Daedalus LEO: SWIC Drop from Low Earth Orbit

At risk is the future of American special warfare operations. Will Baily's risky adventure be the birth of something entirely new, or yet another failed blue-sky concept ending in cinders?
 
"Those who are the first to enter a new frontier incur a great risk. Numbers are not enough. Planning is not enough. Safeguards are not enough. As Derek says, 'until we actually made the first drop, all we had were numbers that we hoped made sense.' You have to constantly be prepared for the unexpected, for times 'when all hell breaks loose!' This is a great adventure, even better than the first, and I'm glad I was along for the ride."—Professor John B. Rosenman, Norfolk State University
 
The new armor-plated Gryphon-10 is ready to launch, and Derek "Tiger" Baily will test-fly it from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) for the first time, more than double the Gryphon-7's best drop. Orbital re-entry in nothing more than a wingsuit carries extreme risks, yet Tiger and his team must rely on the numbers—and their own practical know-how—as they plan for the worst and hope for the best. Ride along with Tiger as he's catapulted into space by Slingshot, then dropped from a record-obliterating 160 klicks. Strap in for a story that flies like the Gryphon-10.

Robert Williscroft has done it again. The idea of jumping from orbit using little more than a spacesuit and a re-entry pack goes back at least to Heinlein’s Starship Troopers, and I’ve used it myself, but Williscroft puts a new twist on it as “Tiger” Baily makes the jump in Daedalus LEO. A great tale, with his usual attention to detail.
– Alastair Mayer
Author of The T-Space Series

 

 

“Daedalus LEOis about the unimaginable, yet somehow, Robert Williscroft not only imagined it but made it real—and breathtakingly thrilling. The idea of a human being deliberately placing himself in low earth orbit to carry out a proof of concept mission is an image as fresh, and yet disturbing, as they come. Mind you, Derek ‘Tiger’ Baily is an extraordinary human, and this is no ordinary story. At risk is the future of American special warfare operations. Will Baily’s risky adventure be the birth of something entirely new, or yet another failed blue-sky concept ending in cinders?
– Dr. John R. Clarke
Author of The Jason Parker Series