Brendan.Bayne@f424.n104.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Brendan Bayne) (08/27/89)
This was published in the spring _AIAA Student Journal_. I got a
kick out of it, and I thought you would too, so here it is:
Into the Future: An Aerospace Chronology
25 Years Hence - May 2014
by Will A. Kirschner at SUNY, Buffalo
MAY 2: The Boeing company rolls the last 747-1000 Full
Upper Deck (FUD) off the Far East assembly line in Outer
Mongolia. Rollout of the tandem fuselage Boeing 2747 is
scheduled for the following month. Boeing anticipates no delays
for the 864 seat (1028 in all-tourist layout) aircraft.
MAY 5: Two US astronauts return from space station Freedom
after 427 M*A*S*H reruns in orbit. The National Aero-Space Plane
is employed for the return home on only its eight mission in as
many years. President Ricky Schroeder uses the occasion to make
an appeal for congressional funding: "The lunar base is within
our grasp. We can't allow Freedom to be a stepping stone to
nowhere." President Schroeder is the fifth president to request,
and the fifth to be denied, funding for the project.
MAY 5: A Soviet MiG-29 interceptor plunges into the Bering
Strait after striking the port wing of a US E-3A AWACS aircraft.
Both were on routine missions: the MiG pilot ejected and the
stalwart reconnaissance aircraft landed safely. The cause of the
incident is disclosed two weeks later on _Nightline_ by Secretary
of Defense Gary Maddox. "Our pilot held up the centerfold of
last month's _Playboy_ for [the Soviet pilot's] approval. He
aparently came in too tight for a better look."
MAY 9: The People's Republic of China launches a
communications satellite for ABC-TV. The satellite will bring
3-D smell-a-vision to households across the American continent,
where available. ABC spokesman Ted Koppel, Jr. announces at
press conference that technology transfer held up delivery of the
satellite to the launch site in the communist country. "It was
touch-and-go, give-and-take with the State Department for so
long. . . In the end we got the go ahead, but had to remove the
roast beef dinner and new car aromas for reasons of national
security."
May 15: A new heavy-lift record is set when the prototype
Antonov An-427 departs after an airshow at Ronald Reagan Air
Force Base. The ten-engine transport leaves the California base
with 160 tons of Pez candies. A maximum take-off weight of 1.28
million pounds prevented the loading of Pez dispensers on the
same aircraft. Smaller An-326 eight-engine and An-225 six-engine
transports were used in that endeavor.
MAY 16: The single-engine Airbus A360 is granted
certification by the International Aviation Administration for
Extended Range Operations. The aircraft features new technology
fly-by-telepathy controls and is powered by the 130,000-pound
thrust CFM56-10. General Electric and SNECMA, CFM International
partners, forsee only slight sales growth for the world's mot
powerful powerplant as, after all, only one powerplant is
required per airframe. Some analysts also say the engine will be done
in by its own dependability.
MAY 21: New York developer Donald Trump sell Manhattan Island, which
he had acquired in its entirety, back to the Indians for Peter Minuet's
price of twenty-four dollars. Said Trump, "It's what I planned to do all
along. I'm keeping the air shuttle, though, just to spite the labor
unions who've been giving me trouble since 1988."
MAY 21-26: The Space Shuttle Friendship makes its final
mission, STS 341L. Friendship launches a television satellite for the Ivory
Coast. The satellite will allow both smell-a-visions in
the country to receive an upcoming live MTV concert. The shuttle also
includes an experiment on reverse peristalsis in outer space. Ten
college students were chosen from fraternities through out the nationand
were each sent up with a case of Milwaulkee's Best.
MAY 25: Trans World Airlines chairman Michael J. Fox was on hand for
the delivery of the first of 100 MD-99 propfan powered twins. Mr. Fox
priased himself during the festive event. "The MD-90 series of aircraft
made us the only domestic airline to show a profit during the 2001 oil
embargo, and even though McDonnell Douglas' only customer so far for
the ultrea-high bypass technology, we're proud of those funny looking
engine mounts.
MAY 28: While on a routine mission, the B-2 Stealth bomber
mysteriously appears on radar over the Bermuda Triangle.
MAY 30: Singer/actor John Denver finally gets his wish and is sent
into space by the Soviets. The news agency TASS said there are no immediate
plans for his return.
I know not all of this is space related, but I felt enough of it was
to post. There are some uncomfortably possible scenarios in here, aren't
there?
Brendan
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