Hawking Lucy - Georges Cosmic Treasure Hunt

THE LATEST SCIENTIFIC THEORIES!

There are a number of fabulous science essays that appear within the story to give readers a fascinating real insight into some of the latest theories. These have been written by the following eminent scientists:

by Professor Stephen Hawking (writing as Eric), Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, University of Cambridge, England

by Professor Bernard Carr, Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy, School of Mathematical Sciences, Queen Mary, University of London, England

by Dr. Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer, SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute, Mountain View, California

by Dr. Brandon Carter, Director of Research, Laboratoire de lUnivers et de ses Thories, Observatoire de Paris-Meudon, France

by Lord Martin Rees, President of the Royal Society, Trinity College, University of Cambridge, England

by Professor Geoff Marcy, Professor of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley; winner of the Shaw Prize for Astronomy

by Professor Geoff Marcy

by Professor Stephen Hawking (writing as Eric)

T minus seven minutes and thirty seconds, said a robotic voice. Orbiter access arm retracted.

George gulped and shifted around in the commanders seat on the space shuttle. This, finally, was it. In just a few short minutesminutes that were ticking by far faster than the endless ones of the last class at schoolhed be leaving planet Earth behind and flying into the cosmos.

Now that the orbiter access arm, which formed the bridge between his spacecraft and the outside world, had been taken away, George knew hed missed his final chance leave. This was one of the last stages before liftoff. It meant the connecting hatches were closing. And they werent just closingthey were being sealed. Now, even if he hammered on the hatches and begged to be let out, there would be no one on the other side to hear him. The astronauts were alone with their mighty spacecraft. There was nothing to do now but wait for the countdown to reach zero.

T minus six minutes and fifteen seconds. Perform APU prestart. The APUsthe Auxiliary Power Unitshelped to steer the shuttle during launch and landing. They were powered by three fuel cells, which had already been running for hours. But the command to prestart the APU made the shuttle hum with life, as though the spaceship knew its moment of glory was not far off now.

T minus five minutes, said the voice. Go for APU start.

Georges stomach quivered with butterflies. Above all things in the Universe, he wanted to fly through space again. And now here he was, on board a real spaceship with astronauts inside it, waiting on a launchpad for liftoff. It was exciting but scary at the same time. What if he did something wrong? He was in the commanders seat, which meant he was in charge of operating the shuttle. Next to him sat his pilot, who was there as the commanders backup. So, youre all astronauts on some kind of star trek? he muttered to himself in a silly voice.

What was that, Commander? came a voice over Georges headset.

Oh, er, um, said George, whod forgotten that launch control could hear every word he said. Just wondering what aliens might say to us, if we run into any.

Someone at launch control laughed. You be sure to tell them we all said hi.

T minus three minutes and three seconds. Engines to start position.

Vroom vroom, thought George. The three engines and the two solid rocket boosters would provide the speed during the first few seconds of liftoff, when the shuttle would be moving at one hundred miles per hour before it even cleared the launch tower. It would only take eight and a half minutes to reach a speed of seventeen thousand five hundred miles an hour!

T minus two minutes. Close visors. Georges fingers itched to flip a couple of the thousands of switches in front of him, just to see what would happen, but he didnt dare. In front of him was the joystick that he, the commander, would use to steer the shuttle once they got into space, and then to dock with the International Space Station. It was like the steering wheel of a car, except that the joystick moved in all sorts of directions rather than just left and right. It could go backward and forward as well. He put one finger on the top of the joystick, just to see what it felt like. One of the electronic graphs in front of him shivered very slightly as he did so. He snatched his hand back and pretended he hadnt touched anything.

T minus fifty-five seconds. Perform solid rocket booster lockout. The two solid rocket boosters would blast the space shuttle off the pad and up to around 230 miles above the Earth. They didnt have an off switch. Once they were ignited, the space shuttle was going up.

Good-bye, Earth, thought George. Ill be back soon. He felt a twinge of sadness at leaving his beautiful planet, his friends, and his family behind. In just a short time he would be orbiting over their heads when the shuttle docked with the International Space Station. He would be able to look down and see the Earth as the ISS whizzed overhead, completing a full orbit once every ninety minutes. From space, he would be able to see the outlines of continents, oceans, deserts, forests and lakes, and the lights of big cities at night. Looking up from Earth, his mom and dad and his friendsEric, Annie, and Susanwould only see him as a tiny bright dot moving fast across the sky on a clear night.