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The '''Great Solar System Tour''' was [[humans|humanity’s]] first attempt
{{Disambiguation|*[[Great Solar System Tour (Borealis Universe)]]
*[[Great Solar System Tour (Thirteenth Assemblage)]]}}
at visiting all the major planets of the [[Sol System]]. The Tour lasted from 2121 to 2142.

== Origin ==
By the turn of the 22<sup>nd</sup> century, humanity had
already established Fort Jupiter on the [[moon]] as well as a handful of colonies
on [[Mars]] and [[Venus]], the former being a large domed crater city called Arestown
and the latter being various floating cities above the clouds of Venus. The
farthest any human had gone by this point was the Europa First Contact Mission
in 2089.

Five years after the return of the EFC Mission, NASA, the
ESA and other various government run and private spacefaring companies began to
construct a fleet of five small interplanetary spacecraft with which humanity
could make a manned exploratory journey of every main planet within the Solar
System. Various countries began recruitment drives for potential crewmembers
including, but not limited to, researchers, journalists, or even those willing
to pay for a seat on one of the spacecraft.

By the year 2115, the ships had been completed and the
skeleton crews of each took the time to test over the various systems for long
term use. Each ship was placed in lunar orbit and temporarily acted as a backup
ship should the need ever arise for any of the lunar colonies to be evacuated.

The Tour Fleet as it was called made the departure from low
lunar orbit on January 1, 2121.

== Fleet ==
The five ships, named the ''Niña'', ''Pinta'', ''Santa Maria,'' ''Columbus'' and ''Leif Erikson'', were small rotating cylindrical''
habitat vessels with their own inner biosphere. Each ship was capable of sustaining
a maximum population of around five hundred individuals. A massive cylindrical
light hung above the surface in order to simulate terrestrial day and night as
well as generate a large magnetic field around the ships to protect the
inhabitants. Soil was brought onto the ships and spread across the surface in order
for the ship to be able to grow its own food. As backup, however, stores of
frozen meals were placed within the multiple galleys on each vessel.

The habitat section of the spacecraft were capable of
generating artificial seasons for the growth of crops.

Each vessel was equipped with large nuclear engines as well
as a massive protective deployable dish as extra protection from solar
radiation.

The five ships were capable of interlocking during the
journey. The purpose of this was so that the inhabitants of each ship could
visit the other vessels in order to stave off some of the boredom of the journey.
[[File:Tour (2).jpg|left|thumb|220x220px|Image taken by one of the passengers of Venus' surface a day before the lightning storm incident.]]

== Visit to Venus ==
Upon departure and with a gravitational boost from [[Earth]],
the Tour’s first stop Venus. The ships entered orbit on
February 10, 2121. They remained in orbit for two weeks and during that time the
ships delivered supplies to the still new Venusian colonies and even allowed
for some of those who had paid for a seat to travel to the small floating
laboratories in order to get a better look at the clouds as well as take a
brief journey to the surface.

During this trip down disaster almost struck. During one of
the tours of the Venusian surface, a large lightning storm overtook the rovers
and struck two of them, causing explosive decompression in the cabins. However,
both drivers had been keeping a close eye on the weather patterns and had, only
fifteen minutes before, instructed the passengers to place their Venusian
spacesuits on.

With the destruction of two of the rovers, the passengers
had to squeeze into the three remaining ones while still in their spacesuits so
as not to deplete the air supply for the other passengers. Aside from a few bruises
and scrapes, miraculously no major injuries were reported. However, surface
tours were banned for the remainder of their stay. The tour left on March 4, 2121
[[File:Tour (1).jpg|thumb|220x220px|Image taken of Mercury's surface by one of the passengers.]]

== Visit to Mercury ==
The journey to [[Mercury]] took nearly twice as long for the
tour to reach. After using Venus as a gravitational boost, the tour slowly
glided into Mercury’s orbital plane, making their way into orbit on May 24,
2121. The tour remained there until June 5, during which time the scientists
and researchers on board sent down various instruments with which they could
study the Sun as well as Mercury itself. Five days after arrival, each ship
sent down landing parties to the Mercurian north pole.

A temporary camp, named
'''Hermes 1,''' was set up in one of the craters and those who went down stayed for a
total of three days before returning to their respective ships. On June 5, the ships
used a gravitational boost from Mercury as well as some extra speed from the
nuclear engines in order to move to the outer worlds.

== Return to Earth ==
In order to reach a speed fast enough to reach Mars, the tour
had to return to Earth via gravity boost from Venus. The ships reached Venus on
July 1 of that year but had to make an emergency stop for five days when the
Aphrodite Beta station began experiencing major malfunctions that required
immediate evacuation. Since the Alpha and Gamma floating stations had no means
with which they could sustain the extra mass and bodies, the Tour Fleet, which
was on its way back to Earth, took on the extra hundred people.

On July 6, after finding temporary quarters for each of the
Beta research teams on the five ships as well as working out a rationing system
on each vessel, each spacecraft activated its nuclear engines and sped up their
orbits around Venus. In order to reach Earth in a timely manner they had to use
more power than they were expected to.

Not only were they needing a resupply, but about twenty of
the passengers were showing the beginning signs of cancer despite each ship’s
magnetic shielding against the solar radiation.

On August 11, the Tour entered into Earth orbit upon which
all but the skeleton crew disembarked temporarily. Some, however, wished to
remain on Earth permanently as they had grown tired and bored of the long
months of space travel between planets. Due to the orbits between Mars and
Earth not being optimal for a slingshot maneuver at that point in time, the
tour was put on hold as scheduled until January of 2123.
[[File:Tour (3).jpg|left|thumb|220x220px|Image of Mars taken by one of the passengers.]]

== Visit to Mars ==
On December 27, 2122, the remaining passengers along with
new ones went up to the five ships, which had been repaired and reinforced with
new magnetic shielding and stronger shells around the outer and inner hulls. Fresh
supplies were sent up on December 31. On January 6, the engines started up and
with a gravity boost from Earth, the tour began their journey to the outer
planets.

On March 29, the tour ships entered into orbit around Mars
and remained in orbit for around a month, during which time each of the
passengers were given the chance to descend to Arestown and explore the large
domed city.

Near the end of the month, sixty-five of the tour
passengers, led by a Sir Walter Desmond, informed the leaders of the expedition
that they wished to live in Arestown. Twelve of these passengers included some
of the scientists on board. Most of the next month was spent in negotiations
between these hopeful new Martian colonists and the leaders of the tour, as the
former wished for the tour to relinquish some of the foodstuffs meant for the colonists.
Eventually a compromise was reached in which these tour passengers were granted
a spot on the newly constructed [[Phobos]] habitat which was manned currently by a
skeleton crew. On April 26, the ships left Mars orbit and headed to [[Jupiter]].
[[File:Tour (4).jpg|thumb|220x220px|Jupiter from Io. This picture was taken mere hours before the cave collapse on Io.]]

== Visit to Jupiter ==
The time it took for the journey between Mars and Jupiter
was by far the longest in the tour, lasting until October 31, 2123. Upon
entering orbit, each ship celebrated with a massive arrival/Halloween party.
The Tour remained at Jupiter for three months, taking the time to land on and
explore the Galilean moons.

On November 12, the ships entered orbit of [[Io]] and each sent
down landing parties. Two days later, disaster struck the tour once again when
a team exploring an extinct lava tube was buried during a large cave-in. Every
team member was saved, but one of them had to have their leg amputated due to
the irreversible damage caused by the cave-in. They were given a prosthetic leg
but they were not allowed to land on any other of the planetary bodies visited
throughout the tour for safety reasons.

On December 3, the colonists landed on [[Europa]] near the site
of first contact between the [[Kya]] and humanity. Some of the passengers were even
allowed to put on amphibious spacesuits and swam with the friendly Kya. Ten
days later, they left but not without one of the most famous human-alien
exchanges taking place, known today as the ''Kya Discussions'', written by
one of the tour passengers.

On December 23, each ship connected to one another, creating
a massive ship. The purpose of this was to boost morale among the passengers
with a large Christmas party which lasted from 0800 hours on December 24 to 2300
hours on December 25.

On January 19, 2124, a simultaneous landing took place. The ''Niña'',
''Pinta'', and ''Santa Maria'' each took up orbit around [[Ganymede]] while
the ''Columbus'' and ''Leif Erikson'' took up orbit around [[Callisto]] and
each ship landed on each planetary body. Five days later, the passengers
returned to their ships and began to prepare for departure.

On January 29, the passengers left Jupiter’s orbit.
[[File:Tour (5).jpg|left|thumb|220x220px|Titan as seen from orbit by the ''Santa Maria''.]]

== Visit to Saturn ==
On June 16, 2124, the fleet arrived in [[Saturn|Saturn's]] orbit. They
remained in the Saturnian system for two months.

During this time the fleet split up. The ''Niña'', ''Pinta'',
and ''Santa Maria'' took up orbit around Saturn’s moon [[Titan]] and established
a base on the planet not just for themselves but for others who would likely
follow.

The ''Columbus'' and ''Leif Erikson'' remained in Saturn’s
orbit, studying and capturing pieces of Saturn’s rings for further study. Many
pieces of the rings were brought in and used to add to the water supply of the
ships. They discovered evidence that life had once existed on Titan during its
earlier warmer days but had since gone extinct.
[[File:Tour (6).jpg|thumb|220x220px|A rare cloud break on Titan showed the tourists what Saturn looked like from the surface.]]
Each ship sent out probes which landed on the other major
bodies orbiting Saturn. One of the probes which landed on [[Enceladus]] sent back
unusual readings: vibrations from within the icy moon. The ''Leif Erikson'' sent
out a group of researchers to study Enceladus and attempt to determine the
source of the unusual vibrations. However, the researchers had a very little
window with which to study the moon It wasn’t until 2132 during the Project
Deepdive mission when the Enceladus Subsurface Ocean Explorer discovered the
source of the unusual vibrations to be the Cheli, small eel-like creatures
living in the subglacial ocean.

Another manned mission was sent to [[Mimas]] where those sent set down near Herschel Crater in order to study the moon and how it managed to keep its spherical shape.

The fleet left on August 2, 2124.
[[File:Tour (7).jpg|left|thumb|220x220px|Uranus as seen from one of the craters on Miranda. Taken by one of the passengers.]]

== Visit to Uranus ==
The trip to [[Uranus]] took over two years, but the fleet
eventually reached Uranus on December 21, 2126. The fleet then split up once
again, each setting up orbit around Uranus’ major moons and setting up a temporary
camp on each moon for the passengers to be able to explore the moons from them.

During their stay, the astrophysicists studied Uranus in an
attempt to learn more about its unusual orientation. During the three month
stay, they discovered evidence that Uranus was struck early in its history by a
smaller body, the remnants of which formed the ring system.

During the exploration of each of the moons, no evidence of
any life was discovered on any of the moons.

The fleet regrouped and left the Uranusian system on March
23, 2127.

== Visit to Neptune ==
The travel time to [[Neptune]] would have taken much longer had the
passengers not petitioned for the nuclear engines to be burned for a month
longer. This caused the journey to Neptune to be shortened by two years. The
vessels arrived in Neptunian orbit on November 11, 2130.
[[File:Tour (8).jpg|thumb|220x220px|View of Neptune from Triton. Proteus can be seen passing between Triton and Neptune. This picture was taken a week before the Neptune Mutiny. Visitors described the moon as being "...in perpetual twilight."]]
The fleet set up in orbit around [[Triton]] and set up a base
camp on the surface, meaning to allow everyone to land on the surface and each person
on the tour vessels spending a week on the surface. The tour stayed in the
Neptunian system for three months, studying and visiting the planet and its
major and minor moons, taking samples and in some cases souvenirs. The
biologists discovered no evidence of life, past or present, on Triton.

Two months in, there was a major mutiny on the ''Leif Erikson. ''The majority of the passengers on board were demanding that the
ship be turned around and head home as quickly as possible. Now known as the
[[Neptune Mutiny]], this miniature war on the ship caused the deaths of fifty-seven
passengers. Unfortunately, this mutiny orphaned at least ten children. Order
was reestablished about two weeks after the mutiny began and the children were
adopted by couples on the other tour ships. A week was set aside for the mourning
of the dead as well as a mass funeral service.

When the three months were up, the fleet aimed towards the
inner Sol System and activated the nuclear drive for the final time, leaving
the Neptunian system on March 19, 2131.

== Return to Earth ==
The return journey to Earth took a total of over eleven
years. On May 2, 2142, the Tour officially ended, bringing back the remaining passengers
along with the forty-one children born on the Tour.

== Legacy ==
The tour vessels were placed together for the last time on June 1, 2142 and then each section was fused shut. The Sol System Tour Station became one of
Earth’s most famous Lagrange Point habitats as well as a museum.

The SST Station has been maintained in Earth orbit ever
since its return and fusing. Some of the inhabitants on the station claim that
their roots can be traced back to the Tour Families that formed during the
legendary exploration of the system.
[[Category:History]]
[[Category:Sol System]]
[[Category:Via Lactea]]

Latest revision as of 20:12, March 6, 2025

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