Meanwhile, it was May 2018.
It was nighttime on Earth at the space coast area of Florida.
There was a substantial residential neighborhood built in the 1960s called Atlantis. The 1960s, developers, expected that the space program would be a booming industry.
On Abby Street, in Atlantis, lived Todd Peabody. He was a typical twelve-year-old skinny nerd. Todd loved everything about the human space program. Todd spent most of his spare time reading books and watching movies about astronauts and space travel. His dream was to travel up in space as an astronaut since he was six years old.
His father, Lester "Tater" Peabody, was forty-two years old. He was once a technician at the launch pad during the space shuttle era. But Tater lost his job in 2011, along with thousands of others.
This happened when the space shuttle program retired. So he started the lawn service called "Tater – The Grass Assassin." Business was good after three years of a slow start.
Parked in the driveway was Lester's rusty 2009 Ford F-150 pickup truck. It had a trailer with a Troy-Bilt riding mower, a Snapper self-propelled push mower, an edger, and a blower.
His wife, Lilly, owned her dog grooming shop called "Lilly's Pretty Paw’s," located in downtown Cocoa. It was a thriving business that kept the family fed until Tater's lawn service company started showing a profit.
Todd decorated his bedroom with Space Shuttle, Saturn 5 rocket, Ares I, Ares V, and Magellan V model rockets. The wallpaper had planets all over it.
In the middle of the bedroom floor sat an empty big refrigerator cardboard box. Todd used a Sharpie and made hand drawings on the outside of the box, and it looked like a NASA rocket ship.
One end of the box had a makeshift door cut out and was a pretend hatch.
At the other end of the box, Todd placed a TV with its screen inserted in a hole he cut into the box. This was his computer monitor to the stars.
He called his makeshift spaceship "Magellan One."
On the inside were hand-drawn gauges, switches, and knobs to make it look like the inside of a natural space capsule.
Todd's best friend was Ricardo "Ricky" Mendez. Ricky was a twelve-year-old nerd and wore thick glasses.
Ricky sat on the inside of Magellan One. Like Todd, Ricky shared the same dream of being an astronaut.
The TV showed a computer game with the Moon, an Apollo capsule, and Lunar Module icons. The capsule and Lunar Module zoomed through the darkness of space, racing to the Moon.
Todd and Ricky sat side by side on pillows in front of the TV. They both wore fishbowls over their heads to serve as space helmets. Todd had a game controller in his right hand. They focused on the screen.
"Are we there yet?" Ricky teased.
On TV, the Apollo capsule continued to race to the Moon.
"Are we there yet?" Ricky teased again.
On TV, the rear of the Apollo flew up and then slammed back down. It came to a standstill in space. The engine idled, smoke puffing out the engine nozzle.
"If you don't shut up, Ricky, I'll turn this spaceship around and go back home to the launch pad. Do you understand?" Todd said in a parental tone.
Ricky gave a pouty lip and crossed his arms.
"Yes, Commander Todd.”
On TV, the Apollo capsule and Lunar Module separated. The Lunar Module raced off to the Moon. The capsule orbited around the Moon.
"Are we there yet?"
Todd and Ricky both chuckled and pushed each other, being playful.
On TV, the Lunar Module made a slow descent to the Moon’s surface.
"Come on, Todd, let me land!" Ricky cried out.
"No, Ricky! I'm the Commander. I do all the landings!” Todd barked.
"Okay," Ricky replied, pouting. He made a fake click sound while he pretended to flip an overhead switch. He made a rocket engine sound to simulate landing on the Moon.
On TV, the Lunar Module bounced on and off the surface. It flipped up and over in the air and slammed into the surface. Dust drifted off into space.
"Are you ready to walk on the Moon and be heroes?" Todd asked.
"Every day since I was five!" Ricky replied.
Todd and Ricky both raised a hand and locked their pinkies.
"Friends!" they both yelled out with pinkies locked around each other.
On TV, two astronauts walked and bounced on the Moon’s surface.
"I was peeing on the Moon one day...in the merry month of…;” Todd sang out.
Lilly's voice outside the box interrupted his song. "Sweetie, you have five minutes," Lilly called out. Lilly had black shoulder-length hair and was a little chubby but still a cutie.
Their eyes lit up with excitement, overhearing her reminder. Todd exited the game.
The "Apollo Moon Landing Adventure" logo appeared on the TV. It showed a full Moon and Apollo Lunar Module behind it.
Todd and Ricky turned around and crawled out of the box through the makeshift hatch.
They raced past Lilly and ran out of his bedroom.
The night sky had thousands of stars and a full Moon.
All the neighbors stood out in their front yards watching the tree line on the horizon to the northeast.
They waited for the launch of NASA's Magellan 4 mission. The Magellan V rocket was like the Saturn V rocket but more abundant in diameter and had an eight-man capsule.
This was the fourth Magellan launch, and the capsule had a flight crew for the first time. This mission would have orbited around Earth eight times before landing in the Pacific Ocean.
The next mission was the Magellan 5, which would dock at the Multinational Space Station (MSS) in two months.
The front door of Todd's house slammed open, and Todd and Ricky raced out, beaming.
They ran to the front yard, stopped, and looked at the tree line.
An orange glow appeared on the horizon. The Magellan 4 rocket ascended into the night sky and lit up the neighborhood.
The neighborhood cheered and clapped. It was great to see more rocket launches from the space center.
"Go Magellan!" a male neighbor yelled out at the sky.
Todd and Ricky watched in awe while the Magellan V rocket ascended high into the night sky.
"One day, we'll be astronauts walking on the Moon," Todd said, staring at the sky.
"And Mars!" Ricky added, staring at the sky.
The boys continued to watch the Magellan rocket's ascent. It wasn't long before it became a small fiery dot in the night sky.
All the neighbors walked inside their homes.
Todd and Ricky drooled at the sky with dreamy eyes.
Meanwhile, in outer space above Earth.
The Apollo 17 Lunar Module continued to orbit Earth smacking into more space junk in its path. The pieces of space junk attached to other space junk tripled in size.
Inside the Lunar Module, Scoota was panicking about why his spacecraft wouldn't respond to his control inputs.
He glanced out a window. He noticed the Magellan V rocket ascending into orbit.
Inside the Magellan capsule, the three astronauts didn't notice the small asteroid of space junk.
In outer space above Earth, the first stage of the Magellan V rocket separated.
The engine of the Magellan second stage fired. It ascended into space while the first stage fell back down to Earth.
The second stage of the Magellan V rocket separated. The engine of the capsule and payload module separated from the second stage. The second stage engine fired, and it started to orbit Earth.
The second stage fell back down to Earth.
The Lunar Module continued to smack into additional pieces of space junk.
They all attached, growing into a larger and larger asteroid.