It was the next day down on Earth at Space Camp.
A parked Space Camp bus was near the front entrance.
All the kids sat on the bus. They wore "We Are Space Camp Cadets" T-shirts for their field trip to a real launchpad.
Todd and Ricky sat at the back of the bus. The other kids were excited as they bounced from seat to seat, jumped up and down, and talked. It was utter chaos!
Cindy and Jack got on the bus.
Jack sat down in the seat behind the driver.
Cindy stood next to the driver and tried to count heads. The kids moved around so much that Cindy lost count. She tried again. The kids ran from seat to seat and jumped up and down. She lost count again, and she started over. She gave up counting and sat down next to Jack.
The driver drove the bus away.
Ten minutes had passed at the Kennedy Space Center. The bus drove down the road to the launch pad. Some of the kids stuck their heads out the bus windows. They caught a glimpse of a twelve-foot alligator lounging on the bank of the canal alongside the road.
The bus got waved through the security check and made its way into the launch pad.
At the surface of the launch pad, the bus drove to the surface of the launch pad.
The bus doors opened, and the kids ran out all excited. Cindy and Jack rushed out, and it was like corralling cattle to keep the kids together.
They met their male NASA Tour Guide at the elevators at the base of the launch tower.
Ten minutes had passed. At the launch tower, Jack, Cindy, and the NASA Tour Guide had the kids on the 400 Foot Level of the launch tower. They looked exhausted, and Cindy's hair was a total mess.
The kids ran around the 400-foot level of the launch tower, looking it over.
"Kids!" the NASA Tour Guide yelled out and wanted to punch Richard for allowing this tour.
The kids stopped where they were and looked at the Tour Guide.
"Okay, please follow me," the NASA Tour Guide said. He walked them down the level to the entrance to the White Room gantry.
"This gantry leads to the White Room. This is where the astronauts climb inside the capsule of the Magellan," said the NASA Tour Guide.
Todd and Ricky stood by the railing that looked at the gangway leading to the Magellan capsule. Todd still looked depressed over his past failures.
All the kids looked down at the gantry.
They ran off and were more interested in the view of the ocean from the other side of the level.
Rusty and Howie walked down the gantry from the White Room.
"Let's call the firing room. The capsule's ready," Rusty said while they exited the gantry and walked past the boys.
Todd and Ricky continued to stare at the entrance to the gantry that led to the White Room.
Ricky looked at Rusty and Howie while they walked to the elevators. He saw their classmates, Cindy, Jack, and the NASA Tour Guide walking to the other side of the level.
Rusty and Howie entered the elevator. The doors closed, and they headed down to the pad surface.
Ricky and Todd were all alone on this side of the level. Their classmates, Cindy, Jack, and the NASA Tour Guide, were out of sight on the other side of the level.
Ricky looked at Todd's depressed stare down at the gantry.
"I'll never be an astronaut," Todd said as he thought his life was over.
Ricky's eyes lit up with an idea. He looked down the gantry and then verified that nobody was in sight. He leaned over to Todd. "I know what will cheer you up!" he told Todd.
"Nothing can ever cheer me up," Todd said.
"Come on, follow me," Ricky said. Then he grabbed Todd's arm and rushed him down the gantry.
They rushed down the gantry and entered the White Room. They stood and saw the opening into the capsule.
Ricky rushed up to the opening and stuck his head inside the capsule.
He looked back at Todd. "The coast is clear. Let's take a quick peek inside," Ricky offered.
Todd looked around, and they were alone. He smiled and appeared happy for the first time since he started Space Camp. He couldn't resist this opportunity to see the inside of an actual space capsule.
Ricky and Todd crawled through the hatch and entered the capsule.
Inside the Magellan capsule, they stood up and looked around in awe at the sight of an actual space capsule.
The smile grew larger on Todd's face. He saw the three seats ready for the astronauts. He saw hundreds of gauges, buttons, switches, and three computer screens.
Ricky and Todd both looked at each other and then had the same idea. They got huge grins on their faces and rushed over, and each sat down in an astronaut's seat.
"Launch sequence commencing countdown. Get ready to fire the engines," Todd commanded with authority.
"Roger that, commander Todd," Ricky barked back.
Todd reached up and pretended to flip a switch and turned some knobs.
"Are the propellant tanks full of fuel?" Todd asked.
Ricky looked at some gages. "Yes. The rocket is full of fuel and ready to launch," he said.
"Okay, let's start the countdown sequence," Todd replied. "Ground control to Major Todd," he sang out to the Rocket Man song.
Todd and Ricky both sang out lyrics to Rocket Man. They stopped singing.
"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six," Todd and Ricky called out.
"Come on, I'll only take a second," Rusty called out from inside the White Room.
Ricky and Todd's eyes widened with fear at the sight of Rusty's voice. They looked around for a place to escape or hide. They both saw the cabinet door with slits cracked open.
They rushed out of their seats and ran over to the cabinet. Todd opened the door, and they crawled inside the cabinet. Todd closed the door but left it cracked open.
It's dark inside the cabinet. The door opening and slits provided some light. But not much.
"We'll go to jail if they catch us," Todd whispered to Ricky.
"That's what I thought," Rusty said outside the storage cabinet.
The cabinet door slammed shut on Todd. He was able to pull his fingers away in time. Rusty locked the door. The slits in the door provided some light, but not much.
"You goof. I thought you said you locked it?" Howie scolded Rusty.
"I know. I forgot," said Rusty.
Todd and Ricky heard Rusty and Howie leave the capsule.
"Now what?" Ricky asked.
"Let's see if we can unlock the door from inside. Do you have your flashlight?" Todd replied.
Ricky reached in his pocket and removed a small flashlight. He turned it on.
"Look for a screwdriver or something we can pry it open with," Todd said.
Ricky shined the flashlight around the cabinet.
He illuminated R1D1. Todd and Ricky saw the robot and screamed, thinking it was an alien. They calmed down.
They got curious, reached out, and touched it.
"Cool!" Ricky said.
"I wish this robot could help us," Todd said.
Todd and Ricky looked worried while leaning their heads against the cabinet wall. They pondered a way out of this mess.
Down at the pad surface of the launch pad, Cindy and Jack corralled all the kids back on the bus. The kids were still excited. They bounced from seat to seat and talked and sang songs.
From the front of the bus, Cindy looked exhausted! She counted heads and lost count since the kids bounced all over the bus. She tried again, and she lost count again. She threw her hands up in the air in frustration and sat down next to Jack behind the driver.
The driver started the bus and drove away.
It was nighttime in a galaxy far, far away on the planet Stardonia. The sky had thousands of stars. One of those twinkling stars was Earth.
Senior Space Knight Tockka stood outside a hangar in the flight line at the military base.
He watched while a hover tug craft was bringing out a rescue spaceship. The rescue ship looked like a tow truck. It had a boom with a hook at the end stowed inside the ship. On the side of the spaceship was the "Spacecraft Tow Ship" logo.
Medium grade Space Knight Biggka had orange hair. Junior Grade Space Knight Redka, with lime green hair. They walked up to Tockka in purple flight suits.
They saluted Tockka, who saluted back.
The hover tug craft freed itself from the rescue ship. It hovered back inside the hanger. It parked with other Stardonia spaceships and waited for their next mission.
“Okay, Knights, Junior Grade Space Knight Scoota is somewhere around Earth's orbit. Go bring him back," he ordered.
Biggka and Redka saluted and marched over to their rescue ship, and they got inside.
The engines to the rescue ship fired, and Tockka moved back inside the hangar.
The rescue ship hovered away from the hangar then it zoomed off into the night sky.
It was the middle of the night at the Kennedy Space Center.
The engineers worked at their consoles in the Launch Center firing room called Shuttle 1. They loaded the Magellan 5 rocket with cold liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen.
The countdown was smooth, and the launch team was not working on any technical issues. They were happy this was a flawless launch count so far.
The tanks were in stable replenish mode, and it was safe for the astronauts to head out to the launch pad.
The test team didn't have a clue about the two young stowaways on board the capsule.
Inside the Magellan capsule, it was dark inside the storage cabinet.
Ricky's flashlight was dim, and they both fell asleep and were hungry. They slept through the propellant tanks' creaks, gurgles, and hisses. Plus, the noise of the closeout crew technicians preparing the capsule.
At the launch pad, the Astrovan drove up to the road to the pad surface with its security escort.
A NASA Blackhawk helicopter circled four hundred feet above the van. Its mission was to ensure the astronauts arrived safely at the launch pad.
In their orange flight suits, astronauts Jake, Lance, and Clint stepped out of the Astrovan. They walked around the pad surface and looked up at the Magellan rocket that was ready for launch.
"Isn't she sight of beauty?" Lance asked his buddy astronauts.
"She sure is," Jake said.
"I can't wait to ride her and save Earth," Clint added.
They walked over to the elevator at the base of the launch tower.
The astronauts rode the elevator up to the 400 Foot Level.
Upon the launch tower, Clint, Jake, and Lance exited the elevator and walked down the gantry to the White Room. They entered the White Room.
Jake, Lance, and Clint received final preparations by the closeout crew technicians.
Jake, Lance, and Clint were ready.
"Go save Earth," one of the closeout crew technicians said.
"We will," said Clint, then all the astronauts shook hands with the technicians.
Clint went through the hatch first and entered the capsule.
Ten minutes later, Jake went through the hatch and entered the capsule.
Ten minutes later, Lance went through the hatch and entered the capsule.
Inside the Magellan capsule, Jake, Lance, and Clint were all situated in their seats.
The closeout crew technicians crawled through the hatchback into the White Room.
Ten minutes later, the hatched was closed and locked.
After a communications check, the Astronauts started their preparations for launch. They followed directions from the firing room test team on the communications net.
In the dorm room at Space Camp, all the kids slept in their bunks except for Todd and Ricky.
Cindy appeared in the doorway of the boy's dorm. She was still exhausted from yesterday while she counted heads on pillows. She yawned. She counted again. She yawned, and her eyes closed. She opened them and looked at the beds. She shrugged and left as she assumed the boys were all there.
She moped away, yawning, and looking forward to a good night's sleep.