The USS Nimitz sailed out in the Pacific Ocean.
Tater, Lilly, and Christina watched the Channel 9 News in the living room of Todd's home.
"We just got word the Magellan five capsule is on its way back home. The USS Nimitz is sailing out in the Pacific to pick up the astronauts and our two stowaway boys. The mission of getting the asteroid away from Earth has been a success," Biff reported from the TV.
Tater, Lilly, and Christina jumped off the couch and danced around in joy.
Louie and Rose danced around in joy in the living room of Ricky's home, overhearing Biff's news.
In Lucy's home, she danced with Betty around her living room in joy, overhearing Biff's news.
At the Bully's tree house, Buster and Rocky still pouted and sobbed over the loss of their tree house.
Up in outer space above Earth inside the Magellan capsule, Jake was strapped in his seat.
Clint was strapped in his seat with Todd, and he wrapped his arms around him.
Lance was strapped in his seat with Ricky, and he wrapped his arms around him.
They waited while the capsule reentered the Earth's atmosphere.
Inside the conference room at NASA Headquarters, Richard and all the NASA folks jumped up from the conference table and danced around the room with joy.
They watched live footage of the Magellan capsule while it floated down to the Pacific Ocean with parachutes deployed.
USS Nimitz waited out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
Twenty Navy seamen stood on deck and stared at the sky. A Seahawk helicopter waited with its blades spinning at the other end of the deck.
"Where is it?" one seaman asked while they all scanned the sky.
The Magellan capsule was visible as a dot high up in the sky.
"There's the Magellan," one seaman said while pointing at the sky.
The seamen watched while the Magellan parachuted down to the Ocean.
The Seahawk helicopter lifted off the deck of the Nimitz.
The seamen watched while the Magellan capsule splashed down in the Ocean.
The Seahawk helicopter flew to the capsule while it floated in the Ocean.
The Seahawk helicopter slowly flew near the capsule and dropped a life raft and another raft into the water.
The Seahawk helicopter flew back to the capsule, and a diver jumped out and landed in the water.
The diver installed the raft around the capsule to prevent it from sinking.
The diver inflated the life raft and swam it to the capsule. The diver opened up the hatch of the capsule and saw everybody inside.
"Welcome home, heroes," the diver said.
Clint stuck his head out of the capsule and took a whiff of the sea air. "It's glad to be back home," he said.
The diver assisted Clint, Lance, Jake, Todd, and Ricky out of the capsule and into the life raft.
The Seahawk helicopter flew back and lifted everybody via a sling up into the helicopter.
The helicopter flew back to the Nimitz.
Inside the Seahawk helicopter, Todd and Ricky were in heaven with getting a ride in a helicopter.
"Now I know what the Apollo astronauts went through when they returned from the Moon," Todd said while he looked out the door.
"I know. Isn't this cool!" Ricky added.
Jake, Clint, and Lance chucked over the boy's excitement about being in the helicopter and feeling like Apollo astronauts. Then their eyes lit up as they now felt the same emotion.
The USS Nimitz, the seamen, watched while the Seahawk helicopter landed on the deck.
The engine shut down, and the rotor blades whined down.
Lance, Clint, Jake, Todd, and Ricky all got out of the helicopter.
All the seamen cheered at the heroes.
Todd and Ricky loved the attention.
Way up in outer space near Jupiter, the asteroid flew by Jupiter.
The Stardonia tow ship flew alongside the asteroid and had the Apollo Lunar Module descent stage attached to its boom and hook. Biggka and Redka decided that Scrappy might pay a few bucks for this antique.
Inside the tow ship, Biggka made a call on his Space Phone.
The hologram for Senior Space Knight Tockka appeared. "Give me a report, Biggka," Tockka ordered.
"We rescued Scoota from Earth," Biggka reported.
"He's such a buffoon," Tockka said.
"I wouldn't say that," Biggka replied.
"Why not?"
"It appears that Scoota saved the planet Earth from an asteroid comprised of their space junk," Biggka said.
"He what?" Tockka said and looked like he didn't hear Biggka correctly.
"He saved the Earth by flying an asteroid away from Earth," Biggka replied.
"He was able to get it away in the nick of time before it plummeted down to Earth," Redka added.
"I see. Maybe I misjudged Scoota," Tockka said, then he pondered for a few seconds. "Park that asteroid in orbit, and we'll deal with it later," Tockka said then his hologram disappeared.
A couple of days later, the USS Nimitz sailed into Pearl Harbor and docked to a crowd of two thousand cheering people.
The gangplank was lowered, and the Captain of the Nimitz escorted Jake, Lance, Clint, Todd, and Ricky down to the dock.
Tater, Lilly, Christina, Louie, and Rose were out in front of the crowd, all proud of the boys.
The second Todd and Ricky stepped foot on the docks, Lilly and Rose ran up and immediately hugged and kissed their cheeks.
Tater and Louie walked up and shook the boy's hands.
"I'm proud of you, Todd, and if you want to become an Astronaut, I'm good with it," Tater said.
"The same goes for me, Ricky," Louie added.
Todd and Ricky were elated to have their father's blessing to become astronauts.
Christina rushed up and looked at Todd; she hugged him tightly. No words, just a loving hug to prove she missed her little brother.
The crowd cheered at the boys.
The next three weeks were spent with ticker-tape parades in Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago, New York, and Atlanta. They had ticker-tape parades in London, Paris, Frankfort, Prague, Moscow, Beijing, Tokyo, and Sidney.
The boys were exhausted, and it was time to return home to Florida to resume their childhood lives.
The next day at the space coast in Florida, thousands of people gathered along the Indian River in Titusville. All eyes were on the Kennedy Space Center while they waited.
"There it is," a man pointed at the sky south of the space center.
Everybody looked and saw Air Force 1 flying north.
They watched while Air Force 1 flew over Titusville and headed north.
Air Force banked to the right and banked again for a final approach to runway 15 at the Landing Site at the Kennedy Space Center.
The crowd watched while Air Force 1 landed at the Kennedy Landing Site.
At the Kennedy Landing Site, President Barnaby got out of Air Force with Richard, Jake, Lance, and Clint and walked down the stairs.
The local NASA officials at the bottom of the stairs soon greeted them.
An Air Force C17 landed on runway 15. This plane carried the French President, the German Chancellor, the Spanish President, the Italian President, the Russian President, the Prime Minister of Japan, and the Prime Minister of England.
President Barnaby, Richard, Jake, Lance, and Clint were escorted to the Presidential vehicles. They got inside and drove off.
The Globemaster taxied and stopped next to the Air Force 1. The world leaders got out and were escorted to some other waiting government SUVs.
The convoy of Presidential and government SUVs drove down SR 3 at the center and headed to the Visitor Complex.
Later that day, at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, a stage was installed in the Rocket Garden and was heavily guarded by Secret Service Agents and Brevard County Sheriff.
On stage, President Barnaby and Richard stood with Todd and Ricky. Jake, Lance, Clint, Tater, Lilly, Christina, Louie, and Rose sat at the back of the stage.
Off to the side were the French President, the German Chancellor, the Spanish President, the Italian President, the Russian President, the Prime Minister of Japan, and the Prime Minister of England.
From the stage, Todd and Ricky had huge proud smiles. Todd's smile grew more prominent when he saw Lucy in the crowd.
"Thank you all for attending. It gives me great pleasure to stand before you and reward these two young heroes that saved the world," President Barnaby addressed the crowd, who erupted in a cheer.
President Barnaby motioned for the crowd to become quiet, and they did. "Therefore, I, at this moment, proclaim that Todd and Ricky are guaranteed a slot into NASA's Astronaut training after graduating from college. And speaking of that, they may choose any college of their choice, and it's free. Paid by numerous governments around the world."
Todd tugged on President Barnaby's pants and motioned for him to lean down.
President Barnaby leaned down, Todd whispered in his ear, and President Barnaby nodded in agreement.
Todd whispered something else in President Barnaby's ear. He nodded in agreement.
"Oh yeah. I, at this moment, direct NASA to come up with a plan to clean up all the space junk over our heads," he addressed the crowd.
"Ah, we Russians are already developing a spacecraft to clean up such debris," the Russian President yelled.
The crowd erupted in a loud cheer with that news.
“Shoot, they beat us again," President Barnaby said under his breath.
Tater and Louie got up and hugged each other. Lilly and Rose got up and hugged each other.
President Barnaby shook hands with Todd and Ricky, then walked off the stage with the Secret Service agents.
The other Government leaders followed.
They walked off to a convoy of government vehicles not too far away.
Todd saw Lucy out in front of the crowd. She smiled and gave him a little wave, and Todd was in heaven.
Ricky saw Betty, who smiled and gave him a little wave.
They walked off the stage, and their parents followed them.
Todd walked up to Lucy. "I'm glad you came out here," he said.
Lucy quickly leaned forward and kissed Todd on his cheek. "I wouldn't miss it for the world," she said with a loving smile.
"Me neither," Betty said, then quickly leaned in and kissed Ricky on his cheek.
Todd and Ricky both blushed. Tater and Lilly walked up to Todd.
"Call me," Lucy told Todd while Tater and Lilly escorted Todd away.
Todd smiled back at her.
"You also better call me," Betty told Ricky while Louie and Rose escorted him away.
He smiled back at Betty.
Inside Tater's truck, Lilly's demeanor suddenly changed. "You're grounded, young man, for sneaking into that rocket," she scolded Todd.
But he didn't care, as he now knew that Lucy liked him and he was happy.
Inside Louie's Mercedes Benz, Rose's demeanor suddenly changed. "You're grounded for sneaking off into that NASA rocket," She scolded Ricky.
But he didn't care, as he knew he had a chance to make Betty his girlfriend.