Flying Through Space on a Pegasus

Personal Entry Log: Veronica Miller

Occupation: Captain of the Pegasus

Traditional Earth Time: March 27, 2100

Star Date: 1

“Space truly is the final frontier. It is so vast and never ending… God! I can’t believe I am the captain of this ship! This is so awesome, it’s fantastic, no its extraordinary. The feeling it's literally out of this world. Out of all the recruits, I was chosen. I mean, what are the odds! Oh wait, I’ll tell you 1/450.”

“We all had to undergo the same training to determine who would be up to the challenge to captain this ship. And that person turned out to be me! I will be the one responsible for this expedition. I will be responsible for the lives of the crew members. I will be the one that takes the final decision, and we all know does are never the easy ones. I… I hope I do a good job. I really hope I don’t screw up…. Oh wow, this is a lot to take in. Okay, give me a minute. I need to take some deep breaths.”

I inhale in my nose and exhale slowly out my mouth. I close my eyes as I breath. I can feel it working. My nerves are on edge with the excitement. My breathing exercises do the trick to shake off the nerves and I continue with my first entry log as captain of the Pegasus.

“Okay, I’m good. Where was I?... oh yeah, “Space the final frontier!” God, I love that show! Haha. Okay, but seriously I need to get into my role as captain.”

“Our first mission is to travel 1,800 light years away to the constellation Cygnus to a planet called Kepler-452b. Back in 2015, NASA had discovered a habitable planet similar to Earth. According to the scientist back then, Kepler-452b was estimated to have been in the habitable zone of its star for over 6 billion years, way longer than Earth. Since then, we have been making improvements on space exploration, perfecting new world habitation and terraforming procedures. We Started with NASA, obviously, then SpaceX came into play to develop new and more effective ways for launching. Now we have the Galactic Academy of Space Exploration which develop interstellar travel. Without these new technological advances, it would have taken us roughly about 30 million years to reach Kepler! But with warp speed we can now make it there a little over a year.”

“It’s incredible how much we have accomplished in such little time. It's only been 85 years since the discovery of Kepler-451b and now we are finally able to visit this Earth 2.0. Just talking about this gives me goosebumps!”

“Today we are to making history! At 0600 we arrived at the shuttle docking station in the Academy. The airfield was field with the Pegasus Shuttlers, The ships manuals indicated that Pegasus has 45 space shuttles, which we will use exploring alien planets and God forbid escape from any incidents. ”

“Pegasus was constructed orbiting the Red Planet due to its rich mineral resources. Since the colonization of Mars, it became illegal to continue mining on Earth. This really help the planet recover from years of deforestation and pollution cause by the mining industry. Mars is uninhabitable except for the colonies making it the perfect planet for mining the metals needed for the construction of the Pegasus.”

“At 1000 we lifted off towards the Pegasus. The ship is too big to enter Mars atmosphere, it would mean the destruction of the hull if it was ever attempted. The Martian atmosphere is much thinner than that on Earth making our accent easy. As we got closer to the starship, we could see in the hull a painting of Bellerophon riding Pegasus. I must admit that was a nice touch.”

“I looked out the window back towards the red planet and could see the other shuttles ascending. It was a breathtaking view. I can only describe it as an Exodus into the stars……”

“……A year does seem like a long time to be traveling through hyperspace. The most the engines can do is travel for a week before having to stop for them to cool off in between jumps. Luckily the academy has provided us with a travel itinerary to explore other potential planets along the way. It makes me feel like we are onboard a more futuristic version of the HMS Beagle!”

“As we venture deeper into space, my crew and myself will record our progress in the Pegasus Personal Entry Logs. The academy will be very interested in our reports upon our return.”

“End personal log.”