They had been informed in the previous two hours that both Ares platforms had performed magnificently and that Discovery and Endeavour had achieved low Earth orbit on their way to rendezvous with the International Space Station. That was the last information that had been passed on to them. For Sarah, Ryan, and Mendenhall, located in the crew pod in the cargo hold, they were wondering if they had been forgotten. They had been hanging in their seats with their backs against the pod bulkhead facing straight down for two hours and they were starting to feel light-headed. Mendenhall was being driven crazy by the sweat that dripped from his nose and collected against the clear faceplate of his helmet. He shook his head and then they felt the movement of the shuttle. An extremely loud rushing noise reached their ears. “Jesus,” Sarah said, turning as far as she could to the center of the three seats. “They’re beginning to fuel the main tank.” “No, they would have said something to us,”
