The parade had just finished, and they had a party in celebration for the accomplishment. They saw a reporter in front of a camera, and walked up to it to say something. Braylen said this: “We just made history, people. The .308 rocket will live in that made history. Remember this, these rockets are gonna keep coming, Nasa. Whether you like it or not. Peace!”
They happily walked away, and when they got home, they drew a design for a prototype engine: the tiger shark engine. The engine they had used was called “the bull shark engine”. A tiger shark engine could reach the exosphere, and eventually orbit if given enough fuel.
The tiger shark engine was tested in a rocket known as “the pig”, with zero boosters and just the main booster with liquid fuel. Its goal was to reach the mesosphere to test how stable it was, and to simply fall down to earth anywhere to be recovered. The pig worked, and it demonstrated the ability of the tiger shark engine. The next rocket would be developed with this engine, and its goal would be to reach the thermosphere. The next flight would be with the 30.06 rocket, named after the 30.06 Springfield hunting round. It had 4 boosters, just like the .308, but had the tiger shark engine and was much bigger. It was still two seated, so Hillis and Parker would go back at it again. The launch was flawless, and the rocket soared through the air. It took them about 13 minutes to get to the thermosphere, and then they dropped. Luckily, the module was designed to withstand the heat of reentry. The mesosphere wasn’t actually space; it was simply very close to the edge of space. The thermosphere, however, was the layer of the atmosphere which was home to the edge of space. They descended easily, but the parachute of the craft would not deploy. Also, the spacecraft unfortunately was over land, not water. Luckily, the duo had their own parachute, built in so they could deploy in case of emergency. They opened the hatch, and parachuted out. They safely landed on the ground, finding their demolished module which had crashed. They were recovered by Cody’s dad an hour later.
The 30.06 I flight proved the ability of the tiger shark engine, and it also proved that they needed a new module design. The design would be more expensive, but hey, higher funds, higher budget. The 30.06 II was bigger than the 30.06 I, and the module was obviously upgraded. This time, the goal was the EXOSPHERE. Full on outer space. Not the edge, the full thing. The whole state was watching on tv, and there were about 75,000 people watching the thing in person. Cody was wearing his signature eyeglasses, and Braylen was wearing stylish aviators while walking to the elevator. This time, there was kind of a legitimate mission control, with 10 college students and 15 adults supervising and monitoring the launch from the warehouse. They would actually orbit the earth once, with plenty of oxygen being supplied. They also had plenty of Chef Boyardee’s, which is very good, even when cold. They launched on July 4th, 1995 to celebrate their independence from Britain. The module and liquid fuel booster were painted like an American flag, and the solid fuel boosters had eagles on them. The rocket launched without a hitch, dropping its solid fuel boosters 1 minute into the flight as planned. There were tv cameras in the cockpit that they could turn on and off as they pleased. They kept it on, and simply relaxed as they went into orbit in the exosphere. It took them 2 hours to orbit, and they just ate their beefaroni in zero gravity, happy that they could experience that. They talked with mission control and to the camera, but they mostly played on their Gameboys. After eating a bit more, they were at the point where they had to re-enter. They did so, and landed near florida, with their parachute working. “The eagle has landed.” Cody said comically. They were picked up by a cousin’s yacht, and their module was towed to be displayed in their very own museum in the future! They were also celebrated as not only hometown heroes, but nationwide heroes, and they met President Clinton on August 30, 1995.
“So this day one year ago you started what would become Hillis-Parker Space Exploration?” President Clinton asked.
“Yes Mr. President. A year ago, we got a science project. We had a long time to complete it. Me and Cody just thought the same thing at the same time: let’s go to the atmosphere. After that, we became interested, and just kept researching and developing, and here we are now.” Braylen replied.
They talked for a while, and actually had dinner with the president. They returned home and had yet another parade. The 30.06 program was a success. However, the two young men would go to college to further research the science that goes behind their exploration. It would be to better understand the gravity (pun intended) of the situations they had created.
They went to college at 14, and graduated with flying colors at 18.
It was time for a comeback.
