Matuchek At NASA

(I cannot find many cover images for Poul Anderson's Operation Luna so maybe we can advertise another work with the same title. See Journey Into Space.)

Nornwell Scryotronics, located in the Midwest, had been Steve Matuchek's employers in the concluding part of Operation Chaos and have now seconded him, as an engineer, to Cardinal Point where:

there is a large domed VAB;

instead of a rocket with a launch pad, there is a flying horse with a "...launch paddock..." (p. 6);

Many human beings and also paranatural "Beings" (p. 4) have come to watch a launch.