feet from the rim. Blake was right about one thing, Caitlin thought, gazing back down from where they’d come. The view was spectacular. She could see their lunar lander, a squat metal object, at once so tiny and so fragile and so utterly foreign on this stark world of rock and dust.
“Our home away from home,” Blake said, pointing out the LEM while Suzette followed his finger with the camera. “Let’s have a look, shall we?” Blake exited the rover and bunny-hopped the rest of the way to the uppermost portion of the rim. More cautiously, the others, including Caitlin, followed suit.
Standing on the lip of the crater, Caitlin was speechless with awe when confronted with the sheer size of the crater’s interior. It had to be a mile wide. As if in response to her thoughts, Asami said, “It looks impressive, but this is a relatively small crater.”
“It’s too steep here,” Blake said, turning on his heel and bounding back down to his rover.
“Too steep for what?” James Burton asked.
“C’mon, we need to go ‘round a bit more.”
They all piled back into the vehicles, and after another half an hour, just as the first stirrings of “Hey, maybe we should head back,” were on peoples’ lips, Blake stopped his rover near the rim again, consulted his GPS with a frown, and got out.
Caitlin followed him to the rim, a few feet away. The interior of the crater was not as steep here. In fact, it would be possible to walk down into it were one so inclined. But as Blake began to encourage the others to have a look into the crater, a glint down on the ground and far in the distance was flagged by Caitlin’s peripheral vision.
“Those are some interesting geological features,” Asami was saying as she peered into the crater. “You see that?” But Caitlin no longer heard her. She was squinting onto the lunar plain at the base of the crater, looking at a lunar lander. But their LEM was miles back in the other direction. There was no way they should be able to see it from here, as it should be blocked by the mountainous crater. Had they already gone all the way around it?
Impossible .
She was about to raise the question with Blake but by the time she turned around and composed her thoughts, the group was already following her boss down into the crater.
“It’s just a short nature walk from here,” he called out, already out of view.
Taking one more look back at the strange LEM, it hit her: they had landed so far off course that they had strayed into the territory of their rivals, to the very part of the moon they had signed a treaty of sorts saying they wouldn’t venture to.
Black Sky was here.
12 | Moonwalking
“I have to tell you, Blake, I don’t think this is wise from a commercial standpoint,” James Burton’s voice said somewhere up ahead of Caitlin. More like down ahead , she thought, looking up at the crater’s lip from the outside face. The rest of the team had already topped over the rim and were now making their way down the inside of the crater. But there was no way she felt comfortable leaving these rovers parked on the crater incline without wheel chocks to keep them from rolling. She found the chocks and placed them underneath the moon buggies’ wheels to make certain the rovers couldn’t roll down the outside of the crater while they were away. Her rover training back home had been kept secret so as not to tip off Blake’s “surprise excursion feature,” as he called it—he was paranoid that Black Sky would get wind of it and do the same thing.
Climbing the steep outer face of the crater was tricky going in the light gravity, and Caitlin relegated the group conversation to the back of her mind while she concentrated on her footing.
“Because, Blake,” Burton was transmitting to the team, “to do this moon walk you’re relying on multiple systems with insufficient redundancy. Do we have enough air in our suits to walk back to the lander if something
“Our home away from home,” Blake said, pointing out the LEM while Suzette followed his finger with the camera. “Let’s have a look, shall we?” Blake exited the rover and bunny-hopped the rest of the way to the uppermost portion of the rim. More cautiously, the others, including Caitlin, followed suit.
Standing on the lip of the crater, Caitlin was speechless with awe when confronted with the sheer size of the crater’s interior. It had to be a mile wide. As if in response to her thoughts, Asami said, “It looks impressive, but this is a relatively small crater.”
“It’s too steep here,” Blake said, turning on his heel and bounding back down to his rover.
“Too steep for what?” James Burton asked.
“C’mon, we need to go ‘round a bit more.”
They all piled back into the vehicles, and after another half an hour, just as the first stirrings of “Hey, maybe we should head back,” were on peoples’ lips, Blake stopped his rover near the rim again, consulted his GPS with a frown, and got out.
Caitlin followed him to the rim, a few feet away. The interior of the crater was not as steep here. In fact, it would be possible to walk down into it were one so inclined. But as Blake began to encourage the others to have a look into the crater, a glint down on the ground and far in the distance was flagged by Caitlin’s peripheral vision.
“Those are some interesting geological features,” Asami was saying as she peered into the crater. “You see that?” But Caitlin no longer heard her. She was squinting onto the lunar plain at the base of the crater, looking at a lunar lander. But their LEM was miles back in the other direction. There was no way they should be able to see it from here, as it should be blocked by the mountainous crater. Had they already gone all the way around it?
Impossible .
She was about to raise the question with Blake but by the time she turned around and composed her thoughts, the group was already following her boss down into the crater.
“It’s just a short nature walk from here,” he called out, already out of view.
Taking one more look back at the strange LEM, it hit her: they had landed so far off course that they had strayed into the territory of their rivals, to the very part of the moon they had signed a treaty of sorts saying they wouldn’t venture to.
Black Sky was here.
12 | Moonwalking
“I have to tell you, Blake, I don’t think this is wise from a commercial standpoint,” James Burton’s voice said somewhere up ahead of Caitlin. More like down ahead , she thought, looking up at the crater’s lip from the outside face. The rest of the team had already topped over the rim and were now making their way down the inside of the crater. But there was no way she felt comfortable leaving these rovers parked on the crater incline without wheel chocks to keep them from rolling. She found the chocks and placed them underneath the moon buggies’ wheels to make certain the rovers couldn’t roll down the outside of the crater while they were away. Her rover training back home had been kept secret so as not to tip off Blake’s “surprise excursion feature,” as he called it—he was paranoid that Black Sky would get wind of it and do the same thing.
Climbing the steep outer face of the crater was tricky going in the light gravity, and Caitlin relegated the group conversation to the back of her mind while she concentrated on her footing.
“Because, Blake,” Burton was transmitting to the team, “to do this moon walk you’re relying on multiple systems with insufficient redundancy. Do we have enough air in our suits to walk back to the lander if something
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