Thought For The Day

  The silver dream machine, in other words the rocket which blasted out of its silo beneath The Village, with Number 1 on board. As it happens Number 1 escaped The Village, albeit involuntarily, at the exact moment Number 6 did. A pale clear blue sky with a silver rocket heading straight up to the stratosphere, and eventually into a low orbit around the Earth. You will recall how Number 6 set the rocket for a low orbit while he was setting the countdown.
   So there he is, Number 1 sealed in the nosecone of his own rocket, and the only handle to the hatch is underneath. You can see how the hatch operates in Professor Scnipps rocket. And in any case once the motors fire, and the rocket begins to rise up out of its silo, well there’s nothing that can stop it. It must have been terrible in that nose cone. Shouldn’t think Number 1 was strapped into a seat, and him without a space suit, the gravitation force he must have felt would have been tremendous on his body. He must have been terrified, if he was still conscious.
   Then the rocket having achieved a low orbit would have stayed in that orbit for a time, whilst it circled the Earth. Only Number 1, if he was still conscious, or having regained consciousness, would not have been able to appreciate where he was. He couldn’t see the Earth from space, no windows.
   And then, well orbits deteriorate, and when you’re up, there’s only one way to go, and that’s down. The rocket re-entering Earth’s orbit, with no heat shields to protect it against the heat caused by the friction on the rocket at it enters Earth’s atmosphere. It would have got pretty hot for Number 1. Did the rocket burn up on re-entry, or did it survive with Number 1 still on board? If so there remained but one fate for both rocket and Number 1, either hard impact with the ground, or splash down in the sea. It’s improbable that Number 1 would survive either.

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