My Little Pony: My Little Pony The Martian

HERMES – ARES 3 Mission Day 343

Vogel floated in a small fitness cabin, staring at the distant blue and white homes in the limited field of vision outside the window. Half of the earth is sunken in darkness, and half is floating in sunlight. The size of the earth is smaller than the half of the bright moon that can be observed on the surface of the earth on ordinary days. That small blue dust (as Carl Sagan said) floats in the vastness of space. Within the restricted area.

According to the normal procedure, Hermes should now shut down the main engine, spend three days leisurely driving into the Earth's gravitational well, passing through the moon to release residual momentum, then enter the orbit, and start the first of three rounds of aerodynamic deceleration in the upper atmosphere. , and will continue to reduce its flight speed over the next week, parking into a rendezvous orbit with the space station.

However, now the moon is far to one side of the orbit and gradually moving away. At this time tomorrow, the earth in front of them will move to the side, and Hermes will pass over the dark side of the earth and complete the orbit-assisted maneuver with its gravity. In two days' time, the semicircular earth will disappear from the observation window behind Hermes.

Two days ago, the team members searched the entire ship and fixed all scattered objects in place - training equipment, kitchen utensils, laboratory instruments, various experimental equipment, and so on. During normal operation, Hermes will rotate along its long axis to create an artificial Mars-like gravity environment, but the spacecraft cannot use the thrusters to maneuver while maintaining rotation. Such a large spacecraft now has to navigate thousands of satellites, and may have to face millions of pieces of tiny space junk tomorrow, and it will have to dock with two supply thrusters the next day. This means that environmental gravity has become a luxury that they cannot continue to maintain, and it disappears after controlling the ignition of certain thrusters.

However, in view of their previous rich experience, they knew that no matter how careful they were, they could not completely ensure that everything was fixed in place, so Lewis sent everyone to recheck the entire ship to ensure that there was nothing that was not fixed in place. Baker was responsible for inspecting the aircraft's docking compartment, docking hatch, and space suit storage area; Martinez went to inspect the reactor and experimental facilities; Johnson was inspecting the accommodation module, and Vogel was finally left in charge of the recreation module and physical training area and kitchen.

His mission was completed and nothing unusual was found. After everything was ready, he spent a few minutes staring at the earth and his home, calming down and thinking about everything.

First, he and the rest of the team members unanimously agreed to implement the plan to fly by the Earth, delaying their return home for more than a year and a half. It would be another year and a half before he could return to his wife and monkey children - round after round of training and mission execution, how long had he been absent from his family's life? He would have to stay in this fragile iron box for more than a year and a half, with cold and merciless death just outside the cabin. The body that is no longer young will have to bear the ravages of bone and muscle atrophy for another year and a half. Another year of space odyssey, the only green in the eyes comes from precious photos and biological experiments that Watney is still conducting. The only biological activities other than humans are the rustling of the newborn third-generation airborne experimental mice.

On the other hand, they will also accomplish many unprecedented initiatives. The Hermes crew will approach the sun at an extreme distance that no astronaut can imagine, pushing Hermes' onboard electromagnetic protection field, anti-radiation barrier and cooling system to the limit. When they reach perigee, they will become the fastest humans have ever flown; they will even break their own newly set speed record at perihelion. The mission they carried out was the limit of how long humans can stay in space in a single time. It was also the first time to rescue people trapped on Mars. This group of astronauts who have set foot on Mars will return to the Mars gravitational circle for a second visit. These The feat will go down in history.

The best, the fastest, the strongest, the best. As a member of the human race, Vogel naturally yearns for this honor.

Of course, these good intentions also have a dark side. If a catastrophic accident occurs on this mission, it may take another century or more for humans to return to Mars. The unique Hermes will never and cannot be recreated. The initial opportunity that made this great project a reality no longer exists, and it is even more empty talk to repeat the miracle of speed from the start of the project to the completion of Hermes and Ares 1 landing on Mars.

If some less serious accident occurs on the way, Hermes may survive and reach the destination successfully (the survival of the crew is not yet known), but he will appear in the wrong place, or fly at the wrong speed, or carry the wrong supplies. Insufficiency makes it impossible to rescue Watney and the aliens. Or it is possible that Watney successfully docked with Hermes, which was operating normally, only to find that all the crew were killed. The cause of death is unknown whether it was the intense heat of the sun, the impact of micrometeorites, the failure of the reactor shield or the electromagnetic protection system...

This level of risk does not require careful consideration. It can immediately wake up the fanatical mind and calmly put aside the thoughts of higher, faster and stronger for the time being.

Of course, the chances of such an accident happening are low. Hermes is even designed to withstand coronal mass ejections, an event of this magnitude that could have killed astronauts without warning if it had occurred during the Apollo program. It has a working life of up to thirty years and is currently in its tenth year of service. All facilities and systems of the spacecraft are very powerful, and the outstanding crew members are even more impressive. The only danger was that the resupply mission might go awry, but even that would only lead to catastrophic consequences if both vehicles were lost. The failure of a single supply mission can only be said to be unsatisfactory, and it is far from the level of imminent disaster.

Although the probability is unlikely... it is still possible. So Alexander Vogel, a chemist, astronomy expert and reserve EVA technician on duty, stared at the fingernail-sized Earth in the starry sky and thought about another option.

The time for thinking is always short. The shift isn't over yet, and there's plenty of other flyby preparation to do.

He accidentally collided with Baker on the way down the ladder to the central section of Hermes. "I'm so sorry," he asked in passing, "are the airlocks okay?"

"What?" Maybe he was a little dizzy after the collision and didn't react. Baker stared at him in a daze for a while, "Oh, yes, the airlock. Everything is normal. I just checked my bunk."

"Shouldn't Johnson be responsible?" Vogel asked.

"That's right, but each of us has personal belongings in our own bunk, right?" Baker replied, "We should be responsible for our own personal belongings. And my bunk also doubles as the ship's infirmary. So I have more items to look after than all of you.”

"That's right," Vogel said, "I thought it would be better to check my bunk as well. Thanks for the reminder."

"It's okay." After saying this, Baker pushed away the wall and flew towards the bridge.

Vogel floated all the way down the ladder to the accommodation section. On the way, he had to stop and lean against one of the bulkheads to make way for Johnson. She said nothing about it, but she was usually taciturn, so Vogel didn't think much about it.

As expected, everything in Vogel's own cubicle was neatly arranged and firmly secured in place, including the small photos in which he missed his wife and children. He paused again, looking at the scene in front of him and thinking.

Then his eyes scanned another photo, of a children's party pizza restaurant in Pasadena. (The Pasadena here refers to Pasadena, located in the suburbs of Houston, not the Pasadena in the suburbs of Los Angeles. Vogel once complained mercilessly that Americans gave the same names to big cities. Martinez responded by citing the examples of Frankfurt am Main and Frankfurt am Oder. Vogel argued that these examples did not count, but he apparently failed to convince others.)

He remembered the day the photo was taken. The pizza was terrible even by American standards. The game is simple and childish, with no challenge at all. Rolling the ball up the slope and into the center hoop is basically no difficulty for him, a veteran who has thrown candlestick bowling in the outdoor fairway as a matter of course since childhood; After the real live crocodiles sunbathing outside the building came face to face, the use of a rubber-wrapped soft hammer to attack the plastic crocodile with a heavy hammer had no entertainment value.

But he still had a great time. They all had a great time. And the most childish one in the group not only had endless fun himself, but also ensured that everyone could enjoy the fun.

In the photo, the source of everyone's fun stood next to Commander Lewis, blocking Martinez, and the camera recorded the most silly and funny face he could. This is why his wife and children have to wait; the family can still wait for his return, but there is not much time left for Mark Watney.

Watney promised that after landing and after the quarantine period, he would take them to a place in Chicago to taste "real pizza."

And Vogel plans to watch him fulfill this promise.

He looked at the photos on the bulkhead and followed Hermes towards the earth.