, the shuttle will land on the asphalt runway and slowly come to a halt. The trip into space will be over.