Air Force Colonel Alan Russell, Astronaut, still got a rush whenever he flew a shuttle. Ever since he was a little kid, back in the late 1980's, he knew he was going to be an astronaut. He just never realized riding the shuttle was so much fun. He’d been on one of the first flights of the rail-shuttles, but he had to admit riding a good old fashioned Space Shuttle was a rare experience. In fact, he had been among the first to proclaim the raw-power, balls-to-the-wall monsters were a thrill ride one could never forget or replace. The difference was comparable to a modern day sports car and a classic ’68 Mustang: the modern car could go faster, smoother and farther, but it had no soul. It wasn’t alive.

T-0:02:00

As Pilot of the space shuttle Challenger II, Al was second-in-command of the orbiter system. The Commander, Navy pilot Judy Scott, turned her head and looked at him through her visored pressure suit helmet. Al couldn't see her face through the tinted plasti-steel, but he caught her meaning. Raising his right hand, he gave the "Thumbs up" signal.

"Yeeehahaaa! Here we go!" one of the Payload Specialists hooted from the mid-deck seats. The specialist had mistaken the shuddering of the machinery (really just the auxiliary power units starting) for the main engines igniting.

"Not yet. You'll know when we get going!" Al exclaimed at the rookie scientist below decks. The guy may know everything there is to know about the satellites they were carrying in the Challenger II, but he obviously didn't know anything about real space flight. Sure the payload specialists had been in the simulators for almost as long as Al, but they had never been in a real live launch situation.

T-0:01:45

"Challenger, this is Control. H-2 tank pressurization OK. You are Go for launch, over." the CapCom said the words that every crew absolutely loved to hear. Al grinned and keyed the mike inside his helmet while turning again to look at Judy.

"Roger, Control, this is Challenger, we are Go for launch."

Another scientist cheered in the headset. Someone was laughing.

This mission was Al's sixth Space Shuttle mission, and probably his last. He had been assigned to the absolute best position an astronaut could ask for: Commander of the first mission to return to the Moon since 1972. He couldn't wait to get there and plant the old Stars and Stripes---with a few added stars---on that barren gray surface. After all, it had been over fifty years since the last American, or human, for that matter, walked on the surface of the Moon!

Al usually got a little nervous before each flight in the shuttle. Most people thought it was because he was afraid of dying. Actually, none of the astronauts felt that way. You couldn't be afraid of dying and work for NASA as an astronaut. No, Al was just afraid of screwing up. Plain and simple, it was the age old fear of all the astronauts, even as far back as the Original Mercury Seven, the guys who pioneered space-flight some sixty-odd years ago.

T-0:00:25

"Challenger, Control. APU start is go. You are on on-board computer, over."

Al grinned as he heard and felt the ship come alive. It sure wasn't like the sleek and deadly fighter aircraft he was used to flying, but this mother could out race anything on the planet. Fans whined, the hull groaned and creaked with millions of pounds of thrust waiting to be released at launch, some twenty seconds away. Al could hear his heart pounding in his ears now. Someone shouted again from the mid-deck crew compartment. He smiled to himself. Those scientists haven't seen anything yet.

T-0:00:10

"Ten..." More gears whined with anticipation.

"Nine..." Al shifted his weight momentarily, to keep his legs from falling asleep. He had been flat on his back for nearly five hours now, strapped into his seat in the flight deck of the shuttle.

"Eight..."

"Seven..."

"Six...We have main engine ignition!" The huge beast roared to life as the three completely remodeled and upgraded main engines kicked in about a hundred feet below him. Al felt more than heard the roar of the engines straining to lift the shuttle off the pad by themselves. He saw for a brief second the launch tower shake outside the cabin windows, as the shuttle rocked against the restraining arms holding it to the ground. In actuality, the shuttle and not the tower was rocking.

"Three..." Someone was laughing again.

"Two..."

"One..."

"Zero..."

An incredible noise and shaking filled the orbiter's flight deck. Al's vision blurred for a split second.

"We have SRB ignition and liftoff. Liftoff on the mission that returns mankind to the Moon!"

Al's body was firmly forced into his chair, as gravity tried it hardest to hold the shuttle on the ground. It was too late now, the bird was loose and no force known to man could hold it down. The shuttle cleared the launch tower a short five seconds later doing a hundred miles an hour .

"WOOOOHHOOOOHH!!!" yelled someone from mid-deck.

Al grinned as the ship was aimed by Mission Control into its course and throttled up to full power. Over seven million pounds of sustained thrust was pouring out the rear end of his shuttle, in a long trail of blazing white and yellow flame. The shock waves alone could knock a person off their feet if they were within a mile of the area.

The launch was made especially brilliant when one considered it was 11:32 PM at the Kennedy Space Center. The shuttle lit up the night sky as far away as Georgia in an amazingly bright, piercing moment. The noise of the boosters and shuttle engines rolled off the coast as the great space bird stretched her wings and tore through the heavens with a roar louder than thunder, like the proverbial bat out of hell.

T+0:00:07

"Houston now controlling." came the Houston CapCom's voice.

"Houston, roll program." grunted Judy, fighting 3g's on her vocal cords.

"Roger, Challenger, roll program." Was the static-filled reply.

The orbiter gracefully rolled over onto its "Back" with the cargo bay doors facing the fast receding Atlantic Ocean below as it angled out across Cape Canaveral and headed for orbit to the east.

T+0:00:14

"Roll maneuver complete, Challenger. You look great!"

Al didn't bother to answer, and neither did Judy. They were too busy checking the engine status switches and making sure everything was going smoothly. He noticed that the mid-deck was now silent. I'll bet they're glad to have those diapers on under their pressure suits right about now.....

T+0:00:44

"Challenger, Houston. Throttle down."

"Roger that Houston. Engines now at 65%." muttered Al into his mike as he pulled the throttle stick back away from the 100% notch. He could feel the ship lurch a little and groan some more as it passed through the area of maximum dynamic atmospheric pressure on the orbiter (Called 'Max Q'). Outside, shockwaves could be seen deforming the shuttle's shape as it smashed through sound barriers at a speed no plane could match.

T+0:01:06

"Houston, Challenger. We have Max Q." reported Al.

"Roger, Challenger. Max Q."

Then, "Throttle up, Challenger," came over the radio.

"Roger, throttle up, Houston." breathed Judy. Al grabbed the throttle control to the three main engines and pushed it all the way forward.

"Engines now burning at one hundred and four percent..." muttered Al into his headset. The shuttle was really shaking now, like it was trying to tear itself apart.

Seconds later, Challenger II blew past the final sound barrier like a juggernaut and continued racing for orbit. The computer control screens settled down as the ship smoothed out in its flight. Al exhaled and reviewed the launch check-list.

By now the SRB's had exhausted all the solid propellants inside them, and they became extra weight. Nothing but empty shells.

T+0:02:07

"Houston, we have SRB Sep." announced Judy.

"Challenger, Houston. Looking good, looking good." said the CapCom with an obvious Texas drawl. Al grinned. That would be Bob Sandifer, the 'Texas Cowboy' Astronaut, one of Al's best friends. He could see Bob sitting behind the CapCom desk "Grinnin' like a 'possum eatin' a sweet puhtayder", to use his own words.

A brief flash of flame and illuminated smoke, and the incredible noise enveloping the shuttle instantly died away. Now only the soft roar of the three main engines remained. The gravity load slackened a little, but not much. The scientists in the mid-deck probably didn't even notice it. But Al and Judy did. It was the signal that things would go a lot smoother now.

Al knew that once the SRB's were gone, the ride would be quieter and smoother, and since the main engines had worked fine for the first two minutes, they should work just as well for the next six. A few more minutes and they would be in orbit, and the ride would be over. Secretly Al wished it could last forever, because this was likely the last chance he'd have to experience it.

Everyone at the Astronaut Office knew that the lucky ones picked to fly the first new Moon mission would be almost as famous as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin when they first landed there in 1969. However, everyone also knew that taking a Moon mission meant killing your shuttle career, and possibly yourself. They weren't going to be the safest missions to pick, and you could always get Station duty. Only a few astronauts wanted the "routine" shuttle flights. Besides, there was an even bigger chance that when you got to the Moon, you would stay there. The Mars program was going through its paces, and everyone wanted that one. Mars was the Holy Grail of the astronaut corps.

America had abandoned the Moon in 1972, after Apollo 17 splashed down in the ocean following an incredibly successful mission in which the first scientist went to the Moon. Now, after 53 years of waiting, America was going back and this time, it would be for keeps.

Al only wished he could be at Vandenburg Air Force Base tomorrow when they launched the unmanned rocket, with his Lunar Landing Vehicle on board. His LLV was the first operational vehicle in a new long line of incredibly updated Lunar Excursion Modules, that were left over from Apollo. However, these new units housed more than just two pilot astronauts; rather, they held about six people plus supplies. A medium load unmanned booster launch vehicle would be sending up his LLV just about six hours before he would transfer from the Space Station Freedom, his immediate destination, onto the USCS Constitution.

Before he knew it, Al heard Judy say "Roger, Houston. We have MECO. Man, what a ride!"

He shook himself out of his reverie and back to work. Al had just enough time left to take a glance out the window and see the last bit of atmosphere disappear into black nothingness as the Main Engines cut off and the shuttle climbed ever upward into orbit.

Soon, after Judy announced that the OMS Burn had been successful, Al spoke for the first time since takeoff to the scientist/astronauts in the mid-deck compartment.

"Well, welcome to space, folks. Please fold your trays to their full and upright position before exiting your seats." He didn't get an answer, except for excited chattering of grown men and women experiencing real microgravity for the first time. Someone whooped and then muttered a curse. Al heard a slight thump behind him, then someone offered advice on how to move without hitting one's head. That set off a chain reaction of laughter that eventually worked its way to the flight deck.

"I'd better go check on our passengers." Al muttered as he released the valve on his helmet and took it off. He gave a slight push and the helmet floated up and behind his head, tumbling toward the cargo bay windows. He unfastened his safety harness and effortlessly floated straight up, and with the push of one finger, sent his body sailing for the hatch that led to the mid-deck compartment.

"I'll get your seat." said Judy over her shoulder, busy removing her own helmet.

Al offered his thanks as he sailed head-first, down the hole in the flight deck floor.

In the mid-deck, a helmet floated out of the ceiling, and tumbled slowly in a arc toward a locker. The three payload specialists turned just in time to see Al’s head appear through a hole in the ceiling. To them, his head was up-side-down. To Al, they were up-side-down. He hovered there for a second, and checked the side hatch that led out of the orbiter for leaks.

"Like I said.." he muttered, floating lopsided over to a chair on the far wall. "Welcome, to space."

The scientists let loose with a cacophony of victory yells and hugs all around. Al felt a wide grin come over his face as he began to stow the launch\landing seats to give the mid deck more space.

Ready or not, Moon, here I come. Al smiled to himself.

"Roger that, Freedom, we have a go for docking. Challenger out." Al heard Judy's voice cut in over the scientists now working in the cargo bay. Her voice was like a beacon cutting through the fog of mindless chatter erupting from the scientists. He adjusted the volume of his headset and cued his mike.

"Hey, Judy, what's our ETA?"

Static crackled as the commander checked on his request.

"Uh, it's in about half an hour. I'm doing the OMS burn calculations now..." he couldn't hear her tapping keys since the shuttle fleet had recently underwent the new modifications to the control panels. A new polymer with soft touch keys like something out of a science fiction movie glowed softly instead of the old mechanical buttons. He could, however, hear her throwing the occasional switch over his headset.

Al pulled the light weight blue flightsuit down a little to prevent it from bunching up over his shoulders. He tugged and fastened the belt at his waist to secure it. Those NASA issue flight suits never seemed to fit him. It was a good thing NASA sent up some of the new form-fitted ones to the station. Al was an athletic 5’11" with close cropped brown hair and eyes to match. The lines on his face made him look more than the rugged 39 that he was. Al was raised in the Southwest, and was as tough as the Arizona desert.

Switching his head-set microphone to Voice Activated Mode he turned to review some supply readouts. Something was making a bumping sound. He whirled in mid-air, momentarily forgetting the microgravity. His body swirled to the position he had planned to end up at, and then kept going around in circles. He started to laugh and caught himself on a hand hold and looked at the cargo bay hatch.

"You rang..?" he asked into the air.

A slightly muffled voice filtered in over his headset.

"Didn't know if you had your mike on or not. Guess you did. Anyway, I need to come in and get the watchimacallit."

"Right, John." answered Al with a grin. The famous watchimacallit tool was the space walking astronaut's best friend. It had hand hold points bristling from all over its metallic body. The handy little tool also had hook-ups for just about any tool an astronaut working in space would require.

"Lemme get in the airlock..." called John.

Al could hear some grunts as John tried to squeeze his semi-form fitting space suit into the small hatch for the airlock. The new NASA space suits were incredibly lighter, stronger and warmer than the ones used in the 1990's, but still, everything was a little more bulky in Space. After a few seconds, he heard the all clear call from John.

"Got the outer door sealed?" asked Al, even though he could see that the astronaut had indeed sealed it. The small TV camera inside the airlock allowed the operator inside the shuttle to view the contents of the airlock and the seals at all times.

"Yup." said the waiting astronaut, giving the camera the thumbs-up sign.

"OK, hang on. Pressurizing airlock." Al paused as a hissing sound filled the airwaves. Oxygen raced into the airlock equalizing the pressure between the interior of the orbiter and that of the air-lock.

"There we are. Airlock pressurized." Al reached out and grabbed the large handle striped in yellow and black paint with strong hands. After a loud clang, the door slowly opened and swung clear of the hatch, revealing a short man, maybe six inches shorter than Al, decked out in his space suit and floating inside the airlock, the bottom of the circular hatch reaching just to his chest. He bounced once and soared out of the lock and into the mid deck.

Al was about to say something when Judy's voice cut in on the headset.

"Hey, Al, you might want to come check this out." He could see her face smiling in his mind’s eye.

"Uh, what is it?"

"Damn, that mother is big!" she hissed to herself.

"Oh. I almost forgot. Be right there." he turned to John with a smile.

"You'd better go, man. Don't want to miss seeing your bird. I'll catch a glance outside." the suited man turned and passed back into the air-lock with a silver tool in his hand. "I'll shut the door behind me." he muttered, and the airlock hatch swung shut with a loud thud. The handle turned and locked into position as Al spun around and raced off to the flight deck, straight up. Using a one handed push, he coasted through the mid-deck hatch and up in front of another astronaut, Mike Stenkle, who was working the controls on the remote manipulator arm. Completely engrossed in his work, Mike didn't even notice a light blue blur go by as Al headed for his seat next to Judy.

The USCS Constitution appeared right in the middle of his window, facing forward. Al was stunned into silence. This was his first real view of the ship he would be in command of during his flight to the Moon. Sure he'd seen the standard pictures that were released by NASA of the construction process, but he hadn't actually seen his new home from orbit yet.

The massive tan-colored ship, though over five miles away, still looked nearly as big as the space station to which it was attached. From Al's vantage point, the mammoth form blocked his view of the station, except where Freedom's huge extendable solar array panels protruded out beyond the ship's hull.

Al turned to his left to look at Judy. She had been the runner-up commander for this mission to the Moon, and was therefore his backup should he become incapacitated for any reason. She had gone through the same exact, incredibly tough training he had, and came through with flying colors, just like him. The mass of dark curls of hair floated free in microgravity, all around her head like a cloud. She's been soaking up the sun down at the Cape, he figured admiring the golden coloration of her face and neck. Her slight form floated just out of her seat, and in front of the left front window, taking in the view of the waiting Moonship. He grinned back as she winked at him. Why do they look so much better in microgravity?

"I might have to beat you up some so I'll get to go!" she whispered to him, eyeing Mike, still oblivious to the world as he manipulated the shuttle’s robot arm.

Al feigned fright. "Oh no you don't, that ship is mine! You can have the next one, " He was exactly right, too. The back-up commander for the first mission got the commander’s slot on the next mission, and so on. That way the pilot-commander back-up teams could stay together and rotate into the next mission smoothly, maintaining maximum unit cohesion. It was the way things ran in the manned space-flight program since the 1960s.

The new Moon program, Project Phoenix, was a bold, new adventure that had been drawn up by scientists and astronauts alike as soon as the Apollo 17 capsule landed in the ocean in 1972. Apollo 17 had signaled the end of the Apollo missions due to budget crunches and domestic turmoil. However, Project Phoenix had been on the back burner until the U.S. had enough funds and political stability to tackle it. Now that the Age of the Ion Drive had arrived, space ships could be powered less expensively and safer than ever before.

The Phoenix Project consisted of two phases: Phase One was comprised of engineers on Earth using tele-operated drones to drill and hollow out the mission bases for each of the first four missions on the surface of the Moon. Each subsequent mission would then add its own base to the first four. The drones were launched the year before Al rode the Challenger II into orbit and were used by experts at Houston Mission Control to hollow out a large area for the first mission at the base of Mons Vitruvius, a Lunar mountain on the edge of the Taurus-Littrow crater system. While the colony was being drilled from the hard basalt rock of Vitruvius, supply rockets destined for the Moon were being shot from the Rail Launcher in Arizona. These rockets contained enough important back-up materiel including enough food, water and most importantly, oxygen for the mission to survive for up to three months, in the unlikely event the astronauts' original supplies were destroyed.

Each of the "mission bases" would in effect be, homesteads. Each mission base was expected to establish a colony which would eventually grow into a city on the Moon. In the next decade private citizens would be able to migrate to the Moon and work in a variety of functions such as research, the planned astronomical observatories or space stations to be built, or in other specialized industrial capacities.

Phase Two of Phoenix consisted of a three ship convoy (for each mission) of Trans Lunar Vehicles---or TLV---to shuttle back and forth between the Moon and Earth orbit space stations. The TLV, affectionately named the "mothership" by the astronauts, would carry the fuel and supplies needed to support the ten scientists and astronauts on each mission trip. Each TLV would also carry two smaller vehicles, the Lunar Landing Vehicle, and the Lunar Resupply Vehicle. The LLV or Lander was to be piloted by an astronaut crew of two and the four mission scientists. Once on the Moon, however, the Lander would be dismantled and the parts utilized inside the mission base. The LRV would be flown by one astronaut and would ferry supplies and more astronauts back and forth between the mothership and the base. A permanent base would be established as the rest of the colony personnel and materiel were brought down from the orbiting mothership.

When it was time for the next wave of scientists and astronauts to hit the Moon, the TLV would head back home with any soil or rock samples the scientists had ordered shipped back, along with the Helium-3 fuel harvested from the colony. The return trip to the Earth orbiting space stations was a four day journey. Once there, the returned TLV would be checked out and unloaded. At the same time, a second TLV would start off with another load of scientists including a new Lander and LRV. NASA called for ten such missions to carry landers to the Moon. After that, the mission bases would be nearly self sufficient as they would get any needed supplies from unmanned landers. Thus, eventually one of the three TLVs would no longer be needed. It would be converted into a Lunar orbit space station, to be used as a launching pad for the planned missions to Mars. Using the ex-ship as a basis for construction, one of the remaining two TLVs would ferry parts to the Lunar space station. Only occasional resupply of space station hardware and personnel transfers, accomplished using the remaining TLV would be necessary until the colonies on the Moon became truly self-sufficient. Future additional constructions to the orbiting Lunar station would be sent from Earth utilizing unmanned supply rockets. The Lunar space station was to be built by 2035, and the first ship would leave for Mars from Lunar orbit in 2040.

NASA was counting on the first mission with a price tag of nearly $400,000,000 (approximately the cost of each of the previous Apollo flights), to be a complete success or Congress might prematurely gut the whole program, as it did with Apollo. This time though, NASA had a trump card --- the third mission would be executed by shuttles flown from the rail-launch system in Arizona, thus cutting the cost by two-thirds. The new, streamlined and efficient rail-shuttle program was the key factor in the massive phase-out program NASA was implementing to replace the gas-guzzling space shuttles.

The previously tiny red and white specks of light in the distance, the space station (Freedom) and the Moon ship (Constitution), were rapidly transforming into vessels much larger than the shuttle Challenger II. As Al looked occasionally from the notes he was making in the Lunar traverse checklist, the station loomed larger-than-life. Only when Judy's voice cut in over his headset did he really notice that his ship was right there.

"OK, Freedom Control, this is Challenger. We read you at two clicks and closing fast. ETA in tee minus ten minutes and counting. Please confirm."

Static crackled over his headset, as Al started to pay more attention to the docking procedure. Now he had to be alert in case something went wrong with Judy or the main computer.

"Uh, Roger that, Challenger, we confirm ETA and distance figures. See you in ten."

Judy gave her control stick a few gentle nudges and the shuttle responded with quick bursts from the attitude control jets located on the orbiter's nose. Al rubbed his eyes and tossed the checklist book into the air. It floated straight up and was caught by a Velcro strip on the cabin roof. He followed the discarded manual’s flight path and coasted to the rear observation windows overlooking the open cargo bay and settled himself around the RMS control stick.

The shuttle seemingly exhaled with each blast of the gas jets being used while maneuvering in close quarters. Challenger II slowed its speed and angled in on final approach toward the waiting space station. Al extended the remote manipulator arm to its full length and flexed the joints.

"Hey Al, be careful with that thing! You've got some people out here!" John feigned alarm. Those astronauts from their tethered positions just inside the cargo bay had the best seats in the house to observe the docking maneuvers.

The shuttle silently soared over the massive Constitution casting a long shadow across its semi-sleek hull. Challenger II rolled over on its "back" as Judy did a pitch-over maneuver to allow the remote arm to grab the station's docking collar. Just as the docking assembly came into range, Al stretched the robotic manipulator arm out again and waited for the contact light. The light flashed as tiny sensors in the tip or "hand" of the arm made contact with the metallic-plastic docking assembly. First, Al swiftly bent the robotic arm at the "wrist", a little slower at the "elbow" which he then followed with a really slow movement at the "shoulder". The shuttle had now passed beneath the station and was connected only by the tenaciously outstretched arm being carefully manipulated by Al. He gently brought the shuttle closer to the station's docking ring. He could see through the thick glass as an astronaut on the station waved the "OK" sign for him to make the hard dock. With a soft thud, the shuttle rocked to a stop and made a solid lock with the station.

The lights on Al's pilot control panel went to green, signaling the locks were ready. He pushed the panel button marked "Lock Collar Bolts" and listened as twelve snap-snap-snap sounds echoed from the cargo bay. Now that they were docked to the Freedom, all Al could see out his two small windows was the huge white and yellow station docking collar with its single glaringly red, blinking light. John, in the cargo bay, coasted over to the seal and inspected it. Seconds later he gave the 'thumbs-up' sign and headed to the rear of the bay.

Four astronauts were in suits out in the shuttle's cargo bay. They were going to attach some science experiment packages to the station's exterior, now directly above them, before returning back inside the ship.

"Welcome to Freedom, Challenger!" announced the station CapCom as Al pressurized the airlock and let the hatch swing open.

The inner hatch on Constitution's station docking collar opened to admit Al and Judy. It had been two days since the Freedom had docked and the rest of the crew for this Moon mission were due to arrive in about six hours. Al was able to persuade the station commander to let them in the Constitution a little earlier than usual, so they could check things out and relax. They floated through the airlock and sealed the inner hatch. The entire ship smelled of new plastic and, of course, bleach that had been used to scrub the craft clean before launch. Al took a deep breath and coughed.

"Ah, love that smell. New ship." he sniffed and started looking around.

"I'm going to the cargo bay. I wanna see that new lander they put down there." announced Judy. Her blue eyes were gleaming with excitement, but sadness lurked just below the surface. This was not her ship.

"Right. I'll be up on the flight deck. I want to check this mother out." Not that he needed to check anything out...Al had been in simulators for nearly three years. He knew this ship inside and out.

This thing is even bigger on the inside…he thought to himself.