"Mundus is the cradle of Humanity, but mankind cannot stay in the cradle forever."
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky - 1911
This thread will catalogue stories of the Daitōjin Space Program from its earliest days until the present. Posts will be catalogued below by their program or era, with those fitting into neither having their own section.
Pre-1961
Suzaku Program
Taka Program
Ryu Program
UHS Program
Other
Sojourner Program
TLI (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=2684.msg24989#msg24989) — 7/17/2022 — IRP Date: 7/17/2022 — Description: The Crew of Sojourner 22A begins their voyage to the Moon.
Misc.
Candidates (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=2684.msg24478#msg24478) — 6/12/2022 — IRP Date: 6/16/1998 — Description: A new class of uchunauts begins their training.
TLI
Low Mundus Orbit
UTC 0900
17 July, 2022
(https://images-ext-1.discordapp.net/external/wzWmJIM1l1F_S1-7S694WJ4II5BKlKPrN2N2Wh1HLkI/http/orig00.deviantart.net/5916/f/2015/308/0/d/kronos_gopro1_shield_timelapse_002_by_macrebisz-d9fi2xv.gif)
Sojourner hung large in the sky, her great centrifuge rotating so as to provide the crew with enough gravity to keep them healthy for long distance journeys. She had spent nearly a day undocked from Zenshoen, her crew of four intrepid souls ready to set out on a voyage that would change history. Well, not really, since plenty of people had been to the Moon before, just never on something quite like this. Six souls, among the finest that Daitō had to offer, were soon to depart on a month-long voyage from Mundus to the Moon and back again. During that time, they would visit a number of sites, notably a second visit to Shackleton Crater as well as a trip to the Ocean of Storms, as this would help gauge the rapid reuse of the lander for Sojourner 24. Having spun the vessel around to face in the direction of movement, the crew received a message from ground control.
"Sojourner, Shinkyō, you are go to proceed with the final checklist for Trans-Lunar Injection." DNSA's CAPCOM for the day, Eijiro Ebashi, who had commanded Daitō's first lunar landing since the 80s in preparation for this moment, reported from the agency's newly-built Sojourner Operations Support Center (SOSC).
"Roger, proceeding with checklist." The commander, Hayao Wakayama, responded before looking to his crew. "Who here's ready to fly faster than any man in human history?" He asked in a semi-serious manner.
"I'm game." Said Aiko Kimura, his co-pilot, although the flight would mostly be handled by computers. She was, nonetheless, one of the finest pilots he had known, so it was obvious, in his eyes, that she would be on this flight. Nonetheless, the crew would begin going through the checklist, making sure everything fell into the proper parameters and was ready to go. Just an hour of flight and they would be there, faster than many probes and among the fastest manmade objects to be constructed. A plume, though harmless, that would be visible from Mundus.
Then, the time came. Another message from control, it was clear now more than ever that they would be on their way.
"Event timer countdown on my mark..." Ebashi-san said over the "big loop"[1] as he began counting down. "10... 9... 8... 7... 6..." He said in a calm but authoritative manner, able to be clearly heard even over any interference from outside sources. "...5... 4... 3... 2... 1..."
Noise filled the cabin as vibrations from the vehicle's powerful nuclear engines ignited, pushing them ever-forwards on a voyage of discovery which, while not different in function to those before, would demonstrate the capabilities of Sojourner better than any mission in Low Mundus Orbit ever could. A few minutes passed, and then finally...
"Shinkyō, Sojourner: Engine cutoff. TLI burn is complete, we are on our way."