“Armstrong Space Station is a military outpost, and it is in need of replacement, but I want our return to space to be much more than just the military—I want ours to include more scientific research and industrialization as well,” President Phoenix went on. “I have been briefed and have seen plans for amazing systems and industries permanently operating in Earth orbit and beyond, and I will challenge the Congress and the federal government to support and assist private industry to deploy and advance these incredible innovations.
“For example, as you may know, debris in space is a big problem for satellites, spacecraft, and astronauts—a hit by even a tiny particle traveling over seventeen thousand miles an hour can cripple a ship or kill a spacewalker. I have seen patented plans by American companies to venture into debris fields and use robots to retrieve large damage-causing pieces. I have even seen plans for a space recycling program: spent or malfunctioning satellites and jettisoned boosters can be retrieved, the unused propellant captured, the solar panels and electronics salvaged and repaired, and the batteries recharged and reused. They are even talking about having a space-based facility in orbit that can rebuild and repair spacecraft and place them back into service—no need to waste the time, energy, manpower, and dollars to bring the satellite all the way back to Earth when there’s a crew on a space station ready to do the work.
“Those are only two of the many projects I have seen, and I have to tell you: after the briefings, and especially after coming up here and traveling in space, I feel as if I’m standing at the starting line of the great westward land rush, the reins in my hand and my family, friends, and neighbors beside me, ready to start a new life and take on the future. I know there will be dangers, setbacks, disappointments, loss, injury, and death. It’s going to cost a lot of money, private as well as public money, and I’m going to cancel, postpone, or downsize a lot of other programs to make resources available for systems that I feel will take us well into the twenty-second century. But after coming up here, seeing what is being done and learning what can be done, I know it’s imperative—no, it’s vital—that we get started immediately.
“Now, my ride back to Washington leaves in a couple hours. I want to check on Special Agent Spellman to see how he’s doing, have a meal with the dedicated personnel aboard this facility, tour around a little more so I can work on my zero-G free-fall movement technique, and then catch a ride back to Earth, but I’d be happy to take a few questions from the White House press corps back in the press briefing room in the White House in Washington.” He looked at the monitor before him, at the slack-jawed, stupefied expressions of the correspondents, and he had to stifle a smile. “Jeffrey Connors of ABC, why don’t you start us off?” The correspondent rose shakily to his feet. He looked at his notes and realized he hadn’t written anything else down except the questions about Guam that he assumed he would be asking. “Jeff?”
“Uh . . . Mr. . . . Mr. President . . . how . . . how do you feel?” the reporter finally stammered. “Any . . . any adverse effects of the launch and weightlessness?”
“I’ve been asked that question about a hundred times in the past couple hours,” the president replied. “Every now and then I get a little shot of vertigo, as if I was in a tall building and glanced out the window and suddenly felt as if I was falling, but it passes quickly. I feel good. I guess other first-timers in free fall—weightlessness—don’t do as well. My Secret Service detail, Special Agent Spellman, is in sick bay.”
“Excuse me, sir?” Connors asked. The shocked, bewildered expressions of the other correspondents instantly vanished—they smelled fresh news blood in the water. “You have a Secret Service agent up there with you?”
“Yes,” the president acknowledged. “It’s required, of course, and Earth orbit is no different. Special Agent Charles Spellman volunteered to accompany me on this trip. That was way, way beyond the call of duty.”
“But he’s not well?”
“If I may, Mr. President?” Kai Raydon interjected. The president nodded and motioned to the camera. “I’m retired brigadier general Kai Raydon, formerly of the U.S. Space Defense Force and now an employee of Sky Masters Aerospace and the station director. The stresses of space flight affect persons differently. Some people, like the president, tolerate the G-forces and weightlessness very well; others don’t. Special Agent Spellman is in top physical condition, on a par with anyone who has ever traveled up to Armstrong, but his body was temporarily intolerant to the forces and sensations he experienced. As the president said, he’s recovering very well.”
“Is he going to be able to take the stress of returning to Earth?” another reporter asked.
“I’d have to refer to our medical director, Dr. Miriam Roth,” Kai said, “but Special Agent Spellman is looking good to me. I think he’ll do fine on the return after some rest and antisickness medication.”