Freefall Quotes

“turned the antenna selection dial, cycling through all eight positions, forward and aft. The tone went away when he limited reception to the aft antenna positions. Came back when he selected the forward positions. UL FWD—upper left forward—strongest of all. Line of sight away from Earth. Receiving from the outer solar system. Jack drew breath to call to the others, get up here, you have to hear this, and then he grew abashed. His cheeks heated. It’s just cosmic noise. Or some clever-clogs hacker pranking the space shuttle. Yet he kept listening,”
― Felix R. Savage, Freefall

“final space shuttle flight in history lifted off from Cape Canaveral on a sunny afternoon in 2011. “Atlantis, Houston, you are go at throttle up.” Atlantis was flying like an angel. “Feel that mother go,” Jack said jubilantly. “I mean, roger, we are go at throttle up.” The gee-forces were insane! The vibration rattled the teeth in his head. Waiting for the SRBs to burn out and detach, he grinned. Nothing could prepare you for this. But he was prepared. He’d been preparing all his life. The roaring”
― Felix R. Savage, Freefall

“The next instant felt very long. At last Odo straightened up and faced Skyler. He wore a fixed grin. “It could be a sign of new processes going on in Europa. A massive volcanic eruption of water vapor. This could completely alter our understanding of cryovolcanism on Jupiter’s icy moons!”
― Felix R. Savage, Freefall

“Just before midnight, the clouds disappeared. “Hey hey,” Tamura said placidly. “Got Jupiter for you.” Skyler dumped his guitar in its case and sprang to the console.”
― Felix R. Savage, Freefall

“$ 25 for a buttload of nothing, as it transpired. “Yeah. I struck out,” Skyler said. He pulled the letter out of his parka, which he was still wearing—you didn’t use heaters in the IRTF control room, as heat would distort the telescope’s images. He held up the offending envelope and dramatically tore it in half, then stuffed it into the trashcan. Tamura laughed.”
― Felix R. Savage, Freefall

“Way up here, 13,700 feet above sea level, the only sound was the wind. The dry, thin air tickled Skyler’s throat. He shivered and zipped his parka all the way up against the cold. Patches of snow dappled the slopes around the parking lot, although spring had already come to Hilo, down on the coast, where he was staying.”
― Felix R. Savage, Freefall

“Thank God there weren’t any Chinese on the ISS, anyway! The atmosphere would have been so frigid, they’d have frost on the inside of the portholes.”
― Felix R. Savage, Freefall

“I know,” Menelaou said. “But it’ll be decided way higher up the food chain.” Alexei raised his eyebrows at Jack. He whispered: “Ball-breaker.” Jack suppressed a laugh. They pushed off and floated out of the tunnel, into Central Port. There was no ‘up’ and ‘down’ on the ISS, but the little portholes set into one wall, framing views of Earth, made that wall feel like the floor, and that’s the way Menelaou and Howard were oriented. “Hi, Kate,” Alexei said. “I’m just showing Jack around. It’s his first time on-station.”
― Felix R. Savage, Freefall

“Jack grabbed Alexei’s shaved head in both hands and pretended to twist it off. “The only problem with the ISS is it’s infested with bloody Russians.”
― Felix R. Savage, Freefall

“No damage. Their unexpected visitor had confined its destruction to the OMS pod, the side of the shuttle, and the starboard wing.”
― Felix R. Savage, Freefall

“So how’re you liking that digital camera, Jack?” Howard said, gesturing to the Canon Jack wore on a band around his wrist. They didn’t know each other that well, but Howard knew Jack was a keen amateur photographer. It was pretty much all he did outside work.”
― Felix R. Savage, Freefall

“He turned the antenna selection dial, cycling through all eight positions, forward and aft. The tone went away when he limited reception to the aft antenna positions.”
― Felix R. Savage, Freefall

“Pilot’s joke: In the airplane of the future, there will be a man and a dog in the cockpit. The dog is there to prevent the man from touching anything, and the man is there to feed the dog. Ziggy”
― Felix R. Savage, Freefall

“Pilot’s joke: In the airplane of the future, there will be a man and a dog in the cockpit. The dog is there to prevent the man from touching anything, and the man is there to feed the dog.”
― Felix R. Savage, Freefall