Moonslide (eBook)

Robert Linhardt (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2024 | 1. Auflage
208 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
979-8-3509-7965-7 (ISBN)

Infos

The current work, entitled, Moonslide, is third novel written by Robert Linhardt. The story is set on the first permanent manned lunar base in the not-so-distant year of 2046. In this remote environment seven astronauts closely interact with one another as they establish this new and distant outpost for humanity. On the moon they encounter both expected and unexpected challenges. The diverse character and technical skills of the carefully selected crew of astronauts are required to meet these challenges and for the completion of their mission. This story is entirely fictional as are the characters and events. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and was unintended. No artificial intelligence was used in the writing of this book. Dr. Robert Linhardt is a prominent American scientist, author of more than 1,000 scientific papers, holds more than 75 patents and is a Fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the National Academy of Inventors. Linhardt has previously written two non-fiction books, his memoirs, Time, the Essence of a Man (2021) and its post-pandemic follow-up, Time Stops (2023). The author has also previously written novels. Four Legs Good (2024) was his first work of fiction about a failed biological experiment and its immediate outcome. This short novel was an allegorical fable-or perhaps even a parable. The epilogue to this novella was expanded into his second novel, Rescue from the Tower of Babel (2024) and explores the impact of a single failed experiment might have on society as a whole. This book also examines the impact of seamless communications, resulting from simultaneous language translation, on the world from 2025 to 2100.

Robert Linhardt was born in New Jersey in 1953. Dr. Linhardt is a prominent American scientist, author of more than 1,000 scientific papers, holds more than 75 patents and is a Fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the National Academy of Inventors. Linhardt has previously written two non-fiction books, his memoirs, Time, the Essence of a Man (2021) and its post-pandemic follow-up, Time Stops (2023). The author has written novels. Four Legs Good (2024), Rescue from the Tower of Babel (2024), and Moonslide (2025).

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The current work, entitled, Moonslide, is third novel written by Robert Linhardt. The story is set on the first permanent manned lunar base in the not-so-distant year of 2046. In this remote environment seven astronauts closely interact with one another as they establish this new and distant outpost for humanity. On the moon they encounter both expected and unexpected challenges. The diverse character and technical skills of the carefully selected crew of astronauts are required to meet these challenges and for the completion of their mission. Some might categorize this as a work of science fiction. Instead, the author suggests this novel more accurately fits the genre of historical fiction. Since the setting is just two decades into the future, it depends on science and technologies that are already currently available or in the development stages. In contrast, most science fiction of today looks far into the future and utilizes technologies and science not yet on the horizon. Instead of focusing on novel technologies in telling his story, the author looks at the impact of the current technologies on society and the complex interactions between the story's characters. This story is entirely fictional as are the characters and events. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and was unintended. No artificial intelligence was used in the writing of this book. Dr. Robert Linhardt is a prominent American scientist, author of more than 1,000 scientific papers, holds more than 75 patents and is a Fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the National Academy of Inventors. Linhardt has previously written two non-fiction books, his memoirs, Time, the Essence of a Man (2021) and its post-pandemic follow-up, Time Stops (2023). The author has also previously written novels. Four Legs Good (2024) was his first work of fiction about a failed biological experiment and its immediate outcome. This short novel was an allegorical fable or perhaps even a parable. The epilogue to this novella was expanded into his second novel, Rescue from the Tower of Babel (2024) and explores the impact of a single failed experiment might have on society as a whole. This book also examines the impact of seamless communications, resulting from simultaneous language translation, on the world from 2025 to 2100.

Textauszug

Chapter 3. Astronaut training

It was just after Grandad received news of Alex’s acceptance into the astronaut training program he quietly passed away in his sleep.

The excitement of the first day of astronaut training was palpable. There were 16 trainees for the 14 slots—a pilot/commander, a physician and five mission specialists—on each of the first two rockets scheduled to leave for extended visits in 2045-46 and 2046-47, to the newly established lunar base. Despite cargo weight restrictions, a crew of seven was selected to optimize skill sets and promote the most effective sized group for compatible social interactions.

Alex thought they would be qualified for one or possibly two of the specialist positions in each team of astronauts and could fulfill the mission specialist roles of biologist or chemist. The mission positions would include a mission commander and pilot (probably from the military), a physician, and five mission specialists—a life scientist/microbiologist, an electronics/computer specialist, a geologist/physicist/physical chemist, a construction/logistics engineer, and a solar power/nuclear engineer. Anticipating the need for back-up personnel in each area, Alex had volunteered as a paramedic, while in graduate school at MIT, to obtain skills needed to treat injuries in the event of a major catastrophe or the possible disablement or death of the team’s physician.

On arrival at Houston’s Johnson Space Center (JSC), Alex began training for an assignment on either the first or the second lunar base crew. While the training was rigorous, none of the 16 trainees was expected to wash out, unless of course, health, mental or physical limitations required removal from the program. Instead, the rivalry for representation on either the first or the second mission to the lunar base encouraged a focus on camaraderie over competition.

Each crew would occupy the lunar base for an extended year-long stay. It had been estimated that, including the space travel to and from the Moon, a one year stay in a well-shielded habitat would only expose the crew to as many Sieverts of radiation as might increase their risk of cancer death by ten-fold. This was thought to be an acceptable risk for an astronaut—in light of the historical 1% chance of death from rocket explosion.

Despite all the planning that Alex had made to ensure their selection as a lunar base astronaut, they encountered one situation that was just simply out of their control. During a training session Alex passed out when moving between tight compartments in the lunar lander mockup. A blood pressure check, suggested that orthostatic hypotension caused this fainting spell, necessitating a comprehensive series of medical tests. These definitively attributed this fainting episode to severe dehydration caused by a recent stomach virus. During their month on medical leave, Alex was consumed with worry that they would wash out of the program due to health concerns, but as it turned out, the fainting attack was considered a one-time aberration and a relieved Alex re-entered the program without any restrictions. This was the first time in Alex's 25-years of life that Alex felt they were not in complete control of their own destiny.

As the months of training turned into years, the scope of the mission was set and further refined based on the ongoing unmanned Artemis missions that had been taking place over the preceding decade. These robotic missions were to be followed by several short-term manned visits to the lunar base each lasting a month. The robotic missions would first select the location for the lunar base and then pre-position equipment at the selected location. The short-term, month-long manned missions would evaluate the pre-positioned equipment, begin to connect and activate critical modules, and investigate any special restrictions for habitation that would impact the success of the long-term missions. The lunar base site at the Moon’s South Pole had only recently been established from data collected on these earlier missions and the objectives of the long-term manned missions were now under consideration.

In 2044, the mission specialists were selected for the first long-term lunar base team. Following the trend of the early Artemis Program this team had a focus on diversity. It consisted of three women, Jan, Svetlana, and Melissa, three men, Julian, Jason, and Samuel, and finally Alex, a non-binary, gender-fluid person. Two of the crew were Asian, Jan and Jason and two of them were Black, Samuel and Melissa. Four of the crew were Americans and Melissa was Italian, Jan was South Korean, and Svetlana was Russian. This fulfilled the Artemis criteria of being a diverse, multi-racial, multi-gender, multi-national team.

Alex’s role on the lunar mission was as its life scientist/microbiology specialist. They would also receive additional training as a physician’s assistant and would be second in line for being responsible for the mission crew’s health. The physician selected for Alex to work with was Dr. Julian Turnbull.

The other members of the crew assigned to the team included, Jason Chan serving as the electrical engineer/computer scientist, Dr. Svetlana Korsakov chosen to be the geologist/physicist, Samuel Jay the construction, and logistics engineer, and finally Dr. Melissa Alioto, the nuclear and solar power engineer.

The sixth, and perhaps the most important member of the team was the mission commander, Major Jan Kim, a South Korean Air Force test pilot. She was also the oldest member of the group at age 40, Alex was the youngest at age 28 and all of the other team members were in their 30’s. In addition, all of the lunar crew were single except for Major Kim and Dr. Turnbull who were both married.

A training exercise expected of each team required the astronauts write a short, deeply personal essay describing their background and what had most impacted their life choices, including their decision to become an astronaut. Each day for a week, one of these essays were read and the group discussed the writer’s background and focused on the life of that one specific astronaut for the entire day. This process was called ‘the social bonding exercise’. It was meant to help these seven individuals better understand each other’s motivations and human qualities and to build camaraderie within the team. The ultimate objective of the exercise was to improve the quality of the social interactions within this small group while living for a year on the isolated lunar base. This exercise began with the physician and the mission specialists and ended with the mission commander.

Julian Turnbull’s essay, the first to be read included the following, “I was born in New Zealand in 2007, at the time this out-of-the-way, down-under location was thought to afford the slow and easy lifestyle of the 1950s. The politics were friendly, most guns had been banned and the residents were generally middle-class. At the time when I had just begun high school, my parents decided to move to Maryland where my father had been hired to head Baltimore’s Fire Department. Baltimore was a tough city, rampant with gangs, crime and drugs and I survived this change in my environment by adopting a calm almost Zen-like demeanor. I chose an occupation, like that of my father’s, directed towards community service, and became an emergency room physician. Several years into this career I suffered boredom and looked for other possible positions that could better draw on my skills and I applied for, and immediately accepted, a position in the astronaut training program.”

Jason Chan wrote, “I grew up in a working-class family in the Silicon Valley. I have always been a computer hacker and a nerd. By the time I was in junior high school it was obvious that I excelled in coding and knew more about computers than the average college graduate in computer science. I was picked on as a kid, so to make friends I used my skills in obtaining free items on the Internet, concert tickets that were otherwise unavailable, and contraband that the other kids desired. These disparate skills got me early acceptance at MIT where I became one of the foremost experts in coding and developing hardware for quantum supercomputing. I have a large collection of both in-person and on-line friends and am very social. I enjoy taking risks and my favorite pastime is playing poker.”

Svetlana Korsakov wrote, “I grew up in oligarch-governed, post-soviet Russia as an only child of two bureaucrats. I excelled in mathematics and although most kids in my generation with a similar aptitude would have used such a skill in business to make money, I had no interest in wealth. Instead, I enjoyed science and became a very successful physicist. I do have a second more unusual talent that my friends call my superpower, I am fast on my feet and get along well with all groups of people, even bureaucrats. I rely on my excellent language skills, which allow me to easily select the optimal choice of words, when speaking, and to mimic any type of accent.”

Samuel Jay wrote, “I am an engineer and I enjoy building things. My best friends are scientists, they discover, invent new concepts, and create new tools. But, in my view, science has no practical value without engineering. I enjoy multiple aspects of building new things. I am very physical, athletic, and dexterous,...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 24.10.2024
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
• ISBN-13: 979-8-3509-7965-7 / 9798350979657