Looking back at the Earth

    The possibility that scientist would someday be able to look into the past was discovered by the teenage son of an esteemed scientist, Professor James T. Kinney. 
    His bright son, James Jr., was an admirer of the stars and planets and a history buff.  At the dinner table one Friday night, James was asking a steady stream of questions, concerning his father's occupation as an astronomer.  Once James Jr. understood the basics of light years, light speed, and how they related to the stars we see in the sky, he surprised his father with an intelligent theory. 
   
    "Dad, since the light we see from the stars is however many years old, then the light the Earth reflects from the sun could be seen from a point in space and it would be old light, right, like at least a few years?"  His father focused for a second, seeing the boy's point made sense, but not knowing what he was getting at. 

    James Jr. continued, "So if say we fly a space ship out to just the right distance from the Earth with a high-powered telescope like the ones you use to see planets in other galaxies, you could look at Earth and see a day in history like the Kennedy assassination, or the terrorist attacks of 2012 couldn't you?"  James senior concentrated, deep in thought while staring at the solid oak table in front of him.  After a few moments, the scientist lifted his gaze to his young son, "James, that is the best idea I've heard in a very long time." he proclaimed, much to James Jr.'s satisfaction.  The next day, Mr. Kinney had the idea sent to his superior and within one week, James Jr. became a local celebrity when the town's newspaper printed a story about the family and James Jr.'s idea. 

    24 years later, a breakthrough occured in the science of light-speed travel.  The year 2036 marked James Jr.'s 38th year alive and the beginning of a new era for space travel and exploration.  The whole idea behind faster-than-light travel was based on momentum, and according to Newton's law of inertia, all a space traveler would have to do to achieve lightspeed was to apply thrust periodically, slowly accelerating to avoid fatal g-force strain on those aboard the ship.  The biggest obstacle was just that, obstacles in the flight path.  With the use of advanced long-range telescope technology and the invention of the infinite range-finding laser, the task might be possible.  Using the afore mentioned equipment, every star, planet, and asteroid had been mapped in their orbits and installed into interactive software which would be used to plot a course for the ships.  James Kinney, who dropped the suffix of Jr. when his father passed away 8 years ago, was invited aboard the Historian for it's 6 month maiden voyage.  He wished his father could have been alive to accompany him, but was excited to see his idea come alive after all this time. 

    The launch would happen sectionally as launching the entire craft intact would spend far too much precious fuel.  Six maintenance ships waited in orbit to catch the first section, the fuel tank and burner assembly.  Two days later, the research section with crew quarters, mess hall and hospital bay went up.  While the maintenance ships attached the peices of the massive craft, James was preparing for his departure, assuring his wife and two sons, Alex and Tyler.  They were at the launch of the gigantic telescope apparatus with him, an event that replaced their fear with excitment for the time being.  They were also present later that week to say goodbye as James boarded the transport shuttle and blasted off into the sky.  James' wife, Gloria shed a few tears but managed to convince her sons that they were tears of joy although she had yet to convince herself.  As long as he makes it home in one peice, she thought to herself, then this is all going to be a wonderful experience for him.

    The transport ship came within tether range and fired 3 magnetic cable at 3 triangulated points at the "Historian's" hull.  While the cables receeded into their ports, the shuttle pilot used reverse thrusters to maintain a safe speed and angle of approach until the boarding ports of both ships were perfectly aligned and clicked together.  The six maintenance ships flashed a farewell on their signalling becons and stood by to watch the ship's orbit exit procedure take place.  A "go" came over the communications link and the pilot wasted no time complying.  With a tremendous rumble, the Historian blasted off on the set course and began its journey into viewing range of the history of the Earth.

    Day 32 marked the middle-point of the excited crew's journey and the pilot reversed the thrust blasts to slow them down in the same way they had used them to accelerate, it would take the same amount of time to slow to match the exact speed of light.  If they went slower, the events on Earth would be in fast-forward, and if too fast, a slow-motion effect would occur.  The scientists were to pace the speed of light, then use the ship in the same way a movie is watched, decelerating to skip ahead in time, etc.  Their target date was the explosion of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima during world war II, an event in history that could not possibly hidden fromtheir view considering the power of their equipment and the position of Japan in thier sights at the time that they would arrive. 

    The month passed quickly for the crew who busied themselves by documenting everything they saw and firing communications satellites back toward Earth to set up a network for talking with their colleagues at the launch center.  James took his first spacewalk with an experienced astronaut while the ship sped at 25 times the speed of light.  James had worried about leaving the ship until the astronaut reassured him that as long as they weren't outside during a thrust burn that they'd be traveling the same speed as the ship and only the stars around them would alter. 
James eyed the vision in desbelief once outside.  The light frommillions of stars rushed past, leaving seemingly endless trails of light.  Unlike the movies he had seen, where lightspeed made the stars look like hundreds of light trails in the darkness of space, they allbled together giving the illusion of being in a pulsating white tunnel.  It was themost awe-inspiring sight James could have ever dreamed of.  After 30 minutes, the accompanying astronaut had to drag James back into the ship, promisinganother spacewalk on the way home. 

    Day 64 began with scientists rushing around, finalizing preparations for thieir mission.  As the ship slowed, the lead visual technician brought an image of space on the big screen in the research section.  He zoomed in 50,000% and instantly, Earth came into view.  Ooh's and Ahh's sounded in unison throughout the room, with all eyes straining to see an image of the past.  One more slide of a finger on his screen and the visual technician brought up a close-up image of Hiroshima.  Modern skyscrapers came into view, with traffic congesting the streets and hordesof pedestrians running in super-fast motion here and there.  A holographic sign projected an advertisement on the center of an intersection.  Everyone was speechless until a fellow scientist rolled his eyes and spoke up, "Knock it off Anderson."  The tech laughed and explained "sorry guys, just having alittle fun, here's the real picture."  The screen reloaded and zoomed in over the city just as the shadow of an American bomber glided over the strets and buildingsog the city.  Complete silence returned to the room and within seconds, an extraordinarily bright flash lit the place up.  All eyes closed as the crew members turned their faces away.  Thanks to the accuracy of the video feed, shadows of the section's inhabitants actually remained temporarily frozen on the walls. 

    While scientist's documented every observation, the rest of the crew members returned their eyes to the screen as the destruction continued.  Some of them cried, others were fixated on the screen with gaping mouths.  As horrible as the sight before them was, it was a successful milestone in the history of mankind.  James wished he could pass a note through the screen and change the future but knew very well the impossibilities of such an action.  The technology served one purpose, to view the past and nothing more, but it was fantastic seeing it actually happen, first-hand.  The crew spent their time in space altering the speed of the ship to watch such events as the 1991 American invasion of Iraq; the first space shuttle launch in 1981; the 2027 Las Vegas incident and even superbowl XXX.  The ship was not only capable of documenting history, but the crew also successfully solved several previously unsolved crimes, or gathered evidence at the least, as well as recording a satellite view of the American civil war and several other conflicts and finally solved the mystery as to how the Egyptian pyramids were built.  There were so many useful applications that noone on board could name every possible aspect when they traded thoughts on the subject. 

    One bit of disappointing news came from a head scientist when he reminded the crew that this technique for seeing the past would work for only so long, as they could only go a set distance into space before turning back.  History would always happen, so the ship would forever have a function, but they could only go so far back until probes were sent out to map the space ahead of them.  2 probes were launched as the ship was turned back toward Earth, 6 months having produced more data than they could store in the mainframe.  James joined his astronaut friend, Charles for one last space walk on the return trip as he had been promised.  James watched the starlit tunnel with the sameamazement and appreciation as he had the first time, taking it all in with reverence.  Mission accomplished, James thought to himself.

    Not everyone gets the chance to see their wildest childhood dreams cometo fruition but here he was, right in the middle of his own personal creation, surfing the exterior wall of a gigantic spacecraft, moving at 50 times the speed of light.  On Charles' request, James clicked the switch for his magnetic boots.  The pilot had earlier agreed to one small burst of thrust for the enjoyment of the men outside during their excursion as long as they wore the modified boots.  James saw the astronaut click hisboots on, then heard himgive the go-ahead.  James squinted his eyes as if anticipating a rush of air in his face and leaned in the direction the craft was heading.  A burst of light led to a feeling of weighted momentum as James pushed his upper body forward, compensating for the momentum. It was the most thrilling thing he had ever experienced, and he was was going to take in every moment.  James closed his eyes completely and imagined himself flying through space without the craft beneath him.  James smiled broadly when thepilot gifted them with a second small burst.  "I'm going to have to do this again sometime, you know," He informed the astronaut.  Charlie gave him a thumbs-up as the ship sped toward the Earth, it's maiden voyage coming to end with nothing but hope for the future.