In the northwest coast, while the astronauts carry out the final preparations
for the launch of Friday of the spaceship in orbit 'Antares'
from there to Venus and beyond.
Today, they had their final medical examination
and now, they pose for the official portrait in mission control
The next few days, the crew will be devoted
to say goodbye to Earth and to their friends...
Which one are you?
I am not on this one.
... in this difficult, 6 years long, historical mission...
Which one are you?
Pap, I am not on the mission!
OK? I didn't make on this one.
I know that.
Mars...
My old man calls space travel a fools game.
He says human beings are 60% water. They eat, sleep, defecate,
can't follow directions, and explode like pinatas
when exposed to the vacuum in space.
Lately...
I've been wondering if he is right.
Are you OK? Calliope, do you read?
Mars - 2042 10 years Earlier
Sharon, we got to keep moving. We have to get out of this.
Calliope, this is Zeus. This storm is on the rise.
You need to get off the planet. Zeus, they are 100m from us.
Let me go out, I can lead them in.
Negative. Do not leave the Lander.
Climate parameters are on minimum.
30 seconds. Come on, guys! 70 meters, we can hold.
Zeus, we are holding on 25. Climate parameters are on minimum.
Calliope, I am taking your lunch controls.
Donner?
Climate parameters are on minimum.
Donner, did you close that valve?
- Just give them two minutes, Mike. - We don't have two minutes.
You will die, the mission will fail.
I want that lander off the planet now!
Donner?
Sharon? Donner, we launch!
Climate parameters are on minimum. Sharon?
- Donner? - Open the damn valve, Donner!
Launch now.
- Launch now. - God, forgive me.
10, 9, 8, 7, 6...
5, 4, 3...
2, 1, 0!
Oh, my God, Paula, you're still looking a little dry there.
Don't you dare!
I am sorry, Paula! You will have years to forgive me.
Remember that feeling?
Oh, yeah. Best day of my life.
Everything seems funny, it all looks good.
Yeah, it all looked good.
Yes, it did.
How do you do this all the time. This one is particularly disgusting.
Oh man, you're such a geek, you make me look cool.
Oh, I'm so looking forward to this honeymoon.
Good, because we couldn't afford Niagara Falls.
You are so cheap!
- Congratulations, Commander. - Thank you, sir.
If you call me "Mrs. Commander", I'm gonna give you a fat lip, sir.
Relax, Jen. Tonight I'm just the towel boy.
Rollie, listen, I scheduled one more media interview for you tomorrow at 14:30h.
How long did they meet today?
- Goss and Rollie? - Yes.
Three hours.
You are substitute commander,
aren't you suppose to be present for all briefings?
Well, I wasn't invited.
Huh, well maybe you need to talk to your wife about that.
Don't even go there.
That's what you get for marrying the boss.
Welcome to the agency's training facility.
This is Mission Control.
5 years earlier. The fly of Antares will be the most ambitious mission in history
As astronaut candidates, you will be competing not only with yourselves,
but with many of your instructors.
Thats Shaw and Donner. They were the two on the Mars mission.
I don't believe that there is anyone on this program
who doesn't want to be on that crew.
Your training will involve everything from
flight systems to launch survival.
Make no mistakes, we are gonna challenge you.
Physically, emotionally, intellectually.
In the end, less of one third of you are gonna make it to the final year.
You know him?
- Who? - And we're gonna become fast balls...
- Donner. 'Cause sure looks like he knows you. - ..from the get go. No easy pitches.
Despite what it...
- No, he doesn't. - ...says on your brief sheet...
...this will not be a soft day of orientation.
- He's smiling at you, smile back. - Jen...
- Come on, don't be such a tight ass. - No!
Excellent. Candidate Barnes has volunteered to be
in the first centrifuge group.
Oh, no! Whats this?
This is the 'Bucket'. It's an award.
You are first one on your class to heave.
And everybody is going to get one... or two.
Five, you wash out.
Hey, wanna met me at Mayor Tom's? I can give you some tips.
You can not be serious.
What? I am being nice. I am being serious and I am being nice.
What's wrong with being serious and nice?
You have to lighten up, bro.
So light, I am floating.
- He was making a pass at you. - He's not my type.
What? The smart, good-looking, American hero type?
- He left two people on Mars. - Okay, fine.
The tragic American hero. Even better.
Oh, you're not gay, are you?
No, I'm a geologist who wants to...
travel to another planet without unnecessary complications.
Right.
- Space nun. - A what?
A space nun or she's gay.
- Nah, she is not gay. - First-hand knows?
I don't do astronauts, Rollie. You know that.
Yeah, well, you may wanna reconsider.
Ehm.
What?
My place, now!
- Really? - Mhm.
We have six years screwing to do in one night...
- ... and I don't wanna miss one minute. - Whoa, let's... Ah!
Woman, damn you bite hard!
The door will be unlocked. I'll be in the bedroom.
- Did she mark you again? - Yeah.
Yeah, she did.
That thing it's a German thing. Deutsch Mark.
So, my mother is saying the Mercury is retrograde...
and we shouldn't launch... at all.
Well, listen to your mother on that, definitely.
I try not to. It's hard to stop.
Yeah...
I always thought out of the two of us you'd be the one flying.
So did I.
Sorry... It's no offense.
None taken.
- Hey, you seein' cows on Venus... - You'll be the first to know.
Zoe. Picture.
Have a good time.
The flight of Antares.
Six years, seven planets and eight astronauts.
A grand tour of the solar system.
The most ambitious exploration in the history of mankind.
Today is the day! But, why manned mission?
Why send man prone to mistakes, when probes and rovers can do the job?
This is six years mission, to seven planets. It's far too complex.
Would you call the last manned mission to Mars a success?
Three of us came back. We'd all say yes.
Despite deserting two astronauts on the planet's surface?
We knew what risks were 10 years ago...
And these people know that the risks are now.
Do they? Seems to me that, aside from your mission commander, this is very green crew.
I know there this is going. Let him handle it, Donner.
This crew is picked for its skills and compatibility.
But, clearly not its experience.
I'll say, you are fishing, Trevor.
Well, then I'll be more specific.
I think we in the press were surprised
when Donner and Shaw weren't selected.
Did it surprise you guys?
They are alternates.
But, why? Does it have something to do with what happened on Mars?
Man just said that it didn't. But that's not what I've heard.
Well, you hear what you wanna hear.
The truth would be nice for once.
Cockpit recorder conveniently pixelated before launch...
There's been no public record.
Why haven't the cockpit transcripts be-...
OK, its pretty simple. We had a storm. We had to launch, so we did.
But, did you have to.. did you have to launch?
Or did you and Shaw panick and blow out of there, to save your own skin. It's a simple...
Hey, c'mon now! What's the matter with you?
Whoa, whoa!
Donner, get off.
What kind of a stumped dumb cowboy are you?
You attack British television on launch day during an interview?!
- They attacked me, Mike. - And you jumped back!
It's not your job to handle it, Donner. It's not your job to talk about Mars.
And it's definitely not your job to question my judgment.
Your job is to back up Ajay, and make sure that that ship is running properly.
Yea, I know what my job is.
Do ya? It's not going to be your job for much longer.
Because as soon as I can bring someone else up to speed
I'm having you discharged from the program.
Now, get out there and say goodbye to the crew.
our collection is in the Vid bank, all 369 hours of it...
Dude!
But you have to crack the code first. Satan!
Vodka on launch day?
You're at least a 1.2.
Then ground me, Claire. Why are you letting me go.
Because there is nothing to drink up there, Evram.
I'm saving your life.
Wassenfelder and I thought you rocked.
Well, I guess Goss didn't.
One more reason I got the suite, you got the sweater.
Goss knows that there is no way I can do this without you.
You, me, that ship, we're a three-way, Donner.
- Team. - Yes.
Trio. That's... three-way is different.
We are each essential.
Okay.
You can not blame yourself for not being chosen for this mission.
Clearly, you're part is here on Earth.
Yeah, okay. Okay, okay.
I've always been one of those people who
believes that you create your own destiny.
And through few bad decisions, I've certainly made mine.
But, as much as I believe in self-determination,
there are those who simply do not.
It's that kind of thinking that makes me nervous.
Because being an astronaut is all about control.
From the walk to the launch pad to the final touchdown.
You don't want surprises.
10... 9... 8...
It's not about fate.
Is anyone aware that Mercury in retrograde?
- 5... 4... - It's about planning.
- We have tower seperation. - 2...
And ignition...
And lift off.
First step on Antares voyage to the planets.
In space there is simply no room for error.
How many of them do you think would have gone if we had told them.
That's a weak-minded question, Eve.
But the answer is all of them.
Every single one.
Thank you, I will be able to sleep tonight.
Godspeed, Horizon 2! Godspeed!
T minus 120 to burn. M.F.B. is 'go'.
Hydrogen go. Deuterium sequence is holding.
Donner, where are you on the thrusters?
I am making progress. Do not stop the sequence.
Ted, do you copy me?
Continue the sequence.
Stabilizer set to 140. Positioning thrusters are at 797.
Oh my God, she's out.
Ted, I got Zoe out in the airlock.
She is in airlock 4. Do you copy?
How the hell did she get out?
Maddux?
Zoe, please. Don't.
Somebody get down here. Stop her.
Ted, do you copy?
OUTER DOOR OPEN
Zoe!
What's the status?
Off watch crew is in their quarters.
EECOM is working on a small vent leak.
It's no biggie, though. We should go home.
Get some rest. Yea.
Well, they playin' that every hour.
We are not getting away from it, are we?
Mars is just gonna haunt us till the day we die.
The headline in our obits (obituaries).
You are a Buddhist, right?
Raised as one.
Where do you guys come down on fate? Fate?
Yea. Predestiny, feeling that the future...
and what happens is somehow out of your control.
I don't believe that, and neither did Buddha.
It's garbage, right? Through and through.
Alright.
So, this is night 1 of day 1
And we're still in near Earth orbit.
They want us to talk about anything. About how we feel.
I am so proud to be the engineer on this ship.
She is my path, my responsibility.
This voyage with her, my karma.
I am filled with awe, and indescribable joy...
I know, you guys are monitoring this.
I mean, you tell us it's private, but seriously?
So, I'm going to pull my pants down.
It feels strange not to be sleeping with Rollie, but...
it's bein' for crew morale, I guess.
I mean, we were in celibate for 3 months
during crew orientation last year, so...
we're OK with it, I'd... I guess
- Hey baby. - Hi baby.
Turn the camera off.
And mother, if I ever let you see this...
it was a perfect launch, a flawless docking and the ship is in an incredible shape, so....
... so much for your horoscope.
You're pregnant?
Well, I'm puking in the morning, I'm puking at night, so...
You're the biologist, tell me. This is a.. a urin sample.
I dribbled a little. Sorry.
Oh, you're serious.
You know, they used to sell tests in the drug store.
Yeah. Not looking for a history lesson,
and if I go to my gyno, the program will know.
So, you are not a space nun.
I'm now. Who is the father?
Don't ask, won't tell.
And you did it without protection.
He was drunk, was sweet, had a vasectomy.
Please, don't make me feel any more stupid.
If you are pregnant, what the hell are you gonna do ?
Zoe...
Are you OK? You were just standing there.
Did you just hear something?
Hear something? Like what?
I don't know.
High pitched. Like crying.
Ummm... No.
It's probably just the rotator arm cricking.
Right.
I am sure that's what it was.
Hi, students! Welcome to Antares.
Live from flight deck of Antares.
This is our first broadcast from space. And I am going to give you a little tour.
Anybody mind if I change the channel.
At the moment we are on the fight deck. This where we control the ship.
Mission commander Rollie Crane and pilot Nadia Schilling
are programing the injection burn, that will send us on our way to Venus.
Flight, this is Surgeon. This is Flight.
Got a couple of weird EKG from Rollie and Ajay.
They are similar, so it's probably a glitch.
I am gonna have Evram adjust their med-patches. Just advising.
(FDO) Fido, what's the max time that we have left in orbit? *(FDO - Fido - Flight Dynamics Officer)*
We need the Venus burn in 30 hours and 16 minutes.
Its a pretty hard window.
You seriously didn't heard anything strange last night?
Strange? No.
It was a rotator arm.
Than that's your story, and you stick to it, OK?
Yeah.
I don't know. I haven't been sleeping much. Weird dreams.
Some things are in zero gravity and some things are not.
Well, our grav-suites contain nanofibers
that pull us towards the deck electromagnetically.
But anything without the nanotechnology, like Jen's tomatoes... will float.
Neat, huh?
Ajay, we need to check your med-patch.
Is there a problem, Evram?
I think it's just an adjustment.
Sorry Paula.
Thanks for your help.
Well, students...
What's happenin' with that?
Rollie and Ajay have a glitch in their med-patch.
Trying to get cleaner read.
That's not cleaning up anything, Ev.
Now?
Negative.
Could you relay that this is complete waste of time and I got work to do?
Why don't they try a couple of new ones?
Ev, try a couple of new patches might be the contact points.
Copy that.
Ah, our favorite place. The observation deck.
Where we look at our amazing universe,
and watch movies and youtube from our databank.
Anyone of our vista panes become screens.
And this is our physicist. Steven Wassenfelder.
Looks like he's doing something very complicated.
Can you tell us what you're doing, Steven?
- You probably don't wanna know. - Oh, come on.
Don't be so condescending. Tell us.
Well, actually I'm trying to crack a 512 bit encryption code...
to get to the .. porn,
that my friend loaded into the bank for me.
Arnel always finds the dirtiest stuff.
- What's the delay on air? - 30 seconds.
Then you've got 20 to put a lid on it.
- And Ted? - Sir?
Let's give our boy genius a spanking.
Okay, you see that lip here, between the S1 wave and the S2?
It's a mid-systolic ejection murmur.
And both of them have it? I't impossible.
These are the old patches. Let's see what the new ones say.
No, these are the new ones.
We're gonna have to do heart scan before I can clear either one of them for flight.
It's just not possible for both of them to come down with heart murmurs.
It has to be an equipment error.
Yeah, it has to be, right?
And you said that Mercury is in retrograde,
so maybe this is a Mercury in retrograde thing.
Please, don't encourage my mother.
In a strange way your mom is kinda right. I mean,
we're hopelessly dependent on planet alignment.
We've got like 28 hours...
to leave the orbit or we're screwed,
and the next launch to leave this place is in six years.
- Then we have to use Ajay and Rollie - Actually, no.
I'm not following.
Then you didn't read the latest flight schedule.
There's a service pod headed for the space station tomorrow morning
And Ajay and Rollie's alternates could possibly be on it.
- Hello Ted. Hello Donner. - Don't you dare go there.
But six years alone up here with your old boyfriends.
This is calcified plague. Here, here... and here.
t's on their aortic valves which is causing this synosis.
Now, I don't know how it got there or why it wasn't there three days ago...
but I've checked their results five times and it's real
The odds of this... of two men at the same time...
Off the chart.
Okay Claire, put a med team on it.
Check for everything: diet, environment, viruses...
And run a detailed analysis of every crew member's genome.
We have to find out what's causing this.
I can't clear these men for space travel.
I think we got that.
You're excused.
I will tell Vandenburg to get the pod ready.
I want a few minutes.
You don't need more time, Mike.
You know damn well what's causing this. And they're going.
This is our mission.
I am not gonna let that thing dictate anymore of the crew.
- Wassenfelder were bad enough. - We don't have a choice.
- Do you think for one moment I wanna send my husband? - Well, that makes two of us.
And Donner for about a hundred reasons.
And who's to say this thing is not gonna give them heart murmurs?
Well, there are no guarantees, Mike. None.
We're in uncharted territory here.
But this seems to be what it wants.
Whether you wanna face it or not...
it has to say a lot more in this mission than we do.
Remember last night I asked you about fate?
Told you I don't believe in fate. I'm a Buddhist.
Yeah. I didn't tell you something. I'm having a dream about this mission.
And...
You and I are both on it.
You both are gonna need immidiate physicals.
You have tonight to get your personal things in order...
and launch in the service pod tomorrow morning.
Reported to medical now?
- Yes, Donner, leave us. - Roger that.
This wasn't supposed to happen.
Ted, you have no idea.
We need to see the new mission commander upstairs.
Clean bill of health, but the pants stay off.
- Sorry? - You need your vasectomy, Donner.
I don't understand.
Your sterilization. It's painless.
Yeah, actually, it's not. I had it done when I got back from Mars.
Well, yeah, um. According to your chart you did, but not according to your scan.
When were you gonna tell everybody else?
43 days...
When you get to Venus.
I always believed that this was my mission,
my ship,
that I was traveling on the path that Ganesha wanted for me. That this ...
out here...
were where my challenges and obstacles lay.
I feel so lost now.
I cannot understand this.
I cannot.
Who needs this path more than I?
Pap, I'm going on a mission.
It's six years, and... I don't know if you're gonna be here when I come back.
You had the sweetest slider I ever saw.
Fastball, change up,
monster curve.
You had all the tools.
I want something else, Pap.
Pour me another before you leave.
Maybe I can request a replacement.
I can come back on the pod.
No, there is no time for that.
Jen, forgive me.
I want you to know that I was gonna be there with you.
You'll be there with me.
Yeah.
What?
For everything.
Just remember how much I love you.
Okay?
Show me.
Let's kill the flight, no deck cameras.
Give the mission commander some privacy with his wife.
The way I see it, they're lucky.
You can't call an ambulance on the surface of Mars.
You realize this all points to a common cause. I mean...
there is no way it occured randomly. It could be...
viral, environmental, something they were eating...
we were eating.
They're looking in everything.
Claire's gonna be monitoring us all very closely.
Did you hear that?
What?
That.
No.
It's the... the rotator arm.
I'm gonna go check on Ajay.
Oh, tell him I got the porno up and running...
so he can pop his HALO off and just enjoy.
Zoe Barnes?
I am Ajay Sharma.
Hi, Ajay. Hi.
It's a good thing that you won the bucket.
- I am not so sure about that. - No...
Upchucking is an obstacle we all must face eventually...
and you were just fortunate enough to face it first.
Ah, I...
Ajay, scram. Girl talk.
Oh, um. Okay, another time .. then.
Can I get a vodka cran, please?
Somebody's got a boyfriend.
That's vodka, drink up.
Thank God, I'm not pregnant.
Oh, no. No, you are pregnant.
You're just not gonna have a baby.
Last time I looked it was the law.
It's a stupid law.
You know, a couple of justices and it'll be reversed.
- Zoe, you have more than one option here. - I don't know.
There over a thousand qualified applicants for your slot alone.
I mean, getting into this program was winning the lottery.
Believe me, I know. I know.
Okay, so you can not give it up for a one-night-stand.
I mean, you just can't.
I know of a guy. He's a doctor.
When you're ready, just give me a word.
I need some air.
- Zoe. Hey... - Not now.
Dude, you don't stand a chance.
Ajay?
Mission Control, this is Antares.
Antares, this is Control. Do we have permission to put up the cameras?
You do indeed, Mission Control. And... thank you for your discretion.
Yeah, well, we didn't want that to end up in Wassenfelder's vid bank.
Eh, listen Rollie, we just had the cameras and operation controls
for the airlock corridors go offline.
We can't seem to get them back up.
Yeah, we're seeing that too. I get Ajay down here to look at it.
Actually, I think Ajay is the problem.
I just saw him enter the airlock corridor.
I tried to follow, but he locked me out.
Flight, I'm showing NUVA and
MMU pack up and running.
Dammit, he's going for a walk.
How soon can we override his instructions?
We're working on it. Give us five minutes.
If he's in that suit, we don't have five minutes.
Where the hell is Donner?
On his way in.
- What's the time to Venus burn? - Six hours, nine minutes.
Ajay's heartbeat and BP are spiking.
Antaris, this is control. Have you made contact?
Negative, control.
Rollie is running through the channels.
Looks like his com is off.
This guy tested the most stable in the entire program.
Does anyone know if Hindus commit suicide.
No, they don't. At least I don't think they do.
- Let me talk to him. - He has turned his com off.
Well, that's not good.
- He's moving away from the ship. - Don't do that, Ajay.
Space travel is a fool's game.
Human beings are 60 percent water.
We sleep, eat, defecate,
can't follow directions,
and we explode like pinatas when exposed to the vacuum in space.
What's he doing.
Putting himself in orbit.
Oh, Ajay.
Wherever he's going, I hope he makes it.
Flight, we've just been able to override his programing. We now have control over the airlocks.
I'll go out.
I can go out and get him.
We wanna go out and get him. Do you copy?
Yeah, let her go.
Mike, let her go.
Negative.
I'll eat the loss of an EVA suit.
I can't afford losing another crew member.
You and Shaw ship out in two hours.
Get your ass in gear.
- That's it? - That's what?
You're just gonna let him die?
I got six hours to launch a ten trillion dollar mission on his way to Venus
I don't have time for Ajay and his silly little mealtdown.
And I sure as hell don't have time for you.
Don't piss me off now, Donner. Not now.
As soon as I get back, I quit.
Arnel, how much time does he have got left in that suit. Eight hours?
Give or take.
My old man is right about every single item. Except the initial premiss.
Man belongs in space because of exactly what he brings into the void.
We carry the baggage of our past,
our fears, our superstitions, our failings.
Mercury went direct two hours ago.
It's too late for Ajay.
No, it isn't.
But we also carry our hopes and our dreams...
the hard lessons learned from our lives.
Donner, Shaw, you dock your craft on the Antares right now.
Um, negative, Flight. Unless you can override these controls,
I think we're gonna take a little detour.
They are on 41.
Hell of a view out there, eh?
Ganesha and I have been enjoying it very much.
Ganesha?
He is the Lord of obstacles.
But, he is also the Lord of new beginnings.
All right. You wanna hitch your ride back in and start something new?
This is my path, Donner.
Right here.
On the way to Venus.
Correct me if I am wrong here, Ajay, but if you stay out here
doesn't that mean that you have to start all over on the next life time?
Now, I mean... I am no expert
But you are the one that was always telling me that...
each of us has a lesson to learn, and obstacles to overcome.
So, maybe this is your big one, you know?
Maybe you overcome this and you take big step toward to Nirvana.
You don't understand.
Wait, wait, wait... Wait a second.
You think that I don't understand?
I think I do.
My path is here on this ship, with these people.
Your path is back on Earth, Ajay.
But, you know what? We can't do it alone.
You, me, the ship, we're a three-way.
We need each other.
For all our faults, whether we're guided by our destiny, or we got it ourselves,
we are resilient, we can adapt.
There is something I must do first.
Yeah.
Wooh.
We can find redemption in the simplest acts of humanity.
I never heard of robot or a probe that was able to do that.
So...
If space travel are a fools game, than...
Aaaa... Thats what I am. So, be it.
But, I never felt more alive,
or more human.
Antares, you are 'Go' for Venus, in five...
4, 3, 2, 1.
Ignition!
by Dobrivoje, Siban and friends
from www.addic7ed.com