The logistics for getting the shuttles to Mars were relatively uncomplicated, as were the relatively modest modifications needed to retrofit the shuttles for their final one-way mission. While humanity slowly unraveled, heroic men and women worked around the clock not for themselves, not for glory or acknowledgment, but simply to provide a new page through their communal sacrifice upon which humanity might write either its epilogue or, with luck, a new chapter for the human race in its heroic efforts to prevent its annihilation.
The shuttles were modified so that once launched, they could meet in orbit and dock in a modified nose-to-nose three-way linkup in a triangular, starburst configuration. Among the modifications needed for this makeshift interplanetary vehicle was the removal of the heat-shield tiles on each shuttle to be replaced by solar energy panels as the shuttles would never again face the heat of re-entry to Earth’s atmosphere. Once the shuttles were launched into space in the traditional way, they docked into the three-way docking bay that made it possible for the astronaut-colonists to move among the three shuttles at will through the three-way, airlock-protected docking bay.
The reinforced docking bay was launched into orbit on its own just prior to the shuttles. The module had to accommodate the permanent coupling of all three shuttles and hold them securely while the main engines of a single shuttle provided the necessary thrust to get them to Mars and the deceleration to achieve a geostationary orbit around the red planet—something that would place massive strains on the docking bay during the outbound mission. Because of its weight, it required its own Atlas V rocket to launch to low earth orbit.
In due course the three shuttles blasted off one last time from the Kennedy Space Center with previously undreamt-of rapidity. The precision ballet needed to have the three separately launched shuttles meet up with the docking station unit was accomplished without any significant problems, a testament to the skill of the men and women selected to provide humanity with a chance to avoid extinction. Once docked in orbit, the joined shuttles became a rather strange looking but serviceable interplanetary vehicle that would also become a space station when it reached its final destination. One shuttle’s fuel would be expended in providing the initial thrust to get to Mars and the deceleration after reaching the midpoint of the voyage. All three shuttles’ thrusters controlled by computer could be used to make minor course corrections in a well-coordinated dance without any room for error.
Once the docking procedure was completed, the colonists set about the business of preparing for their 18-month trip. Every available cubic centimeter of space was utilized to store supplies, spare parts, and essential equipment. Payloads were separately launched and retrieved to supplement those maximum payloads that could be carried aloft by the three shuttles. The most dangerous procedure of all, refueling the three space shuttles with the last load of liquid oxygen fuel that they could receive from Earth, was accomplished in orbit. All three shuttles had been modified to permit partial refueling of the liquid oxygen tanks used to supply the main engines and maneuvering thrusters. A refueling coupling accessible through each shuttle’s main payload bay would allow the crew to transfer pressurized O2 from large cylinders launched into orbit to rendezvous with the space shuttles, where they would be retrieved using each shuttle’s robotic arm and their precious cargo manually transferred through the refueling couplings by the crew. The process was both slow and very dangerous even with the payload doors open to avoid the possibility of a catastrophic fire during the transfer process. A rupture of any of the highly pressurized tanks or a malfunction in the coupling system could prove deadly. Once empty, the large O2 cylinders that resembled the torpedo shaped large propane tanks often used for home heating in rural areas, would not be jettisoned. They would accompany the colonists to Mars to be used as liquid hydrogen, oxygen and methane storage units for the precious gasses culled from the Martian atmosphere by the atmosphere reclamation systems and stored under pressure in these tubes to be used as fuel and to reconstitute water and a breathable atmosphere in the habitats the colonists would build in their new home world.
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Once fueled and fully loaded, the colonists left Earth orbit powered by the thrust of one shuttle’s engines. When the main engine’s fuel was spent, the thrusters of the three shuttles under a single computer-assisted control fired in the appropriate sequence to orient the shuttles’ solar-panel covered bellied towards the sun, providing more than sufficient power for the colonists to run the myriad systems essential to preserving their lives aboard the vessel they had unofficially christened Earth 2.0. One hundred days into their trip, Earth had its encounter with the asteroid precisely 666 after its discovery. The colonists had front-row seats to the extinction event. Distance and the knowledge that they were spared the cataclysm that would soon destroy all life on earth brought no comfort to these extraordinary men and women who mourned as one the death of their friends, their families, and their world in a communal pain too deep for words.
After the midpoint of their voyage was reached approximately nine months later, the unified ship’s thrusters were once again triggered to point the second shuttles’ fully fueled engines at Mars to begin the gradual process of deceleration by computer-controlled ignitions of the rocket engines over a period of months, with the shuttles realigned after each precisely measured burn to re-orient the solar panels towards the sun. In due course, they reached their goal.