The Adventures of Periwinkle and Stinky

 

As she did every Tuesday, Periwinkle woke up early and paced in front of the Teleportation Tunnel while she waited for her boyfriend, Stinky to arrive.  She had something special planned for their Adventure that day and she couldn't wait for him to hear about it.  She hoped he would be as excited as she was.

With a loud WOOSH, Stinky tumbled out of the Teleportation Tunnel and right into Periwinkles paws.  The two spent time whisker kissing, paw patting and catching up on the last week.  Periwinkle said she was sorry to hear that Stinky had a seizure.  Stinky rolled his eyes when Periwinkle asked him lots of questions about his fursibs, Audrey and Raleigh.  Finally Stinky said "So, what's our plan for today?"

Periwinkle giggled and said "Periwinkle and Stinky are going to the MOON!"  Stinky turned so pale you could barely see his tabby stripes.  He was certainly adventurous but this sounded a bit scary.  "Periwinkle, I don't think that's a good idea.  I need to get my medicine and my Mom and Dad and fursibs would really miss me if I left for the Moon."  Periwinkle smiled and told him not to worry.  "WE aren't going to the Moon but our names are!"   Periwinkle explained that they had boarding passes for the Artemis 1 Moon rocket that was launching the following Monday.  "Look, I got us tickets!" She handed him their tickets and he breathed a sigh of relief.

Periwinkle explained that their names would be loaded onto a flash drive with lots of other names and would be flying to the Moon on the Artemis 1 rocket. 

"I arranged for us to have a special visit to see the rocket and learn more.  We don't want to be late so we need to hop back into the Teleportation Tunnel to get to the Space Center."  When they got to the Space Center, Periwinkle told Stinky a little more about the project. "Artemis I will be the first uncrewed flight test of the Space Launch System rocket and the Orion spacecraft. For Artemis I, an uncrewed Orion will fly a total of some 1.3 million miles, including 40,000 miles beyond the moon as it tests different orbits. Forty-two days after liftoff, the capsule will splash down in the Pacific Ocean"

Periwinkle went on to explain more about the rocket.  "Artemis 1 will launch on the most powerful rocket in the world and is slated to fly farther into space than any other spacecraft built for humans ever before. The Space Launch System (SLS) will utilize four RS-25 engines that will burn 735,000 gallons of liquid propellant in order to create two million pounds of thrust, as the twin rocket boosters burn more than two million pounds of solid propellant to create more than seven million pounds of thrust. All of this power is needed to propel the 5.75 million pound rocket off the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida."  

Stinky was really impurressed with her knowledge and studied the photo she showed him.

Periwinkle had her paws crossed that Stinky would behave himself when he saw the rocket and he (sort of) did.

Periwinkle explained that she had to come to the Space Center to finalize their plans and got to see Artemis roll out on the prior Tuesday.  "I wish you could have seen it, it was amazing!" she said.

She told him it took 10 hours and 8 minutes for the rocket to get to the launchpad.  They agreed that was a long time!

They also got to see a model of the Orion spacecraft.  They were super excited.

Periwinkle showed Stinky another diagram of  Artemis 1.  (You might need to biggify to read this)

"I sure wish we could get closer and really explore the rocket," said Stinky.  They both knew that wasn't possible and that they were lucky tabbies to have gotten this close. 

The two tabbies headed back to the Teleportation Tunnel to Periwinkle's house.  When they got there, they watched a video together about Artemis 1.

They arrived back at Periwinkle's and had a snack of Temptations.  Both tabbies were tired after their trip to the Space Center and decided to take a quick snooze in the floofy bed that Periwinkle's fursib Reesie won from their pal Teddy's Halloween costume contest.  They spent some time whisker kissing and paw patting and quickly fell asleep.

When they woke up, it was time for Stinky to head home.  He promised Periwinkle he would try to watch the launch of Artemis 1 on Monday, the 29th.  Periwinkle said they expected 100,000 to 200,000  people to come to see the launch so she would be watching from her backyard.

Here's a link to the NASA live feed if you want to watch it!