Marooned Page #7

Launch pad runs completely

on internal power.

This is launch control

coming up on T-minus...

We're now beginning to feel

the real force of Hurricane Alma...

...making it difficult to speak.

- LD, SRO.

- Go ahead.

- You have a clear to launch.

- Roger.

- LD, this is instrumentation.

- Go ahead.

I verify item four under two minutes.

Roger. SRO, start range recorders

and TV videotape recorders.

Wilco.

- LD, instrumentation.

- Go ahead.

Start and calibrate

all instrumentation recorders.

Roger.

Minus 90 seconds

and counting, mark.

- Second stage, fuel and oxidizing.

- Roger.

- LD, this is instrumentation.

- Go ahead.

Start following the instrumentation

calibration, SSB pre-fire.

Instrumentation, PCM pre-fire.

T-minus 70 seconds

and counting, mark.

T-minus 60 seconds and counting.

- Hold!

- Hold!

Shut her down.

Tower crew to launch pad,

move in, Tower.

The launch is scrubbed.

The launch is scrubbed.

Houston, Ironman.

Houston, Ironman, do you read?

Goldstone, this is Ironman,

do you read?

Guaymas, Ironman.

Cape, this is Ironman.

Pruett, this is Keith.

I'm sorry, we had to scrub the launch.

Yeah...

I figured it might be like that,

we've been watching the storm.

How close did you get?

T-minus 60 seconds.

Now listen, Jim,

we're still working on that engine.

Boss...

... I just... I wanted to tell you...

... that you've done a great job,

all of you.

We know that you've all worked

your tails off for us...

... and whatever happens to us,

you can't let it affect the program.

You've done a great job, really...

... and, you know, whatever it is that's

hanging us up, it's nobody's fault.

GBI reports loss of signal.

Ascension will acquire the spacecraft,

shall we remote you through?

Nope.

Move in, white room.

Get the pilot out of there.

- Ted.

- Wait.

- I want to speak to Keith.

- I'm here, Ted.

We've done everything

we possibly could. We cannot launch.

I'm telling you to launch! You get

this haywagon off the ground!

Now launch, damn it, Keith,

launch this thing!

Keith!

Keith!

I have a brief statement.

The launch of the XRV rescue craft...

...was scrubbed at 8:47, Cape time.

The pad was shut down

at T-minus 58 seconds...

...when the wind velocity

in the launch area rose to 48 knots.

Commander Pruett in the Apollo

Command Module has been informed.

This...

This was a very fine, fine effort.

Do you have any questions?

Mr. Keith, you say that

the launch has been scrubbed.

Are you going to reschedule

at a later time?

We have no plans.

- Any future rescue attempts?

- We have no plans.

Mr. Keith, you say the men have

been informed. Who informed them?

I did.

What was their reaction?

Do you have any other questions?

There's an assumption that the space

program will be brought to a halt...

...for an investigation

of the accident...

...plus a general examination

of our purposes in space...

...and the morality of putting men

into space without adequate...

What's your question?

Are the results you gained

worth the lives you lost?

You're damn right they are!

Know what they accomplished living

up there in a tin can for five months?

Because of men like these, we've

taken the first step off this little planet.

The moon trip was a walk

around the block.

We're going to the stars,

to other worlds, other civilizations.

Mr. Keith?

Men will be killed in this effort just as

they're killed in cars and airplanes...

...and bars and... What is it?

- Look at the numbers.

- What about them?

The numbers, Mr. Keith, the numbers!

- In God's name...

- What is that?

In this disturbance,

we have 90-knot winds.

In the center, or eye,

we have zero.

The eye of the hurricane

will pass over the Cape.

All I wish to hear from each of you

is yes or no. Go or no go.

Do we have a launch window

while the eye's over the Cape?

We affirm a launch window

at 2231:
06.

Can you launch your rocket

through the eye?

- Yes, sir.

- Will the bird fly?

Well, it's been kicked around

by 80-knot winds.

- The data's...

- What's your judgment?

It'll fly.

- Carp?

- Yes, sir?

- Do we have 16 minutes in the eye?

- No, sir, not 16.

Do we have 14?

We've been trying to get a chart

from the computer...

What's your judgment?

I'll buy 14.

Can we move the tower back

in 12 minutes?

You give the order and we'll do it.

Houston, Flight.

Is the rescue craft go

for Point Charlie?

We can have Point Charlie,

but then pilot will be on his own.

Rescue, can you rendezvous without

an onboard computer program?

You just get me in the ballpark.

Then we are go for launch

at 2231:
06 local time.

Roger, 2231:
06 local time.

Roger, 2231:
06 local time.

We'll recycle to T-minus 30.

You know, of course, that by

There's not enough oxygen left

for three men to live that long.

What about two men?

We don't figure that way, we plot

total pressure against total use.

Is there sufficient oxygen

for two men?

For one?

Two might just make it.

- Go!

- Move back service tower.

This is launch control,

we have just resumed the count.

Col. Dougherty has confirmed...

... that all spacecraft systems

are go at this time.

Launch director is about to feed the

computer update to the spacecraft.

This is an unbelievable scene.

No wind, absolute silence.

Overhead...

...nothing but black night

and brilliant stars...

...as the eye of the Hurricane Alma

passes directly over us.

There's an eerie hush

over everything here.

No rain, no wind.

The lives of three men are measured

by their fading heartbeats...

...and here on pad 41

at Cape Kennedy...

...we're in the middle

of another heartbeat.

It's a single moment in the life

of a great storm...

...reprieve, we hope,

for Pruett, Lloyd and Stone.

The service tower is

rolling away from the launch pad.

As soon as it's 800 feet away

it'll be locked into position...

...but they'll launch

before that happens.

That tower is expendable...

...but the three men

in Ironman One are not.

- LD, SRO.

- Go ahead.

- You have a clear to launch.

- Roger.

- LD, this is instrumentation.

- Go ahead.

Verify item four under two minutes.

Roger. SRO, start range recorders

and TV videotape recorders.

Wilco.

T-minus 70 seconds

and counting, mark.

- LD, instrumentation.

- Go ahead.

Start and calibrate

all instrumentation recorders.

T- minus 60 seconds

and counting, mark.

- Start instrument recorders.

- Go.

- SRM pressure sensor squibs.

- Go.

- Pyro sequence started.

- Roger.

T-minus 50 seconds

and counting, mark.

- XRV is go on internal.

- Roger, all systems on internal.

- Enable SRM regulators.

- Go.

T- minus 40 seconds

and counting, mark.

- Transfer TVC power.

- Go.

T-minus 30 seconds

and counting, mark.

- Pyro-initiators to on.

- Go.

- Launch panel to on.

- Go.

- Release control to on.

- Go.

T- minus 20 seconds

and counting, mark.

Stand by for a terminal count.

Ten, nine, eight, seven, six...

- ... five, four, three, two, one.

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