"Robert A. Heinlein - Rocket Ship Galileo" - читать интересную книгу автора (Heinlein Robert A)

ROCKET SHIP GALILEO
By Robert A. Heinlein



Chapter 1 :: „LET THE ROCKET ROAR“

„EVERYBODY ALL SET?“ Young Ross Jenkins glanced nervously at his two
chums. „How about your camera, Art? You sure you got the lens cover off
this time?“
The three boys were huddled against a thick concrete wall, higher than their
heads and about ten feet long. It separated them from a steel stand,
anchored to the ground, to which was bolted a black metal shape, a pointed
projectile, venomous in appearance and an ugly rocket. There were fittings
on each side to which stub wings might be attached, but the fittings were
empty; the creature was chained down for scientific examination.
„How about it, Art?“ Ross repeated. The boy addressed straightened up to
his full five feet three and faced him.
„Look,“ Art Mueller answered, „of course I took the cover off, it’s on my
check-off list. You worry about your rocket, last time it didn’t fire at all and I
wasted twenty feet of film.“
„But you forgot it once, okay, how about your lights?“
For answer Art switched on his spot lights; the beams shot straight up,
bounced against highly polished stainless-steel mirrors and brilliantly
illuminated the model rocket and the framework which would keep it from
taking off during the test.
A third boy, Maurice Abrams, peered at the scene through a periscope which
allowed them to look over the reinforced concrete wall which shielded them
from the rocket test stand.
„Pretty as a picture,“ he announced, excitement in his voice. „Ross, do you
really think this fuel mix is what we’re looking for?“
Ross shrugged, „I don’t know. The lab tests looked good, we’ll soon know. All
right, places everybody! Check-off lists, Art?“
„Complete.“
„Morrie?“
„Complete.“
„And mine’s complete. Stand by! I’m going to start the clock. Here goes!“ He
started checking off the seconds until the rocket was fired. „Minus ten . .
minus nine . . . minus eight . . . minus seven . . . minus six . . . minus five . . .
minus four. . . .“
Art wet his lips and started his camera.
„Minus three! Minus two! Minus one! Contact!“
„Let it roar!“ Morrie yelled, his voice already drowned by the ear-splitting
noise of the escaping rocket gas.
A great plume of black smoke surged out the orifice of the thundering rocket
when it was first fired, billowed against an earth ramp set twenty feet behind
the rocket test stand and filled the little clearing with choking fumes. Ross
shook his head in dissatisfaction at this and made an adjustment in the
controls under his hand. The smoke cleared away; through the periscope in
front of him he could see the rocket exhaust on the other side of the concrete