Friday, June 25, 2010

African on the moon

When we left Earth I still could not believe that I was going to space. It was like a dream came true but no thinking now we have a mission but when we went through space the view on Earth was incredible and I saw my friend from childhood his name was Rover he was fixing an satellite there were so many satellites I could not believe it but I saw him it was truly amazing. Right back on topic John my co astronaut said we would be by the moon in about 3-4 hours so I quickly went to the toilet because I was bursting to go. Whilst I was in the toilet John was having fun with zero gravity he floated you are thinking shouldn't he be flying the shuttle no it is on auto pilot so the shuttle can steer by itself. When I got out of the toilet I was floating it was so cool the view was absolutely astonishing. When I saw the speed we were going it was so fast it was like 175000mph you could never reach such high speed on Earth. It has been 3 hours and now I can say the nerves are truly kicking in.




We were nearly on the moon when we got closer and closer the moon seemed to get bigger and bigger. While we were nearly there I read a book about the moon and I heard John say "Is it me or is the moon not made out of cheese". I did not respond because I knew he was joking. When we got closer and closer I got more and more nervous so was my co astronaut John.When I asked John if I could go first on the moon he was such a gentleman and of course you deserve it you are going to make history.



We were nearly there I heard a voice from the speaker and I recognized the voice it was my father. John was also expecting his father to speak but he did not come so my dad gave some encouraging words to both of us and then me and John looked at each other and shed a tear. We heard another voice coming from the speaker it pronounced prepare for landing in 5,4,3,2,1, We have landing said the voice from the speaker we both looked at each other and we were so amazed that we were actually on the moon. As John said I was going to go out first and I did and when I walked on the moon it felt unreal to be the first African on the moon is such a big achievement and the first black man too. When I was looking at the Earth I heard a voice coming from behind and it said " You are not the only one here I am also here you know" said John and he also said " Back to mission Okama we have to find life as quick as possible we only have one day to do this". I looked at him and said "OK sorry I won't be sidetracked again. But again I know I keep on saying this but the view is absolutely astonishing.





When we were about to get out John reminded me to put on my spacesuit luckily I have my co astronaut to remind me otherwise I would have died. But as soon as we got out we got the cart we drove to certain places were we thought there would be life but there was not any luck in finding life. But then I realised before we went to launch they gave me my national flag. The Cameroon national flag to put on the moon when I realised this I told John so for a while instead of finding for life we were looking for a place to put the flag and when we found out I stepped out of the cart. I put the flag on the moon and I felt proud but as soon as we did that John told me that we are here for a mission again. When we were roaming the moon we saw a peculiar rock it was a funny shape but we felt that there was something different about it then the other rocks. John and me got out of the cart and stepped forward to the rock John picked it up and we saw something really astonishing we thought it was water but we were not 100% sure. We told the guys from NASA and they said keep the rock for further examining. John went into the cart and brought back the rock to the cart and I went spacewalking to see anything. Whilst John was away I came across something that I really think should be told to the world what I discovered was I think a dried out lake but again was not 100% sure so I called John and said " Dude come over here this second I found a thing that is going to be amazing" "OK" said John I will be there as soon as possible. When John arrived he could not believe it so again we called NASA and they said they could also not believe it and they said they will send a satellite to take further notice. After we found the dried up lake we could not find anything else so we said that to NASA and they said "OK get ready to get of the moon you did well guys really proud of you". John and me both looked at each other and gave a triumphant thumbs up.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Day of launch


When I woke up this morning I realized that I was going to the moon I could not believe it still I thought it was all a dream. I then again realized that I was at my dad's house I still thought I was in Cameroon. When I had breakfast we left as soon as possible on the way to NASA I read a magazine about rockets on the way there and this one the V2 rocket interested me the most with its history and size also because it was in world war 2 when my dad said we are here.I could not believe it. It felt so quickly because I was so in the magazine. When we entered the headquarters I left my dad so he could work and when I went to the reception I said the code name swordfish and the lady behind the desk called someone up and immediately after she called someone up there was a man by the desk and led me away to a secret place when we got there it was a massive room I thought it would be smaller.



When I went into the room there was a guy as long as the Eiffel tower I asked who are you and he said he is the one going to space with me I could not believe it he was literally a giant like a blue character from the movie Avatar. Then this person approached me and said '' Please follow me to get your spacesuit'' I followed him and then saw the same guy that I saw earlier so to have enough courage I asked him what his name was and he answered 'John Herway' pleasure to meet you. John was honestly the tallest man I have ever seen in my entire life he was so big. I was actually pretty amazed by the spacesuit because it had so many gadgets like an material that protects from sun rays and also a urine container and also the most important thing of all oxygen a big load of it you cannot go without oxygen when going into space the thing I am more looking forward to is the zero gravity I cannot wait for that I am so excited.



After I got my spacesuit me and John when in an cart and up the elevator to launch pad 39A. When we looked down we were so high up we could see news reporters and on lookers to see the launch of the space shuttle called Explorer and when John went in to the space shuttle he could only just fit because he was so tall. When we went in to it the first thing we could see was the buttons so many buttons and before we lift off they gave us food in small bags and then after that we looked at the shower and toilet then we got settled in our seats and I said to John " Are you ready for this" and he answered " You bet I am I have waited all my life for this and I cannot wait for this moment this historic moment". We heard a voice coming from the speaker and he said lift off in 5 minutes I still cannot believe it that I am soon going to space. then a voice come off the speaker and it said " lift off in 1 minute". Me and John looked at each other and smiled and said " This must be a dream this cannot be true" then we pinched each other then another voice came from the speaker and said" Lift off in 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 we have lift off ". When the rocket lifted off the ground I could feel the force of the rocket lifting off into space and the 10 seconds to lift off were the longest 10 seconds of my life. When we lifted off I looked to John and his smile was as big as a banana he looked very happy.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Mission briefing

Hello my name is Okama Sangeiu I am from Cameroon I am 22 and I am working for a university in Egypt about space but my real dream is to be an astronaut. Everyday I hope for a phone call from my father because he lives in America and he is very high up in NASA and every big project he calls me but every time they choose someone else. Every time I think about it to myself it is a very unrealistic dream but as my father said keep following your dream you can do it if you believe in yourself.

When I woke up in the morning I heard the phone ring and it was my dad and he said that there was a big project. The project is that we have to go to the moon to find life for NASA for two days and he put me forward and I got accepted and I am going to America this afternoon I can not believe it but I am not sure if I am the only one going to the moon. I arrived at the airport and my dad was there waiting for me. He took me to his house and then we went straight to NASA'S headquarters. When we were there I was as happy as a lark I could not believe it. When we were at the front desk my dad had to say a code name the code name was mission swordfish.


When I arrived in the room in the afternoon I saw other people they were all white me and my father felt black.But me and my father still had hope. There was 4 other people and only 2 could be selected they told us what training we had to do and the mission the mission was that we had to go to the moon and see if there were any water up there and if we could drink it. If I was going to the moon I have researched I am going to be the first African in to space and also the first black person in to space. I began my training today they showed us the space shuttle and asked if we could fly it and we tried and as soon as I go out I would want to go back in . After that they would not tell us but after a few hours they called me up and said I was going to the moon you are leaving tomorrow. I could not believe it felt like Christmas came early for me.