FOREWORD
IN APPRECIATION TO THOSE WHO HAVE RISKED THEIR LIVES REACHING THE STARS:
ASTRONAUTS
Buzz Aldrin, William A. Anders, Michael P. Anderson, Neil Armstrong, Alan Bean, Guion S. Bluford Jr., Charles Bolden, Frank Borman, Vance Brand, David M. Brown, Scott Carpenter, Gerald Carr, Eugene Andrew Cernan, Roger V. Chaffee, Franklin Chang-Diaz, Kalpana Chawla, Laurel Blair Salton Clark, Eileen Collins, Michael Collins, Charles Conrad Jr., L. Gordon Cooper Jr., Robert Laurel Crippen, R. Walter Cunningham, Donn Eisele, Owen K. Garriott, Edward Gibson, John H. Glenn Jr., Richard F. Gordon Jr., Virgil I. Grissom, Fred W. Haise Jr., Susan Helms, Rick D. Husband, James B. Irwin, Mae Jemison, Mark Kelly, Scott Kelly, Joseph Kerwin, James A. Lovell Jr., Shannon Wells Lucid, Christa Corrigan McAuliffe, Bruce McCandless, William C. McCool, James A. McDivitt, Ronald McNair, Michael Melvill, Edgar D. Mitchell, Barbara Morgan, Story Musgrave, Bill Nelson, Ellen Ochoa, Sally Ride, Stuart A. Roosa, Jerry Ross, Walter M. Schirra Jr., Harrison Schmitt, David Scott, Alan B. Shepard Jr., Donald Kent Slayton, Thomas P. Stafford, Kathryn Sullivan, John L. Swigert Jr., David Mathieson Walker, Edward H. White II, Peggy Whitson, Sunita Williams, Alfred Worden, John W. Young, Franz Viebock, Dirk Frimout, Pyotr Iiyich Klimuk, Marcos Pontes, Helen Sharman, Georgy Ivanov, Roberta Bondar, Marc Garneau, Julie Payette, Robert Thirsk, Liu Yang, Yang Liwei, Zhai Zhigang, Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez, Vladimir Remek, Wubbo Ockels, Jean-Loup Chretien, Claudie Haignere, Sigmund Jahn, Ulf Merbold, Bertalan Farkas, Rakesh Sharma, Ilan Ramon, Franco Malerba, Akiyama Toyohiro, Mohri Mamoru, Mukai Chiaki, Yi Soyeon, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, Rodolfo Neri Vela, Jugderdemidiin Gurragcha, Miroslaw Hermaszewski, Dumitru Prunariu, Pavel Belyayev, Valery Bykovsky, Konstantin Petrovich Feoktistov, Yury Alekseyevich Gagarin, Vladimir Mikhaylovich Komarov, Yelena Kondakova, Sergey Konstantinovich Krikalyov, Valery Kubasov, Aleksey Arkhipovich Leonov, Andriyan Grigoryevich Nikolayev, Viktor Ivanovich Patsayev, Valery Vladimirovich Polyakov, Nikolay Nikolayevich Rukavishnikov, Svetlana Yevgenyevna Savitskaya, Gennady Mikhailovich Strekalov, Valentina Tereshkova, Gherman Stepanovich Titov, Aleksandr Volkov, Sergey Volkov, Vladislav Nikolayevich Volkov, Boris Borisovich Yegorov, Sultan ibn Salman Al Saud, Ivan Bella, Mark Shuttleworth, Pedro Duque, Christer Fuglesang, Claude Nicollier, Leonid Kadenyuk, Pham Tuan, Abdul Ahad Mohmand
Life and Times of One-Eyed Moody Begins……….
WE’VE LANDED…….
thought about the next morning, what was required, and of those who were depending on me. My task would be brief but dangerous. We have been on this planet for mere weeks and so many things are different from earth. Though so many things are like earth.
It is livable, that is to say the air is not dangerous to breath and water to drink. Looking out I see so many new things. One animal strikes me as strangely cute. It is like a mix between a skunk and a fox only it’s pink! You get that? Pink! It’s the cutest little thing. Like you want to go out there and pet it. Only thing is what affect does it have with humans?…..
My daughter says we should call this species “Funk”…you know a cross between a Fox and a Skunk. My son says we can call it ….”Funky” …., a couple of comedians. At night it is lonely, my wife didn’t make the trip, as well as others in the group. We started with twenty families of various ages and number of siblings. The trip was long and hard on everyone. Some just didn’t make it……. I miss my wife.
Excuse me a second….
ALL RIGHT QUIET DOWN IN THERE AND GO TO SLEEP!!!!
Kids… always full of energy. We have done well since landing. There has been no illness. No accidents. No unknowns. Next week we are planned to take the first exploration venturing out as much as 2500 feet. I know that doesn’t sound like much. We know nothing about this planet, except that all the research pointed it out as a high target for life, also sustainability for the human race. So far, research has been right on target. There are those on Earth who may not fully understand the risks.
This is a place where no-one has set foot before. What we have learned is the air is breathable and life sustaining. We don’t get second chances. the air may be breathable outside our craft and so far this has proven correct. However, this could change and become life threatening at any moment. We just don’t know. It could be safe here and a sector in any direction could end everything. The wind could change in any direction and end everything. “Little Funky” cute as he is could be carrying diseases that on contact ends our lives through illness. Maybe even as little as he is, could be vicious. We have no clue what it will take to decommission him, if necessary. We have been trained for all of this….. and now…. it is reality….
“REALITY BITES!”