Vulcan’s second flight is scheduled to be the autonomous Dream Chaser space plane, built in Louisville by Sierra Space. That launch, a cargo resupply flight to the International Space Station, is projected to take place in April, presuming the Dream ...

Space Force picks Centennial-based ULA for slate of national security launches

Across the hall from the production floor, Sierra Space has set up a mission control room, where engineers will monitor and command the spacecraft when it's in orbit. Down the hall, a mock-up is in place for astronauts to train on how to enter the Dream Chaser and pack and unpack cargo while it's docked at the station.

After decades of dreams, a commercial spaceplane is almost ready to fly

Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, Ohio, for ground tests. Credit: GN COLORADO SPRINGS—Sierra Space is poised to deliver the first Dream Chaser spaceplane from its Louisville, Colorado, site near Denver to NASA’s Neil A. Armstrong Test Facility in ...

Dream Chaser Spaceplane Prepared For Prelaunch NASA Tests

Sierra Space announced that it recently completed a week-long flight operations review on the Dream Chaser with NASA.

Sierra Space Completes Week-Long Flight Operations Review for Dream Chaser

A privately owned lunar lander slated to fly aboard the first United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan rocket arrived in Florida on Oct. 30 for launch preparations. Liftoff from Cape Canaveral SFS’s Space Launch Complex 41 is targeted for Dec. 24. Based on lighting and other conditions for the attempted...

Payload For Vulcan’s First Flight Arrives For Launch Preparations

A Colorado company's first spacecraft, hired by NASA to resupply the International Space Station, gets a big send off ahead of NASA. "This will change everything," CEO says.

Sierra Space celebrates first Dream Chaser's completion in metro-area factory

After years in the making, the world's first commercial space plane, Dream Chaser, will soon be shipped from Louisville, Colorado, to a NASA facility in Ohio.

World's first commercial space plane soon headed from Colorado to Ohio

Rail electrification and locomotives powered by green hydrogen are two goals that the rail industry and federal and state leaders should adopt, according to the Sierra Club’s revised statement on how to encourage clean transportation for the railroads.

Sierra Club still sees rail as ‘a climate solution’

The Space Coast saw a record number of launches from the two facilities with 57 in 2022. Space Launch Delta 45 commander Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy said in January that there could be between 86 and 92 potential launches in 2023.

Space Coast launch schedule

Get the most recent info and news about Sierra Space on HackerNoon, where 10k+ technologists publish stories for 4M+ monthly readers.

Sierra Space is building a shared ecosystem in space for scientific collaboration and innovation to enhance life on Earth.

With technologies that make space more affordable and accessible, we’re dedicated to creating a prosperous and secure space economy that will benefit all of humanity.

Rapidly advancing toward the launch of the next generation of space transportation, the world’s only winged commercial spaceplane, the Dream Chaser®, will perform cargo supply and return missions for NASA - delivering up to 12,000 pounds of cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) at a time.

Sierra Space is also the developer of the Large Integrated Flexible Environment (LIFE™) Habitat, a modular, three-story commercial habitation and science platform. The unique structure will provide opportunities for multiple businesses including manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and other sectors, to optimize zero gravity benefits.

The Dream Chaser Spaceplane and LIFE platform are central components of the joint partnership Orbital Reef commercial space station and mixed-use business park being developed in partnership with Blue Origin.

Sierra Space

HOW TO MAKE HISTORY DATES STICK

Physical Geography

This article was published on by . Co-published with . ProPublica Lomi Kriel The Texas Tribune This article is co-published with The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan local newsroom that informs and engages with Texans. Sign up for to get up to speed on their essential coverage of Texas issues. The Brief Weekly MATAMOROS, Mexico — For the past five months, Valery Sanchez has shared a cramped two-bedroom apartment here with about a dozen gay and transgender migrants, waiting patiently but desperately for her asylum case to be heard across the border in Texas. From her bedroom window, the 19-year-old transgender woman can see the site of the makeshift migrant camp in Matamoros that she fled months earlier, fearing for her safety. At its peak, the camp, a collection of ramshackle tent structures in a park abutting the Rio Grande, ballooned to 3,000 migrants under the , a policy established by President Donald Trump. Migrant Protection Protocols Starting in 2019, the MPP program forced a total of more than 71,000 migrants seeking asylum to wait in Mexico until their cases could be considered by judges in U.S. immigration courts. Sanchez said she escaped Honduras in February 2020 after strangers beat her and left her for dead because of her gender identity. She spent the next eight months at the makeshift camp in Matamoros, but fled after other Central American migrants harassed and assaulted her and her transgender friends, telling them they would end up “dead in the river,” she recalled. Sanchez never doubted her decision to leave until earlier this month, when President Joe Biden’s administration allowed nearly all of the 700 migrants at the camp to cross into the United States as part of a broader rollback of the MPP program, also known as “remain in Mexico.” Over a little more than a week, the fetid camp, which lacked running water and had sparked public health and safety concerns, was emptied in collaboration with the United Nations, a first at the U.S. border. The tents that had cluttered the Matamoros riverbank across from Brownsville, the southernmost point of the border between Texas and Mexico, were gone. Advocates praised Biden for moving to eliminate one of the most visceral symbols of U.S. immigration policies under Trump. The camp had become notorious for the miserable conditions endured by migrants, as a U.S.- sanctioned refugee settlement. drawing international attention But in closing the camp, the Biden administration strayed from its own guidelines to prioritize vulnerable migrants like Sanchez who have pending court cases, essentially allowing some in the camp to skip the line. Many migrants whose asylum cases had already been denied or who otherwise didn’t qualify for entrance were allowed into the U.S. to be processed, stoking confusion about who gets in and who doesn’t. Department of Homeland Security officials said admissions from the camp were based on “urgent humanitarian concerns” and in consideration of keeping families together. But officials involved in emptying the Matamoros camp, who were not authorized to speak publicly, said pressure in the U.S. and Mexico also factored into the decision to prioritize migrants from the camp. Last month’s record freeze in Texas and Northern Mexico added to alarm about conditions. Sanchez and her housemates feel they are being punished for having sought a safer place to live. Had they stayed at the camp, they would be in the U.S. already, but now they are forced to wait. “We didn’t leave the camp because we wanted to,” Sanchez said. “We had to.” She is among tens of thousands of migrants in urgent situations who are so far left out. “The distinction between who qualifies for relief and who doesn’t is pretty arbitrary,” said Jodi Goodwin, an immigration lawyer in the Rio Grande Valley who works on MPP cases. “It’s a huge, messy problem for the Biden administration.” “Too Much Chaos” About 40,000 migrants, a majority of those sent back across the border under the MPP program, have already been denied asylum or otherwise had their cases terminated, according to . Only a tiny number have been approved for protection; the rest are still pending. federal statistics Typically, after a judge rejects an asylum petition in the U.S., migrants are required to return to their home countries. Many rejected migrants remain in Mexican border cities under perilous situations, hoping for another opportunity under Biden. His administration has not said if it will offer migrants with closed cases a second chance at asking for asylum. Goodwin and other lawyers said many claims were wrongly dismissed. Trump made immigration a cornerstone of his campaign for office and his presidency, arguing that under previous administrations the U.S. had been too lenient and that regulations should be tightened to prevent immigrants from entering the country. During his own presidential campaign, Biden noted that Trump was the first U.S. president to make asylum seekers wait in another country. He promised to undo some Trump-era immigration policies, including MPP, saying they were inhumane. “That’s never happened before in America,” Biden last year. “They’re sitting in squalor on the other side of the river.” said during a presidential debate The Biden administration halted the MPP program of allowing into the U.S. the 25,000 migrants with pending court cases. About 2,200 of those migrants have been admitted so far, including almost everyone from the Matamoros camp, according to the U.N. and in February began the process They will now be allowed to live in the U.S. while they await hearings in civil immigration courts that have an average backlog of more than two years, according to . federal statistics U.N. and U.S. officials said migrants with open cases are being processed as quickly as possible, emphasizing that those who have waited the longest and are most vulnerable should be permitted to enter first. “The Matamoros camp became a visible symbol of a much larger problem,” said Yael Schacher, a historian who serves as a legal advocate at the global organization Refugees International. “But this is just a tiny, very visible population of a much larger group that is in many cases as vulnerable or more so.” Newly confirmed Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has urged patience as the administration reconstructs a “dismantled” immigration system. Biden officials have said that, under Trump, the U.S. decimated avenues to seek asylum, and cut foreign aid that had been intended to improve conditions in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. including returning unaccompanied migrant children without legal protections, The administration has promised reforms such as shortening the amount of time it takes to adjudicate asylum claims, but has not yet provided specifics. “We have had to rebuild the entire system,” Mayorkas said Tuesday . “As difficult as the border situation is now, we are addressing it.” in a statement Since taking office, Biden has grappled with an influx of migrants fleeing desperate conditions and hoping that the U.S. immigration system will be more welcoming under a new administration. In February, U.S. Border Patrol agents apprehended more than 19,200 migrants with their families, about 9,450 unaccompanied children and nearly 71,600 single adults, . according to federal statistics released last week The total of just more than 100,000 migrants was a 28% increase over January and the highest monthly number since . June 2019 Mayorkas said Tuesday that the U.S. is “on pace to encounter more individuals on the southwest border than we have in the last 20 years,” in part because of worsening conditions in Central America. A decision by the Biden administration to stop automatically expelling migrant children under a public health order invoked by Trump last March also resulted in an increase of unaccompanied minors entering the U.S. That has forced the opening of extra facilities and , which are intended for adults, for longer than the law allows. left children in poorly equipped Border Patrol detention centers On March 13, Biden the Federal Emergency Management Agency to the border to help care for unaccompanied children. announced that he was deploying Mayorkas and other federal officials have said that the border remains closed while the Biden administration tries to reconstruct legal avenues for those seeking protection. “It’s going to take time,” said DHS spokesperson Sarah Peck. “In the meantime, the border is not open, and people should not make the journey to reach it.” The confusion stemming from the camp’s closure has added to uncertainty about how the Biden administration is more broadly handling immigration cases involving migrants at the border. Outside of MPP, the Biden administration is rejecting nearly all migrant adults and some families under the public health order from last March, which invoked COVID-19 as a reason for turning them away. At the same time, the government is allowing to enter in south Texas, pointing to a lack of shelter space because of new regulations in Mexico. some newly arrived migrant families “Now it’s a bit of being at the right place at the right time,” said Savitri Arvey, a researcher on migration at the University of Texas at Austin. “That causes panic and misinformation.” As the Matamoros camp was dismantled, new arrivals pitched tents outside of the park where it had stood. Asylum seekers in Tijuana, Mexico, across the border from San Diego, began forming their own camp at that border crossing, hoping to encounter a similarly speedy process. The Tijuana camp has grown to as many 1,500 people since mid-February, representatives from legal advocacy organizations have said. DHS officials warned that such tactics wouldn’t help. “Physical presence at the U.S. border has not and will not be a means for gaining access to this phased program to address the Migrant Protection Protocols,” agency officials said in a statement to ProPublica and the Texas Tribune. Charlene D’Cruz, an attorney with Lawyers for Good Government who works on MPP cases in the Rio Grande Valley, said the conditions in the Matamoros camp were on par with some of the worst refugee settlements she had witnessed in Greece. But D’Cruz said that prioritizing the camp without offering solutions to the larger number of people suffering in Mexico after being returned under MPP is political “tap dancing.” “There’s too much chaos in an already very chaotic system,” D’Cruz said. “We need more transparency about what’s going to happen next and who is going to be included.” Left Behind Dinora Cruz doesn’t understand how U.S. authorities don’t see her as vulnerable or in need of protection. Cruz, who was returned to Matamoros under the MPP program in 2019, said she pleaded her case to an immigration judge. She explained that gang members had sexually assaulted her twice in Honduras after extorting her for protection money for the convenience store she ran. Once, she said, gangs broke into her house, firing a bullet that scraped her finger, leaving a deep, jagged scar. After a second attack on the street, she filed a police report with Honduran authorities. They noted in the report that the assault had left her with “serious psychological damage.” She could no longer pay the extortion money and lost her business. “The gangs threatened that if I did not give them money, then I would never see my kids again,” she told U.S. authorities at the border, according to her processing paperwork. Without a lawyer, Cruz said, she struggled to complete her asylum application in English and articulate in court why she qualified. She said the immigration judge told her that she hadn’t provided enough proof and rejected her case in January 2020, just before the pandemic shuttered such courts. Many migrants still waiting to enter the U.S. arrived at the border shortly after Trump’s MPP policy began in early 2019. Many of their cases were denied in that were not open to the public. tent courts Advocates , which included mass hearings through video conferencing with poor translation, according to lawyers. denounced the legal proceedings Ariana Sawyer, a researcher with Human Rights Watch, likened the hearings to “kangaroo courts.” She said many migrants’ claims were not properly adjudicated. Of the more than 71,000 migrants returned to Mexico under the MPP program, less than 8% had legal representation. The U.S. government does not provide attorneys to immigrants in such civil deportation proceedings. Many waited across the border in dangerous conditions. More than 1,500 were killed, kidnapped or assaulted in Mexico while waiting for their court dates, . according to tallies by Human Rights First and other international groups After the program was , judges granted asylum or other forms of U.S. protection to only about 650 migrants in the MPP program, according to federal data . implemented analyzed by Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse The Trump administration also made multiple changes to immigration courts, which , a think tank in Washington, D.C, to the lowest in decades. according to the Migration Policy Institute reduced the asylum grant rate The measures created a broader crisis at the border. “The Matamoros camp ultimately contained only a tiny fraction of those asylum seekers subjected to this cruel border policy,” Sawyer said. Because a U.S. judge had dismissed Cruz’s asylum claim, Mexican authorities also revoked her permission to stay and work there lawfully while she awaited her fate in a Texas court. Now she and her two boys, 9 and 10, are living in Mexico illegally. The children have not attended school for more than a year. Cruz said she is too afraid to return to Honduras. Another woman sent back under the MPP program, who works at a clinic for migrants outside of the Matamoros tent camp, allowed Cruz to stay for free in her rented room. But the woman has a pending asylum case under MPP and has been told by the U.N. that she will soon be allowed to enter the U.S. under the Biden’s administration’s rollback of the program. Without a job and with no other options for housing, Cruz doesn’t know how she will take care of her boys once the woman leaves. Desperation Remains The Rev. Juan Sierra, who oversees a migrant shelter in Matamoros, stood outside of the tent camp earlier this month as the U.N. began processing migrants to enter the U.S. Sierra was relieved that they would no longer be living in unsafe conditions, but he feared that the city’s two available shelters would not be able to accommodate the remaining migrants and those who continue to arrive daily. “The camp isn’t suitable anymore for people to live,” Sierra said. “But if they take away the camp, we don’t have enough space.” Sierra said his facility can house only about 120 migrants under pandemic protocols. The city’s second shelter is much smaller. He said the U.S. and Mexico must come up with a clear plan for processing migrants seeking asylum and other protections. Otherwise, Sierra said, migrants could resort to entering the country in increasingly dangerous ways. “Migrants are going to get criminal groups to go to the U.S., and people are going to die,” Sierra said. “Hopefully both governments come up with a humanitarian solution.” Rhonda Fleischer, a migration program specialist at UNICEF, which is involved with the dismantling of the MPP program, said migrants are fleeing not only endemic gang violence and poverty but the aftermath of two deadly hurricanes in Central America last year. Many are also searching for employment after months of severe COVID-19 shutdowns obliterated the few available jobs in their countries. “There is nothing for people anymore,” Fleischer said. “I hear the call for people to wait, that the U.S. is working to find solutions for people who genuinely need protection.” Nonetheless, she said, “there are families in situations in Central America in which they are in life-or-death circumstances.” In Matamoros, the tent camp is gone, but the desperation remains. Sanchez, still living in her crowded apartment with other gay and transgender migrants, checked Facebook for updates on her closest friend, Natasha Mayorquin, who also had a pending case and was let into the U.S. last week as part of the MPP rollback. The sprawling settlement is no longer visible out Sanchez’s window. At night, she instead looks out and sees the lights of Brownsville. She thinks about her friend, now on her way to North Carolina. “I feel pretty alone,” she said. Like thousands of migrants across the border, she clings to hope that she’ll be next. Photo by on Will Francis Unsplash

A Look Into the Lives of  Transgender Asylum Seekers

When the Mountain Shook

SHOOTING STARS

A Columbus of Space by Garrett Putman Serviss is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here . AN AMAZING METROPOLIS AN AMAZING METROPOLIS If I should undertake to describe in detail all the events that now followed in rapid succession, this history would take a lifetime to write. I must choose only the more significant facts. The newcomer, whose remarkable face had immediately impressed me, and not altogether favorably, proved to be a personage of very great importance, second only, as we could see, to Ala herself. And, what was particularly important for us, he showed none of her friendly disposition. I do not mean to suggest that he seemed inclined to any active hostility, but evidently we were, in his eyes, no better than savages, and consequently entitled to no special consideration, and especially to no favors. Jack, who, with all his careless ways, had a penetrating mind for the perception of character, whispered to me, within five minutes after the fellow came aboard: "If that galoot had his way, we'd make our entry in irons. Mark my words, there's mischief in him. Hang him! I'm going to keep my pistol handy when he's around." Edmund, who happened to overhear Jack's remark, interposed: "See here, Master Jack, this is no time to be talking of pistols. I trust that we are done with shooting." We were not done with it; but that comes later. It was not long before Edmund had discovered a name for the newcomer also; he called him Ingra. It was singular, he said, that all the names seemed to be characterized by the prevalence of vowels sounds, but he thought it likely that this arose from the greater ease with which they could be enunciated. They were like Spanish words, which are the easiest of all for foreigners, and probably also for natives, to pronounce. After we reached the coast we descended to the ground, at Edmund's request, I believe, because he wished to superintend the loading of the car upon one of the largest air ships, and it was an unforgettable sight to watch him managing the work as coolly and effectively as if he had been in charge of a gang of workmen at home! And, while I looked, I found myself again doubting if, after all, this was not a dream. The workers hurrying about, Edmund following them, pointing, objecting, urging and directing, with his derby hat, which had come through all our adventures (though somewhat damaged), stuck on the back of his head—and all this on the planet Venus! No! I could not be awake. But yet I was. When we started again, we were escorted by a hundred air ships, forming a complete circle about us. Now I noticed, what had escaped attention during the extraordinary atmospheric display, viz., that these craft were painted in colors that I should call gorgeous if they had not been so perfectly harmonious and pleasing. Every one looked like the careful creation of an artist, and the variety of tints exhibited was incredible. Our own air ship, and its consorts, on the other hand, were very plain in their decorations. I called Edmund's attention to this and immediately he said: "Remember what I told you—this has been an exploring expedition, and the craft taking part in it have been fitted up for rough work. That reminds me that I have not yet made the inquiries that I intended on that subject. I shall go to Ala now and see what I can learn." She was standing on the deck near the other end, with Ingra beside her. As Edmund approached them, Jack nudged me: "Look at that fellow," he said. "Wasn't I right?" There was no doubt about it; Ingra scowled and showed every sign of displeasure at Edmund's presence. But Ala greeted him graciously, and, apparently, Ingra did not dare to interfere. I could see that Jack was grasping his pistol again, but I did not anticipate that there would be any occasion to use it. Nevertheless, I watched them closely for a time, hoping to discover Edmund's method of reading her meaning; as to her comprehension of his I had no question about that. But I got no light on the subject, and, as it soon became evident, even to Jack, that there was no danger this time, we fell to examining the land over which we were passing. We flew at a height of about two thousand feet, so that the range of vision was very wide. The sea behind us curved into the land in three great scallops, separated by acuminate promontories, whose terminal bluffs of sand were as yellow as gold. Away ahead the line of mountains, that we had noticed before, appeared as a dark sierra, and between it and the sea the country seemed to be very little broken by hills. Large forests were visible, but from our elevation it was impossible to tell whether the trees composing them bore any resemblance to terrestrial forms. The open land was about equally divided in area between bare yellowish soil (or what we took to be soil) and bright green expanses whose color suggested vegetation. Scattered here and there we saw what appeared to be habitations, but we could not be sure of their nature; and, upon the whole, the land seemed to us to be very thinly populated. Many birds accompanied us in our flight, frequently alighting on the deck and other parts of the air ship. They were remarkably tame, allowing us to approach them closely, and we were delighted by their beautiful plumage and their singular forms. This reminds me to say that the motion of the craft was extremely curious—a kind of gentle rising and falling, which was very agreeable when once we were accustomed to it, and which resembled what one would suppose to be the movement of a bird in flight. This, of course, arose from the structure of the air ship, which, as I have before said, seemed to be modeled, as far as its motive parts were concerned, upon the principle of wings rather than of simple aeroplanes. But the mechanism was very complicated, and I never arrived at a full comprehension of it. Edmund remained a long time in conference with Ala, Ingra staying constantly with them, and when he had apparently finished his "conversation" we were surprised to see them begin a tour of inspection of the air ship, finally descending into the interior. This greatly excited Jack, who was for following them at once. "I can't be easy," he declared. "Nobody can tell what may happen to him if they get him alone." But I succeeded in persuading him that there could be no danger, and that we ought to trust to Edmund's discretion. They were gone so long, however, that at last I became anxious myself, and was on the point of suggesting to Jack that we try to find them, when they reappeared, and Edmund at once came to us, his face irradiated with smiles. "I have plenty of news for you," he said, as soon as he had joined us. "Never in my life have I spent two hours more delightfully. In the first place, I have found out practically all that I wished to know about this expedition, and, second, I have thoroughly examined the mechanism of the ship. Its complication is only apparent, and the management of it is so simple that a single man can pilot it easily. I could do it myself." We did not appreciate at the time what the knowledge that Edmund had thus acquired meant for us. "Well, what about the expedition?" asked Jack. "And where are we going?" "From what I can make out," replied Edmund musingly, "Ala is really what you called her, Jack, a queen. But such a queen! If we had some like her on the earth, monarchy might not be such a bad thing after all. She is a savant." "Bluestocking," put in Jack. "This is a new kind of amazon." Edmund did not smile. "I am in earnest," he continued. "Of course you understand that most of my conclusions are really based upon inference. I cannot grasp all that she tries to tell me, but her gestures are so speaking, and her eyes so full of a kind of meaning which seems to force its way into my mind, I cannot tell how, that I am virtually sure of the correctness of my interpretation. The expedition, which I am certain was planned by her, was intended to explore the outskirts of the dark hemisphere. Perhaps they meant to penetrate within it, but, if so, the stormy belt that we crossed was too serious an obstacle for them to overcome. Our encountering them was the greatest stroke of good fortune that we have yet had. It places us right at the center of affairs." "Where are they going now?" "Evidently back to their starting point; which is likely to be a great city—the capital and metropolis, most probably. The more I think of it the stronger becomes my conviction that Ala is really, at least in power and influence, a queen. And you can see for yourselves that it must be a great and rich empire that she rules, for remember the extraordinary reception with which she was greeted, the innumerable air ships, the splendor of everything." "But are we to be well treated? Is there no danger for us in accompanying them?" "If there were danger, it would be hard for us to escape from it now; but why should there be danger? We did not kill the Esquimaux that our polar explorers brought from the Arctic regions, and for these people, we are a greater curiosity than ever the Esquimaux, or the Pygmies of Africa, were for us. Instead of encountering any danger, I anticipate that we shall be very well treated." "Perhaps they'll put us in a cage," said Jack, with a ludicrous grimace, "and tote us about as a great moral show for children. If there's a Barnum on Venus, our fate is sealed." Jack's humorous suggestion struck home, for there seemed to be probability behind it, and Henry groaned, while, for my part, I confess that I felt rather uncomfortable over the prospect. But Edmund did not pursue the conversation, and soon we fell to regarding again the landscape beneath and far around us. We were gradually nearing the mountains, although they were still distant, and presently we caught sight of what resembled, as much as anything, gigantic cobwebs glittering with dew, and rising out of the plain between us and the mountains. "There, Edmund," said Jack, "there's another chance to exercise your genius for explaining mysteries. What are those things?" Edmund watched the objects for several minutes before replying. At length he said, with the decision characteristic of him: "Palaces." Jack burst out laughing. "Castles in Spain, I reckon," he said. "But, really, Edmund, what do you think they can be?" "I have already told you, palaces, or castles, if you prefer." "You are serious?" I asked. "Perfectly so. They cannot be anything else." Seeing our astonishment and incredulity, Edmund added: "Since they retain their places, it is evident that they are edifices of some kind, attached to the ground. But their great height and aerial structure indicate that they are erected in the air—floating, I should say, but firmly anchored at the bottom. Really, I cannot see anything astonishing about it; it accords with everything else that we have seen. Your minds are too hidebound to terrestrial analogies, and you do not give your imaginations sufficient play with the new materials that are here offered. "This atmosphere," he continued, after a pause, "is exactly suited for such things. It is a region of atmospheric calm. If we were not moving, you would hardly feel a breeze, and I doubt if there is ever a high wind here. To build their habitations in the air and make them float like gossamers—could any idea be more beautiful than that, or more in harmony with the nature of this planet, which is the favorite of the sun, for first he inundates it with a splendor unknown to the earth, and then generously covers it with a gorgeous screen of cloud which cuts off his scorching beams but suffers the light to pass, filtered to opalescent ether?" When Edmund spoke like that, as he sometimes did, suffusing his words with the fervor of his imagination, even Henry, I believe, felt his soul lifted to unaccustomed heights. We hung upon his lips, and, without a word, waited for him to continue. Presently he murmured, in an undertone: "Yes, all this I foresaw in my dream. A world of crystal, houses that seemed not made with hands, reaching toward heaven, and a people, beautiful beyond compare, dwelling in the aerial home of birds"; and then, addressing us, in his ordinary tones: "You will see that the capital, which we are unquestionably approaching, is to a large extent composed of this airy architecture." And it turned out to be as he had said—when, indeed, was it ever otherwise? As we drew nearer, the aerial structures which we had first seen began to tower up to an amazing height, just perceptibly swaying and undulating with the gentle currents of air that flowed through their traceried lattices, while behind them began to loom an immense number of floating towers, rising stage above stage, like the steel monsters of New York before they have received their outer coverings, but incomparably lighter in appearance, and more delicate and graceful; truly fairy constructions, bespangled with countless brilliant points. Yet nearer, and we could see cables attached to the higher structures, and running downward as if anchored to the ground beneath, but the ground itself we could not see, because now we had dropped lower in the air, and a long hill rose between us and the fairy towers, whose slight sinuous motion, affecting so many together, produced a trifling sense of dizziness as we gazed. Still nearer, and we believed that we could see people in the buoyant towers. A minute later there was no doubt about their presence, for the colors broke forth, and that marvelous interchange of chromatic signals, which had so astonished us as we drew near the coast, was resumed. "It is my belief," said Edmund, "that, notwithstanding the buoyancy of the heavy atmosphere, those structures cannot be maintained at such elevations without mechanical aid. You will see when we get nearer that every stage is furnished with some means of support, probably vertical screws reacting upon the air." Again he had guessed right, for in a little while we were near enough to see the screws, working in a maze of motion, like the wings of a multitude of insects. The resemblance was increased by their gauzy structure, and, as they turned, they flashed and glittered as if enameled. (The supernatant structures that they maintained were, as we afterwards ascertained, framed of hollow beams and trusses—a kind of bamboo, of great strength and lightness.) Now we rose over the intervening hill, and as we did so a cry burst from our lips. A vast city made its appearance as by magic, a magnified counterpart of the aerial city above it. Put all the glories of Constantinople, Damascus, Cairo, and Bombay, with all their spires, towers, minarets, and domes together, and multiply their splendor a thousand times, and yet your imagination will be unable to picture the scene of enchantment on which our eyes rested. "It is the capital of Venus," exclaimed Edmund. "There can be nothing greater than this!" It must, indeed, be the capital, for in the midst of it rose an edifice of unparalleled splendor, which could only be the palace of a mighty monarch. Above this magnificent building, which gleamed with metallic reflections, although it was as light and airy in construction as frostwork, rose the loftiest of the aerial towers, a hundred, two hundred—I cannot tell you how many stories in height, for I never succeeded in counting them. The other air ships now dropped back, and ours alone approached this stupendous tower, making apparently for its principal landing stage. Along the sides of the tower a multitude of small air ships ran up and down, stopping at various stages to discharge their living cargoes. "Elevators," said Edmund. Glancing round we saw that similar scenes were occurring at all the towers. They were filling up with people, and the continual rising and descending of the little craft that bore them, the holiday aspect of the gay colors everywhere displayed, and the brilliancy of the whole spectacle moved us beyond words. But the most astonishing scene still awaited us. Just before our vessel reached the landing stage, the enormous tower, from foot to apex, broke out with all the hues of the rainbow, like an enchanted rose tree covered with millions of brilliant flowers at the touch of a wand. The effect was overwhelming. The air became tremulous with rippling colors, whose vibrant waves, with quick succession of concordant tints afforded to the eye an exquisite pleasure akin to that which the ear receives from a carillon of bells. Our companions, and the people crowded on the towers, seemed to be transported with ecstatic delight. "Again the music of the spectrum!" cried Edmund. "The diapason of color! It is their national hymn, or the hymn of their race, written on a prismatic, instead of a sonometric, staff. And, mark me, this has a significance beyond your conjectures!" I believe that our enjoyment of this astonishing spectacle was hardly less than that of the natives themselves, but the pleasure was suddenly broken off by a tragedy that struck cold to our hearts. We had nearly touched the landing, when we observed that a discussion was going on between Ala and Ingra, and it quickly became evident that we were the subject of it. Before we could exchange a word, they approached us, and Ingra, in a threatening manner, laid his hand on Edmund's shoulder. In a second Jack had his pistol covering Ingra. Edmund saw the motion, and struck Jack's arm aside, but the weapon exploded, and, clutching her breast, Ala fell at our feet! About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Garrett Putman Serviss (2005). A Columbus of Space. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved October 2022 https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/8673/pg8673.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org , located at https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html .

SIERRA SPACE

sierraspace.com

1K-5K employees

Since 2021

COMPANY RANKING

SIERRA SPACE

EVERGREEN INDEX #9739

Representing this company? Click here to claim and customize this page!

Sierra Space WIKI

Apply to get your Tech Company News Page live on HackerNoon.com today!

SIERRA SPACE

sierraspace.com

1K-5K employees

Since 2021

COMPANY RANKING

SIERRA SPACE

EVERGREEN INDEX #9739

RELATED COMPANIESRANK

STORIES ABOUT SIERRA SPACE

Representing this company? Click here to claim and customize this page!

Sierra Space WIKI

Apply to get your Tech Company News Page live on HackerNoon.com today!