Orbits and panics

December 4th, 1957; Baikonur Kosmodrone.

Today’s report include two launches – the second which went flawlessly as always, and the first which went fine, until the scientist on the mission panicked and used the lifeboat.

In either case, the launch of Kerlab-1 into a 45 degree 500×500 km orbit went off without a hitch. This was of course also our second launch of the Proton-5 type rocket, so we fully expected it to work.

The launch was, as always documented by the photographer from the Ministry, although he seems to have gotten himself a new kamera that can take pictures faster than before.

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After setting it into the correct orbit, and performing initial experiments for return, the scientist on the rocket panicked over the falling power levels, and decided to return home in the emergency capsule. He has since been reprimanded severely, as he was supposed to have deactivated said capsule, to save power, until the follow-up mission later this month.

As a result, the Kerlab-1 station is now floating empty in space – although we did confirm that our emergency escape system works fine.

Due to this same issue, no pictures of the station in orbit have been taken yet – we will make sure to do so, once the follow-up mission is done, and the station crewed.

The other mission launched today was another Orbiter-3, although this time up for a few days less than previous missions – we expect it to be a success as usual. After this mission, a full 18 of our current kerbonauts have been in orbit – giving us a fine foundation for future missions.

Signed,

Gene Kerman