One by one, the last-minute electrical, mechanical, and fuel checks were completed.
“All clear!” came the radar report.
“Stand by for countdown!” The voice of Hank Sterling, the Swifts’ quiet but hard-fisted chief engineer who was in charge of launching the space kite, came over their headsets.
“… X minus three … X minus two … X minus one …”
Blast-off! The rocket hovered on its pad, then as smoke and flame billowed underneath, it gathered momentum. Suddenly the boys found themselves shooting skyward, gripped motionless by the crushing G pressure of the rocket’s thrust.
Up and up the rocket sped, the sky deepening from blue to purplish black before Tom’s and Bud’s eyes. They were past the stratosphere now, entering the thinning upper reaches of the earth’s air blanket. After they entered the ionosphere, an
98 COSMIC ASTRONAUTS
electronic impulse triggered from the launching blockhouse cut loose their rocket stage.
Tom’s fingers flew to the control board. He switched on both gravitex and cosmic reactor.
Instantly the boys felt a renewal of the G pressure as the cosmic radiation provided a fresh thrust to the space kite. Almost at the same moment came the countertug of the gravitex, anchoring them safely to earth with a powerfully magnified gravitational attraction.
“She works, Tom! She works!” Bud crowed.
Tom grinned, his eyes never leaving the control dials. For the next few moments his hands were busy flipping switch levers and tuning adjustment knobs to bring the cosmic reactor and the gravitex action into proper balance.