The Great Pendulum was originally commissioned by the United Authority of the Earth, Luna and Europa in the year 2935 as a means to test 'scooping' gas out of the Terrible Titan Jupiter to fuel long term space voyages. Using the Jovian gravity to pull the pendulum down and out of it's grasp would save energy and ensure better monitoring capabilities from the Lagrangian pivot point set impossible far away - but physically tethered to the Pendulum itself.
By 2940, exploits in quantum gravity discoveries helped to lead, laterally, to the discovery of the dark energy drive - allowing enclosed vehicles to bypass the speed of light by riding the wave of expanding space, pulling and pushing them to their interstellar destinations at a mind bending pace. The Great Pendulum was now going to be a one-off, exploration mission. It didn't take long for the main Pendulum to be re-engineered from the 'ground' up to include one pilot. Man was going to visit Jupiter's Great Red Eye in person in 2953.
The main cockpit, officially called the Science Module, was set 100 meters from the front of the vessel, with layers of water shielding and a nuclear centrifuge (to power the G-Suppressor, which was designed to divert some of the g-forces away from the pilot) and 100 meters of precisely cut CarbonCompress to allow for clear, crisp view through the front and rear should any exterior cameras fail.
As the great lattice pressure cage encloses the Science Module, Cosmonaut Shem Aglig completes his third and final round of system checks before the countdown to release commences, and he becomes to second man to ever breach the Jovian atmosphere.
Epic! Of course, I can't think of a pendulum without thinking of Edgar Allan Poe ...
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