Happy Birthday Amelia Earhart

Mission Summary

It was hot, I mean HAWT and the air thick with the smell of sardines. Pilots assembled to celebrate the 125th birthday of Amelia Earhart. Threespeed and Deadbride transformed their ship into a styling airplane with proper lighting, earning them each a medal of chic. It took some doing to get their ship through the fort hangar doors, but finally managed to appear on the launch pad. Ziqqurat was styling in his blue sequinned spacesuit also earning him a medal of chic. We also were introduced to Dr.Claw's high-range precision radiation blaster, which he was ready to deploy at any moment. Skunk provided a special playlist for life support to motivate us for the long night ahead with several pilots helping to bust the funk.

Our first stop was for snax and defueling. LordMcFuzz provided some much needed Klondike molecules to battle the heat. While stopped, pilots practiced making model aircraft from paper and comparing flight dynamics. McFuzz then led us down some quiet roads where we could attempt an airplane flight formation. Despite never having witnessed it before or discussing what it would look like, we did successfully create a large aircraft formation across the Memorial Drive Starpath. We then headed through some wormholes to the Medford System where we visited Amelia Earhart's home from when she was in her 20s. We chalked up the area in salute and then headed for deep radiation therapy at the Mystic Nebula.

There was some significant g-well en route and we managed to go into stealth mode as we approached the nebula. Pilots removed their spacesuits to cool off, but the radiation was not particularly refreshing. Wombat and Skunk attempted to launch off each other to fly further out into the radiation, but were not very successful. Pilots who considered leaving the nebula found themselves attacked by Dr.Claw's high capacity, high range precision radiation blaster. Eventually we all decided to return to our ships and head out to the Amelia Earhart dam in the Everett System for some trivia. On the way we suffered one mechanical due to a flat on Bane Thunderwolf's primary thruster. During the stop pilots were attacked by bugs and once again a sardine smell laid in the air. Once repaired, we continued to the earthen dam named for Amelia Earhart.

Cosima first asked questions about Amelia Earhart as a quiz. Ziqqurat informed us that he studied up earlier in the day. The first two answers to her questions were "Amelia Earhart," which we all seemed to get correct. Phew. Cosima then decided to just share some facts about her biography. It was clear from the facts and tidbits we shared that Amelia Earhart was not only a pioneer for women but for all aviation. There was a little discussion about what happened to her. Skunk shattered our theories of what happened to her, revealing she is still alive! Of course we questioned this, but then he pulled out an alleged autographed photo of him standing with Amelia Earhart. He claimed she time traveled to the present day, and that they are now best buds. Makes perfect sense -- mystery solved!

Having successfully met all objectives, we returned in the wee hours through the Somerville and Cambridge Systems to our Allston landing pad.