Don't Mess With Earth by Cliff Ball Page B

breaking his
concentration on the report, so the commander asked, “What news do
you have for me that you come rushing in here?”
    “Sir, we have a report of a sonic boom being
recorded in the United States. According to the Terran who was in
the area at the time, it seems like they now have aircraft capable
of breaking the sound barrier.”
    “I suppose it was bound to happen sooner or
later, that’s why we’re here. Did the contact on the ground say
where in the United States this sonic boom occurred?”
    “They only heard the sonic boom, didn’t see
any kind of aircraft. They were visiting the Grand Canyon when they
heard it, sir.” said the aide.
    “Well, I’m just glad to know these humans are
finally advancing in their technology, it’s about time. Keep me
informed of anything new.”
    As the Air Force began trying different
variations of the supersonic jet, which sometimes began to become
more dangerous for Yeager and other test pilots, some computer
engineers took apart one of the Ragnor computers to study the
components making up this desk-top sized computer, instead of the
room sized versions the military was using. The computer was
opened, and they discovered small electronic parts that were
currently beyond the humans’ ability to create. So, they made the
Ragnor translate everything from the Ragnor language into English,
so the scientists could begin to figure out how to create this
technology for the United States. A few weeks later, English
language translation software was finally finished by the Ragnor,
so the computer technicians were ordered to find out how the Ragnor
started going into space first, since the Joint Chiefs didn’t want
the United States to progress too fast technologically, they wanted
to take baby steps as it were. When it was discovered that the
aliens started out using rocket ships to launch into space, the
military realized they had the means to create rockets big enough
to leave Earth and carry humans. The question was fuel, should it
be atomic powered or should they use what was being used for the
supersonic test flights, a combination of rocket fuel and liquid
oxygen. They decided on liquid oxygen and rocket fuel, so in case
of a catastrophic failure, the launch site wouldn’t be poisoned by
radiation from the atomic powered engine if it were to explode.
    As they were working on the technology for
bigger, faster rockets, the United States government also wanted
the application to be used for nuclear weapons, in the form of
intercontinental ballistic missiles, which was being worked on by
Wernher von Braun and some of the team who had worked on the
nuclear bombs used on Japan. CIA spies informed the United States
that the Soviet Union was working on creating some of the same
technology; apparently they had taken apart the downed alien
spacecraft in their country, and figured out a little bit of the
technology on their own, since none of the aliens on board had
survived. Some of the smaller rockets that were created were
launched from the underside of B-29’s with scientific tools to test
the outer atmosphere of Earth, to see what was needed to protect
anyone who would eventually be launched into space. The Air Force,
calling the tests Project Vanguard, kept trying to launch full
sized rockets from Cape Canaveral, Florida, into orbit, but most of
the Project met with total failure as many of the rockets blew up
on the launch pad, failed to achieve orbit, or veered off course
and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. The scientists and engineers
were frustrated, but kept trying because the government did not
want the Soviet Union to beat the United States.
    The world, and especially the United States,
was taken by complete and total surprise when the Soviet made
satellite, Sputnik , was launched into orbit by a missile
that had originally carried nuclear warheads on October 4, 1957.
This occurred almost exactly ten years after the breaking of the
sound barrier, and caused the