{"id":8421,"date":"2021-04-07T18:41:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-07T17:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marcprill.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=8421"},"modified":"2021-04-07T18:41:00","modified_gmt":"2021-04-07T17:41:00","slug":"covid-drinking-dens-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marcprill.co.uk\/wordpress\/2021\/04\/07\/covid-drinking-dens-18\/","title":{"rendered":"Covid Drinking Dens &#8211; 18"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>07\/04\/2021<\/p>\n<p>Strapped into the much more spacious flight cabin of the Mars Explorer, the flight crew pressed buttons, turned dials and switched switches. I watched the Earth move from night to day, as the sun rose for the sixteenth time that day, and glared brightly through the small porthole. A distant \u2018clank\u2019 announced our undocking from the ISS, and we moved slowly away. The station steadily shrunk until it became a glowing \u2018H\u2019 disappearing around the Earth, chasing the Pacific into the sun. Our orientation wandered away from the earth, the moon appearing in the far distance, and we steadied. A distinct push in our rear begins to build as the interplanetary propulsion system is engaged, and the moon appeared to grow bigger every second.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/marcprill.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/cdd_210407_1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8422\" src=\"http:\/\/marcprill.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/cdd_210407_1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"722\" height=\"500\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs soon as we pass the moon, we\u2019ll accelerate to cruising speed and the autopilot will take over.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/marcprill.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/cdd_210407_2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8423\" src=\"http:\/\/marcprill.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/cdd_210407_2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"722\" height=\"500\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The flight Captain turns back to his controls. I wink at Dave, and peer at the flight plan. In about ten minutes time we should pass close to the Moon, turning a few degrees towards it as if to attain orbit, but instead using its gravity to slingshot our way towards Mars. At that point, the computer would take over the navigation controls, and the engine would push us ever faster towards the red planet.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/marcprill.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/cdd_210407_3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8424\" src=\"http:\/\/marcprill.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/cdd_210407_3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"719\" height=\"500\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The \u2018real\u2019 astronauts began to unbuckle themselves, so Dave and I left our own seats to have a little explore and a few cans. The Earth is a shrinking blue marble on a computer screen, and we start with \u2018Deep Space\u2019 an Imperial IPA from Half Acre. Then another New England IPA, this time from Siren, \u2018Suspended In Space\u2019. Two American style IPAs from Italian brewery, \u2018Brewfist\u2019 are next; \u2018Space Frontier\u2019, and \u2018Spaceman\u2019. I\u2019m happy to report that a lack of Gravity doesn\u2019t impact the taste, unlike a lack of gravity!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/marcprill.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/cdd_210407_4.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8425\" src=\"http:\/\/marcprill.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/cdd_210407_4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"717\" height=\"500\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>After a couple of uneventful days floating and drinking, the flight captain calls us back to our seats, and the engines reverse as we begin our deceleration towards, first Phobos, then Mars. Passing the moon Phobos, the computer base there takes over the controls of our ship, to aid the approach through Mars\u2019 thin atmosphere. This is the most dangerous part of the mission, and we all hope we slow quick enough to make the landing merely \u2018bumpy\u2019!<\/p>\n<p>\u2018A brown ale from Arbor Ales; \u2018Twigs In Space\u2019 will be our landing beer, and I hope none is spilt!<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-covid-drinking-dens"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcprill.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcprill.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcprill.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcprill.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcprill.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/marcprill.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8421\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcprill.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcprill.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcprill.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}