Forever Gliding (MT) [International Space Federation ONLY]

by **Guadalupador** » Sun Sep 03, 2017 3:50 pm

"Orbiter Providence to Divouga Control: Are we Go on that scheduled de-orbit burn?

"Divouga Control to Orbiter Providence: Weather conditions down here are good. You are Go for reentry, Orbiter Providence."

"Orbiter Providence to Divouga Control: Outstanding Flight Control, we'll see you all on terra firma real soon."

"Roger that Orbiter Providence, see you in a little while, finalizing de-orbit procedures now..."
- An Excerpt from the Text Transcript of Orbiter Mission ARO-24, the nineteenth and final flight of Guadalupadorian Space Orbiter Providence

1600 Hours: Low Earth Orbit. (5/9/2027)

The eight Guadalupadorian astronauts aboard the Space Orbiter Providence: Flight Commander Raymus Artulis, Orbiter Pilot Marisa Gando, Payload Specialists Isemalda Monroya, Pyetro Semev, Payload Commander Samil Yalene, and the Mission Specialists Set Yansen, Jacque Ilyame, and Roberta Edu went through their scheduled last-minute checks as they sealed up their pressurized suits and strapped themselves in for the routine trip back through the Earth's atmosphere toward Divouga Steppe Center's massive airstrip. Flight Control was on the comms with them every step of the way: "Divouga Control to Orbiter Providence: You are Go to initiate de-orbit, controls free from here on out."

"Orbiter Providence to Divouga Control: roger that, starting to bank the Orbiter, and initiating burn." Pilot Marisa Gando replied as she gently pressed the RCS thrust control, manuvering the Orbiter into its proper de-orbit position. Provience started to shake as the RCS propelled the craft downward in a nose-up position, leaving the OMS engines to do their job de-orbiting the vehicle. "This is your captain speaking, we'll be landing in Divouga in one hour. Please put your seatbelts on because we're about to run into some minor turbulence on the way, now sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight." Gando joked to the enjoyment of the rest of the crew. "Orbiter Providence to Divouga Control: It looks like we're starting to enter the atmosphere, can you confirm?" Gando asked as she noticed Providence's thermal sensors started to gradually rise in temperature.

"Divouga to Providence: Can confirm. Right on schedule." was Flight Control's short and sweet response. "Telemetry is good. Don't worry."

"Thank the Gods..." Samil Yalene said, watching the hot plasma trails outside the nearest window.

1649 Hours: Divouga Steppe Space Center: Flight Control

"Uhh, CAPCOM, I've got some weird readings on my console; about three sensors on the split rudder just went offline." The Chief MMACS officer reported.

"MMACS, you said the Split Rudder? Aft section?" Flight Director Anton Ralsy asked.

"Affirmative, CAPCOM. I'm trying to ping it, but there's no response."

The Flight Director went silent for a moment, nodded and ordered flight communications: "Comms, get in contact with Providence." Ralsy said with a bit of concern.

"Divouga to Providence: how's your readings on the aft section, split rudder? We're wondering if the Telemetry is being a bit wonky." The Comms Officer asked.

"Providence to Divouga: We're seeing no such readings up here. Our instrumentation is good...wait. We're getting no sensory information from the tail." Orbiter Commander Raymus Artulis replied cooly.

"CAPCOM, it looks like we're losing sensors all across the board in the tail section." MMACS reported in.

"We've got master alarms in the tail section... uhh... this isn't good. No pressure readings, temperature, anythi-" Artulis didn't finish his sentence as Providence rolled out of control with the complete loss of its tail section at a speed of Mach 24. The craft started to disintegrate as hot plasma seeped through the Orbiter, completely bypassing its heat shield. The crew compartment in the front section broke free and started to plummet westward toward the ground over Chibritinuma Province; its occupants still strapped inside their seats, falling from a height of 73 kilometers.

All that could be heard from Comms was static. Flight Director Ralsy ordered Comms to start emergency UHF Comm Checks: "Divouga-Providence UHF Comm Check... Divouga-Providence UHF Comm Check..." The temperature of the mission control center felt like it cooled a few degrees as the entirety of the staff in the room tried to process what was happening.

"Get tracking on, right now." Ralsy ordered quickly over his headset.

"This is tracking. No signal...All I'm getting is false targets." The officer in charge of tracking the Orbiter replied as he went over the data.

Ralsy pinched the bridge of his nose and took off the headset for a moment. His head was spinning as he looked around at his colleagues in an almost delirious state. They had looks of confusion, shock, teary-eyed sadness, and and some had simple blank expressions on their faces not knowing how to express themselves, or if it was the right time. The Flight Director cursed under his breath before saying a quick prayer to the Gods.

A half-second later, the Mission Director came up to Ralsy: "I think you and I both know what we need to do right now." He whispered to Ralsy. "Tracking was supposed to pick them back up at least a few minutes ago. I-I don't want to say that Providence is gone, but..."

Flight Director Anton Ralsy nodded and got back onto his headset. "Flight Control, this is CAPCOM: start saving any and all data you have immediately. Lock the doors, we are starting the procedures of a critical mission failure." He sat back down and took off his headset once again and got to work as the Mission Director accessed a secure line to the Minister of the Guadalupadorian Federal Aerospace Ministry, and told him of the situation with Providence.

Soon enough, the story that the Providence Orbiter was destroyed broke to the media, and search and rescue operations began to scour Chibritinuma Province and the surrounding areas for pieces of the disintegrated Providence Orbiter. In a live address in the evening, the Grand Premier expressed his mournfulness toward the eight astronauts that were lost during re-entry and especially toward their families. Grand Premier Marcos also promised that his Minister of Aerospace would immediately start an investigation into what went wrong, as well as enlisting the aid of the International Space Federation in both determining the cause behind the Providence's disintegration, and recovery efforts.

by **Arstotzmerika** » Sun Sep 03, 2017 5:13 pm

International Terra Space Station, Arstotzmerikan Space Shuttle Endeavour: 1649 Hours
Low Earth Orbit

Three Arstotzmerikan Astronauts were performing EVA activities on the Station, mainly fixing a broken docking port that almost exposed the station to the space outside. The Space Shuttle was currently docked into another port.

"Hand me that wrench, will you?" EVA Commander Sarah Willson said.

"Alright, heeere ya go ma'am," replied Jacob Millerton, handing over a wrench to fix a bolt. "Thanks."

"Hey, uhhh, do you see that down there? Looks like a streak of fire," spoke Zavier Londer.

"A what? I'm busy fixing.. this.. dang bolt here."

"This is Mission Control to Endeavour Crew, we're receiving reports from Divouga Mission Control of a lost space shuttle in reentry. Can you provide visual? Over," radioed Mission Control from Houston.

"Oh heck, thats not good," replied Jacob, turning himself towards the Earth just enough so he can see it with his head. Instantly upon looking down, he saw the streak of fire Zavier spoke about, striking across the blue marble below.

"Copy Houston, I can see a streaking light below. Its... at least several miles long, I can't get an exact distance of how far away it is. Somewhere probably in the seventies kilometer range."

"Roger, Endeavour. Please continue with your EVA until further notice, Over."

"Copy that Houston."

by **Mewsland** » Sun Sep 03, 2017 7:10 pm

Shiara VII Space Complex

The space station named for the High Queen of Cártána between 1940 and 1972 was quite an achievement. Formerly known as the Space Station Relten, the Shiara VII Space Complex had grown to sustain 20 regular occupants, and given the Cártánynes' role as the current head of the ISF, it also served as a staging and coordination point between the various space agencies. The station, kept steady in a 2,551 by 2,460 kilometer orbit, quickly picked up on the growing situation with the Space Shuttle Providence...

09:49 Myrávia Time

Station Commander Valhana Wyntoris floated through one of the tunnels into the station's central Command Module, looking over some of the displays. "Myrávia, Seven. Station looks good, and I'm not showing any... stand by one, Myrávia."

The quick "roger" from the ground allowed Wyntoris to switch over to Guadalupadorian space communication, where all she heard were a pile-up of com checks. Once they cleared up, she opened up signals. "Divouga, this is Commander Wyntoris up on Shiara. I wanted to fill you in, we saw Providence heading for reentry, but lost them over the horizon about four minutes ago. Our tracking relays confirm negative signal from the Orbiter. I'll be passing this down to Myrávia, but it'll be up to you if you want the ISF to step in."

Several Hours Later | ISF Headquarters, Unity Space Center, Myrávia, Cártána

ISF President Aphiel Kiraph sighed as he read over the reports on the destruction of the Providence Orbiter. "Damn shame. Do we have any data on what the hell happened up there?"

"Tracking data provided by Divouga suggests the orbiter disintegrated at roughly 73 to 75 kilometers altitude during reentry. Cártányne data from Shiara and from the ISF tracking relays seems to confirm that."

"Well, let's get some recovery teams, as well as disaster investigation teams on their way to Divouga to meet up with their Guadalupadorian counterparts." Kiraph took off his glasses. "I'm going to draft a public statement regarding the accident,
as well as letters of condolence to the families."

by **Arstotzmerika** » Sun Sep 03, 2017 8:03 pm

San Francisco, NAASA HQ, CEO Office

"Well it appears that the Guadalupadorian Shuttle Providence has disintegrated in the atmosphere, so what are you worrying about?" said Vice CEO Gerald Winder.

"Our own shuttle. Its bottom side was facing the same way as the direction Providence was flying from." spoke CEO Henry Victor.

"So?" replied Gerald in a confused manner.

"Space debris. Its possible that some kind of debris hit Providence, and some extra debris could or would hit the Endeavour."

"Sir, I'm thinking you're worrying too much."

"Maybe, but you have to remember this kind of business is extremely costly in money. Losing a shuttle like the Guadalupadorians would be disastrous for our budget."

"That is true sir. I suggest we support them to help with recovery efforts to understand why the Providence went down before we land the Endeavour. They currently got plenty of food and oxygen to stay up there a while at the Terra Station."

"We need to get an EVA team to inspect the Endeavour for any damages as well. Alright, well we better get moving then."

"Yes sir."

International Terra Space Station, Arstotzmerika Orbiter Endeavour, 56 Minutes Later

Commander Sarah floated out of the airlock with an EVA Jetpack, maneuvering around the shuttle to the underside. The shuttle had itself turned to have the underside face the sun, allowing for Sarah to have some good lighting when searching for holes or any other kind of damage. Jacob quickly followed her out of the airlock with his own EVA Jetpack.

"I'm not sure this is the best idea to use human eyes."

"Mission Control did say would use the station's cameras to help," replied Jacob, carrying a camera himself, "I mean, I'm carrying one right now." The duo moved up to get a good view of the shuttle for the camera, which then began beaming information back to Houston.

"Houston, are you receiving? Over."

"Copy, we got it clear."

Mission Control whatever the best tech they had to examine the shuttle, taking a total of another hour.

"This is Mission Control, we've got good news, you're clear! You can safely land home hopefully once you go around the Earth once more."

"Roger that Houston."

by **Samudera Darussalam** » Sun Sep 03, 2017 11:03 pm

SNASA Headquarters, Bukit Permai District, Bandar Raja

"Ma'am? Ma'am? We've just got a bad news."
Dr. Maryam Iskandar Gunawan, the Director of SNASA sighed. It's barely 10 in the morning, and yet, there is already a problem. She put the cup that she just currently held, and turned her back to face the intruder that just disturbed her morning tea. A middle-aged man, with light complexion and unique facial features that shows his Torajan origin, now stood before her, holding several papers.

"What's the bad news?" She asked with a wary tone, but retained her calm appearance.

The middle-aged man said nothing, he put the papers he held on her table, waiting for the SNASA Director to reach for it. Once Dr. Maryam Iskandar Gunawan began to adjust her glasses to read the papers, the man spoke.
"We've just got a report from our space station Laksamana Hang Tuah that the Guadalupadorian Space Orbiter Providence, has just destroyed from an unknown cause."
The SNASA Director lifted her head in surprise.
"God," she muttered.
"How bad is the situation?"
"Our people in Kuching said that there are possibilities of imminent dangers from the space debris to several international space stations up there, including the Arstotzmerikan one, though they said that we have yet to receive further reports to confirm that."

Dr. Maryam Iskandar Gunawan sighed, putting her glasses down.
"How about our people aboard the Laksamana Hang Tuah?"
"They are safe, barely getting hit by the space debris. They are still in the process of checking any possible damages on the space station."
Dr. Maryam Iskandar Gunawan sighed in relief.
"Alhamdulillah. Have we received any reports from the ISF?"
"Currently none, Ma'am."
"Then we have to wait for the official confirmation and response from the ISF before we can act. Thank you very much for the reports, Antonio."
Antonio, the message deliver, nodded.
"Report to me immediately if you have any updates about the current situation."
"Understood, Ma'am." Then Antonio turned his back and leave.

"I wonder how the Guadalupadorians and Arstotzmerikans will act." She muttered.
"But then, this is really tickling my curiosity."

by **Merni** » Mon Sep 04, 2017 9:28 am

Mernian Kukela Space Station
Kukela Space Station, launched in 1999, is the first entirely Mernian space station, built for six regular occupants. The station's occupants were astonished by the loss of signal from Providence...

19.19 Qersi Time, Kukela Space Station
Hekate Spera, the commander of the 27th Kukela mission, was taking a break from conducting some experiments in the laboratory module in the station. While monitoring the tracking signals from Providence, he gazed up at the window and was reassured by the spacecraft in the distance. Suddenly, it vanished over the horizon, but he had expected this. He continued monitoring the signals. A few minutes later, the signal suddenly vanished from all the screens. "They shouldn't have already landed by now..."
He contacted Qersi mission control. "Hey, Qersi, we've lost the signal from Providence. I'm calling Divouga, stand by." He then contacted Divouga Space Centre himself. "Hey, Divouga, this is Hekate Spera from Kukela. We've lost signal from Providence. Just letting you know."

A bit later, in MSA headquarters

The telephone rang in the office of Kera Kentes, Director of Operations of the MSA. "Hello, Kentes here. Yes? What? Providence destroyed! How? Yes, come here at once!"

Deputy Chief of Mission Control, John Pigelow, entered the office. "Sir, Kukela lost all tracking signals from Providence at 19.27 Qersi time. Divouga has confirmed it disintegrated during orbit, at about 70 km. Space stations of Cártána and Arstotzmerika also report the same. Here's the initial report from Divouga."

Kentes glanced over it and sighed. "This is terrible! Critical mission failure...complete telemetry failure followed by disintegration...Good God, they were at Mach 24!...what the hell?"

He pondered over it for a few minutes and came to a decision. "We can wait and communicate with them until they ask for ISF help. But arrange a briefing tomorrow for MSA investigation teams and police recovery teams. And no damage on Kukela, I hope?"

"No sir, no damage on Kukela, they checked."

"Well, that's all we can do at the moment. Keep me posted."

by **New Roma Republic** » Tue Sep 05, 2017 2:17 pm

The Imperial Republic operates and maintains ground stations and satellites across and over the globe to track New Roman space operations, whether it be manned or unmanned. In addition, these tracking stations tracked craft reentering the atmosphere, as standard operating procedure, for reasons of security, mainly. One such station acquired the Providence sometime around 1600 on September 5th. Its deorbit began as normal. Just under an hour into the deorbit, however, something happened that caused the station that was then tracking it to lose contact.

Imperial Aerospace Colonization and Exploration Agency and Imperial Space Force Tracking Station 9
“Oh my gods….” Muttered the woman at screen that was tracking the Providence. “Sir, I’ve been tracking a spacecraft in on a deorbit. At 1651 I lost solid contact.” The Head Controller walked over and looked at the screen.
“Save the data. You were tracking the Guadalupadorian orbiter, Providence, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Gods damn.” He walked to his office and called his superior to report the data. That went up the chain to the IACEA Administration, who reviewed the data themselves. The speculation was confirmed by a press release by the Guadalupadorian Federal Aerospace Ministry.

The Director of the IACEA, Avitus Cassian, wrote an email to his counterpart in Guadalupador.

Dear Ronalde,

On behalf of myself, the IACEA, and the Imperial Republic of New Rome, I offer you and the families of those 8 poor men and women have our upmost sympathy. It is truly terrible to lose those who brave the vastness of space on the greatest – and final – frontier.

The IACEA and ISF both tracked the Providence. All our data has been compiled and we are wiring the data to you. We hope that this data helps in tracking down what caused this terrible accident.

Ronalde, if you need any help, please don’t hesitate to reach out to my Agency.

Stay Strong,
Avitus

by **Arstotzmerika** » Mon Sep 11, 2017 9:20 pm

Arstotzmerikan Orbiter Endeavour

Pictured: Endeavour just after undocking with the ITSS

The Endeavour undocked from the ITSS, sending a clank noise from the docking clamps unlocking. The Orbiter very slowly moved away from the station with the little momentum it gained from undocking before the RCS were brought to life, and began to move the shuttle further away from the station. It continued to move slowly away from the station before reaching a safe distance away from it. The cargo door was closed quickly, covering up the docking port on the Orbiter.

"This is Endeavour to Houston, requesting Deorbit Burn, over," said Commander Sarah.

"Please Standby Endeavour, Mission Control is currently deciding on approval of such an action."

"Roger that Houston," replied Sarah. She felt confident that the Endeavour could land safely in such a time after the Providence's destruction, as it is believed there is no damage to Endeavour from any possible space debris. Losing the Endeavour now could seriously damage the ISF's operations and budget, which meant she had no room for failure. As she waited for Mission Control's approval of Deorbit, a systematic check was performed to pass the time, the results were that the shuttle was in excellent status seemingly.

A total of 12 minutes and 48 seconds passed before Mission Control gave Endeavour the all clear. With that, Sarah shortly after began to rotate the shuttle to have its engines' face the opposite direction it was orbiting in. The 3 Orbiter Engines blasted to life, slowing the spacecraft's speed. The ITSS seemed to fly away from the crew's perspective as the shuttle rattled with the rocket engine's immense force. After less than a minute, the engines stopped, and the Orbiter rotated once more to face the opposite direction.

"Houston, Deorbit Burn has been completed. Wish us luck we don't go down the Providence's path," said Sarah with confidence, as her crew were depending on her and the co-pilot's ability to fly the Orbiter.

"Good luck Endeavour," replied Mission Control, "Fly Safe."

by **Guadalupador** » Wed Sep 13, 2017 12:25 pm

0900 Hours: Guadalupadorian Federal Aerospace Ministry Offices, Divouga, Guadalupador (6/9/2027)

Minister Ronalde Ludens wiped the sweat from off his brow as he shifted through hundreds of reports on the telemetry data, mission logs, transcripts, anything that could foster a lead on why Providence failed mid-reentry. He had spent all night at his desk, on the order of the Grand Premier, making calls, directing recovery teams across Chibritinum Province and consulting Mission Director Anton Ralsy. The mood across both the Ministry's offices, and Divouga Steppe Center was one of solemn reflection but also a new sense of productivity, "por Elethunias*" became a common phrase among the staff as they reviewed hours upon hours of mission data. And there Ludens was every step of the way. As his long sleepless shift came to an end, he received a message from his contemporary, Avitus Cassian of the IACEA. The Minister read over Cassian's message and was grateful for all the data wired to him. He wrote a quick response to his friend:

To: IACEA Director, Avitus Cassian
From: Guadalupadorian Federal Aerospace Minister, Ronalde Ludens
Subject: RE: Condolences and Data
Encryption: MEDIUM

Dear Avitus,

Your offer of help will certainly not go unheard. We, frankly need all the assistance and data we can carry to determine the cause of Providence's disintegration. It has been difficult calling each and every one of the families of the Providence crew members and informing them of what happened. In fact, that's been the hardest thing to do, I pray that you never have to make these calls. Funeral arrangements aren't in order yet because recovery teams have yet to find any remains if there are any. We've been getting valuable telemetry and comms data from the other ISF member-states as well. We're announcing in a press release today that GFAM is going to let the ISF help in the recovery efforts and within the investigation proper. As I said, we're gonna need all the help we can get.

For Providence,
Ronalde Ludens

1400 Hours: Chibritinum Province, Guadalupador (6/9/2027)

Local First-responders and GFAM's Debris Recovery Team cooperated as they scoured the grassy Divouga Steppe, recovering any piece of the Providence Orbiter they could. Some of the largest pieces were found by bystanders over the course of the night. Social media posts helped to lead the way for recovery teams to pick up pieces of the starboard elevators, and a large chunk of the portside's heatshielding. The debris field was projected to be from 200 to 500 km long and 12 km wide: a massive distance to search for pieces. It could take years to recover even half of the debris strewn across the northeastern corner of the country. Over the course of the day, they found hundreds of smaller pieces of the craft, and were able to send them back to Divouga to be tested. The Ministry was hopeful however, that the ISF would make the difference in the search for the crew, or whatever remained of them.

1900 Hours: Divouga Steppe Space Center (6/9/27)

All across the country vigils were held in the Providence crew's honor as the national tragedy nearly ground things to a halt. Pictures of the smiling crew, now lost to the sky were plastered across social media. Social media within the space center, however was restricted as the investigation had to continue. The Chief Investigator, and former Mission Director Anton Ralsy shuffled several of his trusted mission control staff into a conference room away from the mission control room, and dumped thousands of files out onto the table. "Alright, now at this point we obviously know what happened to Providence. We have hundreds of hours of mission data from the flight itself, telemetry, everything." Ralsy walked over to a whiteboard in the room, and started to draw a crude outline of the orbiter. He marked the tail section and continued. "We lost all telemetry from the aft section right here. A minute later, Providence broke up at a speed of Mach 24. Something had to have happened to the tail. MMACS?" Ralsy asked for input from his Chief MMACS Officer.

"Yeah, I lost all telemetry from the split rudder at about 49 minutes into reentry. Then about 50 minutes in, I lost telemetry with the entire tail section of Providence."

"Right, right. So we can't draw any conclusions yet, but according to the data we have now, the tail is a lead. I need all the telemetry data for the aft section throughout the entire mission, from launch to reentry."

"Can we rule anything out right now, Anton?"

"No, we can't. It could be literally anything." Ralsy said. "Thankfully, the ISF will be coming here soon to assist us. Now let's get to work."

*for Providence

by **Merni** » Thu Sep 14, 2017 1:19 am

6/9/27, 1200 hours
MSA Headquarters, Qersi

Kera Kentes, Director of Operations for the MSA, was at his desk drafting a letter to the Federal Aerospace Minister of Guadalupador, Ronalde Ludens, offering help from his country in investigating the crash of the Providence spacecraft. He was just about to sign it when he heard a knock at the door.

"Come in!"

Rekertos Faeste, his secretary, entered. "Sir, the press release, for your approval."

"Ah, yes. Leave it here," he said. He looked over it. It was a short release, stating mainly that the MSA and Mernian government had offered to help the GFAM, and that Kukela had tracked Providence before the incident. He picked up his fountain pen and signed it. He then looked once more over the letter, and signed it as well.

To: Ronalde Ludens, Federal Aerospace Minister, Guadalupador
From: Kera Kentes, Director of Operations, Mernian Space Agency

Merni's sympathy and tracking data of Providence

6th September, 2027 12:41 pm

Dear Ronalde

I write to you on behalf of the MSA, as well as the Government of Merni and the Mernian people. We offer our wholehearted sympathy and condolences to all those people affected by the tragic end to the mission of those eight astronauts. It is indeed saddening to know that these men and women, some of the finest spacefarers of the day, were lost so close to returning home.

As you know, the Mernian Kukela space station tracked Providence. The tracking data has been compiled and collated and is being sent securely to your teams. If anything is lacking, please feel free send a message to our Mission Control teams.

If you need any other help, please do not hesitate to ask our agency. Our hearts are with you at this difficult time. I am, sir,

Yours sincerely,
Kera Kentes.

by **Sovreignry** » Tue Sep 19, 2017 12:55 pm

Albina Bayer, Director of Current Operations, Unity Space Center, Myrávia, Cártána

Director of Current Operations for the ISF, Sovreignian Albina Bayer, had been fielding calls all day. She really had to be in a meeting to look into what could possibly be done for ISF missions that were still ongoing, and how to prevent something, from happening on a future mission, but now she was on her 3rd phone call from someone back home.

"Yes, Your Majesty, I fully understand that you're concerned about this. I'm concerned about this too. Not just for the Sovreignians that are either on mission, or about to go on mission, but for all the astronauts under my protection." she said into the receiver, King William Carmichael on the other end of the phone call. She'd already been contacted by both Martha Armbrüster the current Prime Minister, and Selma Duerr, the current head of the SASA. "Yes, Your Majesty, I understand that you have multiple degrees in engineering...and that you helped develop some of the technologies that we use today. Sir, I completely understand what your concerns are. Sir, I understand that we need to look into this. I'm actually have a meeting scheduled where we're going to discuss the incident here at the ISF. Thank you sir, good health to you and your family. Goodbye Your Majesty."

Albina hung up the phone and rubbed her temples with the tips of her fingers. "Humphrey!" she shouted towards her now beleaguered assistant. "Get me a large coffee, double strong, double sweet, and hold my calls until after the meeting is over, I don't care if it's the King of the Universe, I'm not available."

She gathered up her files and documents before grabbing the coffee from Humphrey and heading towards her meeting.

"And if it's your wife?" He asked as she walked past.

"If it's an emergency come get me, otherwise she'll be the first person I call back."

by **Diarcesia** » Tue Sep 26, 2017 4:25 pm

Dismay and horror found its way to the personnel of the Space Agency Diarcesian, on the ground or out among the stars, when news of the destruction of Providence arrived. This has happened once before, but the emotions the event evoked weren't diminished...

"This is Buclatrachys Mission Control to all personnel of the SAD. It is of great sorrow to inform that in the distant land of Guadalupador, a number of our fellow pioneers and fearless explorers have fallen in the service of mankind and pursuit of knowledge. The orbiter Providence experienced structural failure and broke up during reentry, with the loss of everyone on board. Let's have a minute of silence for those heroes who have crossed to the great beyond..."

The space agency and the Diarcesian government has expressed its condolences to Guadalupador in short order.

The head of the Space Agency Diarcesian Modest Ververs has overseen the Monarchy's acceleration of space development in the wake of the New Randomnican Crisis and the perception that Diarcesia is slacking vis-a-vis its peers. As soon as he heard of the news of the Providence disaster, he ordered a general review of the SAD's operations with emphasis on the structural integrity of its manned vehicles and stations. It'll take a few months for this to be completed, and he was anxious what would be the results, for he would loath to be unknowingly sending some of the brightest people Diarcesia has to offer to their deaths. Now is as good a time as any for Diarcesia and the fellow ISF members to band together and come up with solutions as a collective, he thought. He then readied his vissage to the ISF to see what happens next, deciding against calling or writing to them as he needs a well-prepared response.

"To the Directorate of Current Operations for the ISF, this is Modesto Ververs, from the Space Agency of the Monarchy Diarcesian. It has been very unfortunate that the Providence was lost with all of its crew. I would like to affirm that we are willing and able to send our people and resources to assist in the investigation and the related operations regarding the breakup of the Guadalupadorian orbiter. We would like to know what would be the next course of action to be done by the ISF and its members. We fully support an exhaustive analysis and formulation of preventive solutions so that a repeat will be more unlikely and maintain better the safety of all persons. Farewell."

vissage = video message

by **Military Democracy of Birtonia** » Sat Oct 07, 2017 12:05 pm

Juliet Stellar Facility, Launch Pad A
Orbital Delivery Vehicle-1 "Dawntreader"

Stage 1

The familiar hum and clicks of computers combined with switches flipping filled the cockpit of the Imperium's very first single stage launch vehicle procured from Halcyon Arms, the Dawntreader. She filled her role well, providing Birtonia the means to launch satellites, piece together their own space station and conduct resupply missions, ferrying supplies and personnel to the ISF station was her final role. She was to be retired in the next year or so, as a more advanced generation of ODV's were being procured. Today her package was roughly 6,000 pounds of crew supplies, and a smattering of scientific equipment for support of investigations aboard the International Terra Space Station. Though the minimum crew required of this particular vehicle was merely two, having four was preferred, as the many systems to check can be overwhelming. Two passengers, science officers, were also en route to the ITSS.

Knight-Colonel Brandon Lanmos sat at the pilots chair, his gloved hands swiftly moving over the massive bank of buttons, switches, and dials in front of him. He was an aged man, having served in the Imperium Militare's air forces for some time before being transferred to the Supra Stellar Astartes, an honor among all pilots of the Imperium. His skin was dark, normal for someone hailing from the eastern Precincts, however his eyes were a bright blue, in stark contrast. Conducting his regular checks via paper list, he called for an all crew clearance.

"Propulsion systems are green sir," said Knight-Major Steven Johnson.

"Communications green," said Knight-Major Harriet Ondo

"Engineering and navigation green", said Knight-Lieutenant Colonel Charley Fox.

"Roger all systems reading green," replied Brandon, "control, Dawntreader I'm reading green across the board over.

"That's a good copy Dawntreader, standby for launch clearance." replied someone from the mission control room nearly a mile away.

Suddenly, a frantic voice broke in over the comms, "BREAK BREAK BREAK, all stations negative clearance. Emergency traffic only until further notice" the transmission disappeared as quickly as it came in.

SSA Monitoring Site, Fort Hadrian

Fort Hadrian was a major intelligence monitoring facility within the borders of Birtonia. it was here that the SSA maintains several chains of massive satellite dishes, antennae, and other high output monitoring and communications devices. For all Birtonian missions telemetry and long distance communication come through here and are either managed or forwarded to the Juliet Stellar Facility. Today however, it was tracking the descent of a fellow ISF craft, the Providence. Something had gone wrong during its reentry and the entire ship had gone off rader, negative comms, negative contact for all parties involved. Calls were placed in frenzy to the office of the Imperator, the Ministorum Externii, and the commanding general of the Supra Stellar Astartes, all launches were put on an indefinite freeze, while the world worked tirelessly, likely coordinating investigations of the disaster.

Juliet Stellar Faciilty, Commanding General's Office

Knight-Major General Antony Masters was blown back by the news that unfurled before him, across his desk were several envelopes all torn open and their contents bearing the news of the Guadalupadorian orbiter disintegrating during de-orbit. Even now, the large monitors on the wall were tracking several different news reports and some footage from the ITSS as well. Antony swung slowly around in his chair, clearing his desk and taking a deep swig from his coffee mug. "Call an all hands meeting in one hour, bring all the coffee" he said into his communications suite, letting his secretary know what to do. The General then set out typing an email to parties involved.

by **Samudera Darussalam** » Sat Oct 07, 2017 11:25 pm

SNASA Headquarters, Bukit Permai District, Bandar Raja

Dr. Maryam Iskandar Gunawan put her glasses down. She sighed, looking at the scene outside the SNASA main building from the large windows behind her desk.
The capital city looks peaceful, as always. From the corner of her eyes, she can see the daily activities of the Bandar Raja citizens unfold before her eyes. There is nothing out of ordinary. What strikes her down, however, was the scene of several elementary school students went home from school. They seem to be full with undisturbed happiness.

Moments ago, Antonio notified her about the recent updates of the Guadalupadorian Providence. The spacecraft has crashed into the Divouga Steppe, with the crews are presumably dead. The Guadalupadorians, along with several other ISF members were investigating the tragedy. Reports from the Laksamana Hang Tuah, relayed through Kuching, have confirmed about the the disaster. Even after she heard that the Laksamana Hang Tuah went gratefully unharmed, she can't bring herself to smile. It would be.....an unethical thing to do, as her grandmother had said. It would be bad when you smile upon other people's suffering, regardless of the intention.

Dr. Maryam Iskandar Gunawan closed her eyes. She was a mother and a wife, and she can certainly imagine, how awful and heartbreaking it would be for those poor families who lost their dearest ones in this disaster. Determinedly, she wore her glasses and turned to her desk, writing some letters to her Guadalupadorian counterpart.

To: Ronalde Ludens, Federal Aerospace Minister, Guadalupador
From: Maryam I. Gunawan, Chief Director, Samuderan National Aerospace and Space Administration

I write to you in behalf of the SNASA, the Government of Samudera Darussalam and the people of Samudera. We offer our utmost sympathy and condolences to all those people affected by the tragedy.

We received reports from our Mission Control that our space station, the Laksamana Hang Tuah has tracked the Providence. If that's true, then we are going to compile the data and send the results to your team. If there's any errors or lacking, or if you need more help, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Our hearts are with the Guadalupadorian people.

Yours sincerely,

Maryam I. Gunawan

by **Okstovskaya** » Mon Oct 09, 2017 5:23 am

OGASA-SSC Wvorskiy Cosmodrome Center
Dverzhinsk, Wvorskiy 127307
07:19:26 A

"3, 2, 1...,"
...says the mission flight commander as the 2-stage reusable Polux III-K lifts off the launch pad just after a Congress meeting's end in the capital.
Many spectators watched for the rocket's fiery ascend to space; one of them is President Taylor B. Walker, clapping during the 1st stage separation, together with OGASA Admin David Belkin.
Sounds of technology and data emitted by computers operated inside the Laboratory can be faintly heard by Taylor. Everything was going well, until...

*ringing*
Her excitement was disturbed by Foreign Affairs Minister Agnes Schfeitzhoppfer calling.
"Hey Taylor, your phone's ringing," informed David while she closely observed at the large screen showing the rocket's current altitude and velocity.
"Oh, sorry about that," apologizes the President as she stands up and walks annoyed to a more private place.

"What, is it with the Kendorians again?"
"No, it's about the Providence."
"*sigh* Well, go on!"
"The shuttle just crashed this afternoon UTC+9 during reentry. We still haven't got news regarding the crew."
"Dear Father," she muttered. Shocked by the sad news, Taylor stopped for a few seconds thinking, then immediately ordered Agnes:
"Ok Ok, inform the whole agency about this and make sure you ready a public letter for me."
"Yes, Ma'am."
Ending the call, she hastily rushed to David and notified him of the disaster. Suddenly, their talks were interrupted by the successful deployment of VADAS-4 near ISS orbit. People loudly cheered and stood for a long ovation for the crew's outstanding maneuvers and calculations.
Taylor called one of his assistants for a quick ride to the Palace; a speech is to be broadcast around the world via a global channel.

Special Presidential Speech
REPUBLIC OF THE SERENE AND FREE SOCIALIST OKSTOVSKAYA

My dear fellow men and women from around the world, the Socialist Government of Okstovskaya and the Okstov Space Association is deeply saddened by the tragic accident of Providence of Guadalupador. We send our sincere sorries for all eight crew members of the space shuttle, who are presumed to be dead, their families, and the mission team.
According to news received by our state media, the space shuttle Providence broke apart at M-24,
78 km above from sea level during an atmospheric re-entry in 07:03 AM Okstov Central Time. Umm, our long-range observatory cameras in Broxtin took a long glimpse of the disintegration of the spacecraft while on a routine atmospheric recording. The footage will possibly be released later 10:50.
Our OGASA intelligence teams will join the investigation of the crash and it's cause, and will send our best efforts to ease this currently prevailing tragedy.
The Providence will remain as a legacy not only in Guadalupador, but also in space history. Her crew members and herself will be profoundly placed in the center of the hearts of us, future astronauts and the like, and their magnificent contributions and discoveries will forever be written in the books of science and history.

That's all for now folks, good night."

by **New Roma Republic** » Mon Oct 09, 2017 10:35 am

To: Guadalupadorian Federal Aerospace Minister, Ronalde Ludens
From: Imperial Astronautical Colonization and Exploration Agency Director, Avitus Cassian
Subject: Investigation Help
Encryption: MEDIUM

Dear Ronalde,

I have been given permission by the Senate Committee on Outer Space to send a team to Guadalupador to help with the investigation. The team I am rounding up are all experienced engineers and space controllers, some of whom were on the team investigating the explosion of the Luna XII mission en route to Luna back in the '80s. They are packing their things now, and will be leaving for Guadalupador on the 0400 Apollo Airways flight out of Herculius International Airport to the nearest major airport to your space center. I hope that they can be a huge help to you!

My best,
Avitus

by **Guadalupador** » Sun Oct 15, 2017 7:06 pm

Divouga, Guadalupador

One whole passenger terminal was closed down for the day to receive all of the International Space Federation's investigatory officials invited by GFAM to help in the investigation. Meanwhile at Divouga Steppe Space Center flight engineers and MMACS officials continuously looked over the telemetry data of the mission, double-checking any and all possible abnormalities within the data. Anton Ralsy, former Mission Director worked both day and night alongside his colleagues gathering all the data for the international investigators to start off with. The near-overwhelming work load started to take a toll on his family life as he spent the last few weeks sleeping in his office, consulting with the same scientists and engineers and making calls to Ronalde Ludens, Minister of GFAM. Right before the international investigators were about to arrive, several offices within the center were cleared and were made available for them, complete with copies of the mission telemetry data, comms, and general mission data all in neat folders on their desks. As the first ISF investigators arrived at the airport, Ralsy received a call from one of GFAM's recovery teams that gave him chills to the bone:

Chibritinuma Province, Guadalupador

Earlier that morning, one of GFAM's incident recovery teams were directed by a few locals out onto a muddy backroad further into the forest to where the locals claimed to find a few pieces of the disintegrated orbiter. About 200 meters off the main backroad within a clearing, was a new addition to the debris field: the segmented pieces of the orbiter's cockpit. To the team's surprise, the cockpit pieces were mostly intact and was the largest piece of debris found to date. As the team closed in on the cockpit frame, the could see a crumpled and burned figure still harnessed in one of the seats. The team covered their mouths and nose with handkerchiefs as they moved in closer. Two more astronauts were found, still in their seats. Their pressurized suits were in tatters and burnt, the helmet visors were shattered and were exposed to the elements. The other six crew members and their seats were gone from the wreckage, and it was assumed they'd either be nearby, or irrecoverable due to the forces exerted on them after falling out of the orbiter. The team lead called it in: "Human Remains Found. I repeat: Human Remains Found." A forensics team and a coroner were later called to the scene to help identify the two within the wreck. The first one identified was Marisa Gando due to her large black-rimmed glasses that she typically wore, those glasses were found shattered and strewn about the inside of her helmet. The second body was that of Set Yansen, who's last name wasn't burned off of his pressurized suit. Now the recovery team in the area started their search for the others.

Divouga Steppe Space Center

Although Ralsy felt ice within his veins, there was a sense of relief that he also felt that at least two of the crew members were found in one piece. Anton started dialing the numbers for Gando's and Yansen's immediate kin, and prepared himself to tell them the news. The dialtone went on for almost two minutes before Set Yansen's widow picked up. She sounded incredibly tired, too tired to cry. Anton calmly described that her husband's remains had been found. Yansen's widow fell quiet for a moment and then breathed a sigh of relief before thanking Ralsy and hanging up.
Gando's husband reacted a bit differently to the information: He started to sob, but assured Ralsy that he'd be fine, and that he was content that his wife was found. He told Ralsy that he'd share the information with his children soon enough, and asked about funeral preparations. Anton didn't really know how to respond to his question on the funeral, but he assured Marisa's husband that she'd be buried with national honors. These calls were always the hardest part. More so than what Ludens had to do, announce to their families that the incident happened, he had to tell them all when their bodies were found, or if they could be recovered at all. Either job was most undesirable.

by **New Roma Republic** » Fri Oct 27, 2017 10:54 am

Chibritinuma Province, Guadalupador
The team entered the staging area for the search teams. They learned of the bodies that were found, though there were still some left to find. The 5 of them split into different groups, mixing with the Guadalupadorians. They went into the field looking, searching for debris, bodies, and clues.

by **Okstovskaya** » Sat Oct 28, 2017 2:26 am

Site 'B6'
Chibritinuma, Guadalupador
14:06:27 P

Two search teams of investigators sent by the OGASA--each consisting of 26 people--arrived from the crash site, slightly exhausted after hours of travel and jet lag. They met other groups from participating agencies with a warm welcome to Guadalupador and thanks for the aid. Shortly after, both teams divide and started searching for more debris throughout the area, hoping to find any of the six other missing crew.
More than 4 hours of effort were lent to uncover even the most minute debris they can find, and finally to their luck a merely recognizable shape of a human was found less than a kilometer away from the cockpit. "Providence Crew Found, .68 km from Target*," contacted the 2nd search team. It's suit was nearly burned and fragile, but not one name tag can be identified by any of the investigators. The helmet had fractures and small holes, where small amounts of smoke was coming out. A very unpleasant flesh-like odor slowly built around the field, which made the team feel discomfort through their noses and lungs.
They are still patiently waiting for the forensics team to arrive on the site; some took a quick sip of their own coffee while gathering an amount of debris claimed to be coming from the shuttle's tail.

*Target -- the cockpit

by **Sovreignry** » Mon Oct 30, 2017 3:38 pm

Albina Bayer, Director of Current Operations, Unity Space Center, Myrávia, Cártána

Albina walked into the Directors' Meeting room and started setting up before the everyone else came in. She set out folders that her staff had prepared with the latest news that they had as well as getting the projector turned on. She stood and waited a little bit as the rest of the directors came in.

"Madam President, everyone, here's what we know." she said, turning to the projector. "At 1600 hours the Providence Orbiter from Guadalupador started de-orbiting procedures. As we know from our friend Umberte Famun, at 1649 hours their mission control instigated critical mission failure conditions."

She sigh as she progressed the slide show. "If you can look at the next page of your packets, which my staff has prepared based on what we know at that point, the ISF was also tracking the Providence Orbiter and we have confirmed that around the same time we lost telemetry as well. At about 1715 hours Guadalupador and the Royal Sovreignian Navy have instigated a search for any debris. So now the question before all of us is...how did this happen and how can we prevent anything in the future from happening?"

by **Merni** » Wed Nov 15, 2017 3:59 am

Keteri Fantema, ISF Director of Finance
Unity Space Centre, Myrávia

Keteri flipped through the pages until he came to a part he had highlighted earlier. "Apparently, there was a problem with the tail section, which broke up first. Specifically, the telemetry for the split rudder was lost. Could part of it have snapped off under pressure, and could that have compromised the heat shield? Were there any inputs to the rudder during re-entry? This seems to be the best clue we have right now," he said. "Was any part of the split rudder recovered?"

by **New Antegria II** » Mon Nov 20, 2017 7:18 pm

((Okay before I post anything can I ask, what's happening?))

by **Defutavia** » Tue Nov 21, 2017 7:07 am

OOC: Same question.

by **Merni** » Wed Nov 22, 2017 5:03 am

((OOC:
Guad, OOC thread please? Or maybe a discord channel.
(New members can tg me/Mews for discord invite)
So basically, eight Guadalupadorian astronauts are on Orbiter Mission ARO-24, aboard Orbiter Providence. During reentry, they lose telementry from the tail, then the heat shields fail, the craft disintegrates and crashes to the ground over Chibritinuma Province, Guadalupador. The ISF is called in to investigate, and a meeting of ISF directors* is taking place at Unity Space Centre, Myravia, Cartana**. Read the thread fully before joining in.

*a list of whom can be found in the main thread; no you can't become one, until there is a vacancy.
**Cartana is the IC name for Mewsland
))

by **Guadalupador** » Mon Nov 27, 2017 6:43 pm

Chibritinuma Province Recovery Zone: Site B6

The Forensics Team arrived shortly after the Okstovskayan team reported in that they had found another crew member. The team inspected the badly burned space suit searching for any other thing that could signify which astronaut it was. The Chief Forensic Investigator on hand was about to have the body sent back to the labs for an autopsy before noticing a sturdy metallic object, a charred box of some sort protruding out of the front of the pressurized suit. The investigator donned his gloves and gently pulled the box out of a front pocket made into the suit. The metal box was sent back to the labs along with the body.

A secondary GFAM recovery team arrived at Site B6 to assist the OGASA team in recovering what was said to be parts of the tail of the craft. As the efforts continued the recovery team started to realize what was rumored to be pieces of the tail, weren't the tail of the orbiter at all. Each piece recovered from the area where the tail was rumored to come from had a distinctly black and scorched underside. The GFAM team surmised that they were parts of one of, or both of the wings of the Providence. As one mystery was solved, another grew out of it: The recovery teams were quite lucky in finding three of the eight doomed astronauts and especially that the three found were so close together. The recovery teams on the ground were now attempting to explain how the cockpit could have survived for so long intact, and if the crew was still conscious for the descent.

Federal Aerospace Ministry Incident Center, Divouga Space Center

When the body arrived the box was set aside to be inspected further by GFAM investigators who had almost instantly recognized what the box was: The device was a personal event data recorder that was fit into each and every Guadalupadorian pressurized space suit that detailed the vital signs and audio data of its inhabitant. The PEDR was designed to withstand temperatures of over 1000 degrees Celsius and is meant to be a complementary piece of equipment to data telemetry tracking. The PEDR was inspected and it was apparent that it had suffered damage. The only data that was recovered was the identity of the astronaut that was within the suit the rest of the data was too corrupted to read. The body belonged to Isemalda Monroya. The other PEDRs that were found on Gando's and Yansen's pressurized suits were to be tested immediately, if they could be successfully recovered from the burned and fused suits.

ISF Director's Meeting Room, Unity Space Center, Cártána

Umberte Famun, ISF Director of Future Planning nodded along as Bayer introduced the situation to the rest of the Directors. He had been running on caffeine for the past 28 hours as he was continuously reviewing information from the investigation and then had to fly all the way to Cártána to attend the ISF emergency Director's meeting. It was apparent that he needed some sleep, however he soldiered on and answered the first big question: "Around 1648 hours, Mission Control started to lose telemetry in the aft rudder section of the tail of the Providence Orbiter. A minute later, we lost telemetry and contact with the entire orbiter. Of course, we're starting our investigation with a lead on the tail, and GFAM is currently reviewing mission data and telemetry as we speak, they're paying significant attention to the external cameras that viewed the tail-end of the craft for any indication that the tail could've been hit by any sort of debris. Now, on to your second question, I'd suggest that each organization start checks on their orbiters immediately since we can't rule out mechanical failure at this stage. Even if each of our orbiters have different designs, it wouldn't be dumb just to check."
Famun then turned to Keteri Fantema: "It's quite possible that the split-rudder could have been damaged during the mission, however we haven't had much luck in recovering parts of the tail yet one rumored site returned only parts of a wing. GFAM is working on that lead as well. Surprisingly, the debris was found near where the remains of the cockpit and three of the crew were found. It's definitely odd yet very possible that the cockpit was very much still intact during the rapid descent after breaking from the rest of the orbiter. If we find more remains of the crew near the site, then the possibilities only become more certain."

Forever Gliding (MT) [International Space Federation ONLY]

Forever Gliding (MT) [International Space Federation ONLY]

Who is online