It has been a month since Neil's funeral and you are having what could be your final breakfast on earth before the mission. You are watching Kelsey who is the European Service and Command Module pilot write down some notes. It feels like someone increased the pressure in the room. Again it's because it's a new mission. You wonder how the people at mission control are going. You won't find out until the TV broadcast from the capsule. 

"Kelsey, what are you writing?" You ask before taking a bit of your egg and bacon. You are concerned that Neil's death might have an impact on the mission. It's a good thing that the others are confident in your ability to command. 

"I'm writing some notes on the docking of the ESM to the command module for when you guys take off from the moon again," Kelsey responds. He flashes you an understanding look. He passes you the notebook for you to have a look. The number of words that are contained in the first few pages are impressive. Jay snatches it from you.  

"What was that for?" You groan because you were in the middle of a sentence.

"Kelsey needs his notes and you need to finish your breakfast," Jay responds as he passes the notebook back. Three minutes later you've all finished your respective meals. You are now waiting impatiently for the people who are going to help you in to your spacesuits. You wish that the suits would be easier to get on.

"Why do they always take so long?" Jay asks even though he knows the answer. Danny enters the room. You all get up because Danny has come to help you with the final preparations. He leads you to a room where the techs are dealing with the EVA suits. The tension has started to build again. 

"Commander Collins will you sit here?" one of the techs asks. You will never get used to being called commander. You only made lieutenant whilst you were in the navy and you haven't been called commander by the team. You sit down and the tech passes you the cooling and waste collection garment. Everyone looks away while you strip down to your underwear. Thirty seconds later you've slid into the garment and Kelsey and Jay have followed your lead. The tech gestures for you to stand up and you do. The tech passes you the first layer of the EVA suit itself. Ten minutes later everyone is ready. The tension is still growing.

"Let's go before we miss the launch window," you try to make a joke to lighten the mood. It works. Jay lets out a chuckle. An hour later you have made it to the elevator that will take you to the top of the Ares five. To the waiting modules. It feels like you are going up towards the peak of a roller coaster that will take you to the moon. 

"Ladies first," Kelsey remarks. He is trying to be polite even though as a commander you would go first anyway. You are thinking about the awkwardness of ingress and egress. You can tell Jay is having similar thoughts. The ride up to the top is a deadly quiet affair. It bothers you because it gives you time to think. You reach the top and you are blown away by the size of the rocket. The techs that are working on the modules clear out. The techs all apologise on the way out.

"Ready?" Jay asks. You and Kelsey both nod. You start the ingress procedure. It's a tight fit with the EVA suits. You grunt as you get into position.

"Jay you can start the ingress," you order as you get the safety straps on. Seven minutes later everyone is ready. You get the paper checklist ready. Ten minutes later you have finished the checklist. You are glad that they are relatively easy to do.

"T minus ten minutes," Danny announces over the comms system. Kelsey flicks a switch.

"Roger T minus ten," Kelsey responds. He flicks it back. It's the final countdown as the song would say. 

"It's going to be a long ten minutes," Jay remarks. He is right. You sigh as the tension builds. Kelsey gives you a reassuring look.

"T minus five minutes. Good luck guys," Danny remarks through the comms. Kelsey flicks the comms switch again.

"Roger that," you beat him to it.

"I thought I was handling communications," Kelsey remarks as he flicks the switch back. You let out a small giggle.

"You are but I thought it would be good for me to acknowledge every now and again," you retort. You feel like the tension is causing you to be a bit more snappy. 

"Jay you haven't said much,"

"What is there to say? And besides, I don't have much to do yet," He ponders. You can tell he is thinking about the journey to get here. Again he is right about the situation. Four minutes later you can feel the rumble as the Ares five comes to life. You pray that it goes smoothly.

"T minus ten...nine...eight," The terminal countdown begins. Everything starts to rattle. At least it's not as bad as the Kennedy Capsule. 

"Seven...Six...five...four... three..two...one," You can feel the thrust pushing you back into your chair. You can see Kelsey fight the Gs to flick the comms switch. He manages to do it.

"We have lift-off," Kelsey confirms. You are suddenly overcome by emotion. It is a mixture of happiness and terror. At least you are used to the feeling of being launched it to space. 

"All systems nominal," you add. It is a relief that the rocket has launched with no problems. A few minutes later the Gs have dissipated. You can feel the weightlessness. Unlike the Kennedy capsule, you feel free. The launch escape tower falls away to reveal the earth which is slowly getting smaller and smaller.

"Jay, how is the second stage looking?" You ask. You are glad that it was a successful takeoff.

"It's good to go. I'm just waiting for the orange light," Jay confirms. You notice Kelsey has flicked the comms switch again.

"Constellation five to ground control," Kelsey remarks

"Constellation five this is Danny go ahead," Danny gives the standard greeting. You are glad that everything is working. You relax a little.

"We are ready for stage one separation," Kelsey confirms.

"Roger that," Danny responds. The light that Jay was referring to earlier turns orange. Jay then proceeds to press a sequence of buttons. The light then turns green. You can feel the spacecraft get a little lighter as the first stage falls away. 

"Stage two separation successful," Both Kelsey and Jay confirm at the same time. You wish Danny could see your smile. 

"Roger that. Over and out," Danny responds. He sounded a little cheerful. It makes sense because his mission has come together.  

"Over and out," Kelsey responds. He flicks the comms switch back. He gets out a paper checklist for preparing the ESM. He double-checks it. You can tell he is itching to prepare the ESM.

"Sorry, Kelsey but we have to wait for the second stage to release," You burst his bubble. He nods his acknowledgement. He puts the checklist in one of the many hiding spots in the command module. Two minutes later the second stage has separated. Kelsey has released himself from the seat. He quickly gets the checklist ready. 

"Jay is the ESM ready for me to board?" Kelsey asks because he doesn't want to risk anything. Jay gives Kelsey a thumbs up. He struggles to open the hatch.

"Kels do you need some help," You offer. You know that it can be a struggle.

"Yes please," He responds. You get yourself organised. You carefully drift to the hatch. You start to help him. It moves. At least you know it works but why would they make it hard to open. 

"Danke. I have it from here," Kelsey is glad that you helped. You use the hatch to push yourself into your seat as Kelsey throws the checklist into the ESM. You just miss. Jay manages to help you back into your seat. Kelsey has now got to work on the ESM. 

"Thank you, Jay," you respond as you strap yourself back in. You are suddenly flushed with embarrassment. At least you didn't need to ask.

"No worries," Jay responds. You can tell that he is glad that he can help. Ten minutes later you are thinking about the next thing to do. It's going to be awkward. Kelsey pops his head through the hatch. Hopefully, it's good news.

"The ESM is ready," Kesley remarks. That means you can change into the more comfortable jumpsuits. He pulls himself back to the seats.

"Let's get changed," Jay reads your mind. He starts the process of taking his helmet off. Five minutes later he has finished. Twenty minutes later you and Kelsey have finished as well. You feel a little more comfortable in the jumpsuits. You are thinking of what you could do next because the third stage won't disconnect for a while. You hear the sound of a tummy rumble.

"Sorry I didn't eat much breakfast," Kelsey speaks up. You noticed. It was because of the pre-flight nerves. Come to think of it you didn't eat much as well.

"Don't worry about it," You respond as you reach for the food. At least you have an option as to what you can have.

"You have an option Kelsey," you respond as you look at the packaging. You giggle at the choices.

"What are they?" He asks. He is hoping it will be better than the food in the Kennedy capsule.

"Salad with pesto aioli or mayo," You respond. You know it won't be the same as on earth but it will work.

"The pesto please," You pass him his order. He preps it and he starts eating it. You are surprised he is not complaining. You tuck into your meal as well. Now you understand why he is not complaining. Again it's slightly better than what you got in the Kennedy capsule. A minute later he has finished.

"If you don't mind I am going to get the Luna module ready for stage three separation," Kelsey leaves his seat again. He drifts up to the hatch. Thirty seconds later there is a green light on your side panel. It means the ESM is ready to go. 

"Jay, are you ready for TLI and stage three separation?" You ask. He flicks some switches.

"Ready for TLI and stage three separation," Jay confirms. You both get to work. A minute later you can feel the fairings break free and you start work on TLI. Five minutes later you have finished with the TLI burn. Jay flicks the comms switch for the ESM.

"Kelsey do you receive?" Jay asks.

"Loud and clear. ready for realignment docking," Kelsey reads your mind. You can feel the Luna module separate from the command and ES modules. You use the control stick to adjust the spacecraft as you practised. You hear a loud thud followed by a click. The Luna module is now realigned. You double-check the lunar lander readouts. It's all good. You can relax a tiny bit for the next two days as the capsules head to the moon.

"Willkommen," Jay teases Kelsey in German. You giggle because it wasn't proper German.

"Ja, Ja," Kelsey takes the teasing in his stride. At least the teamwork is strong,

"I wasn't gone long and besides, you're lucky you just have to make sure we are on course," The comms system crackles to life.

"This is Danny, do you receive?" You are glad to hear Danny's voice. You suddenly start to miss earth. You flick the switch because Kelsey is still getting into his seat.

"We hear you loud and clear," You respond

"Stage three, TLI and realignment docking were successful and you should start to receive some footage," You get the feeling that's why he wants to talk to you.

"Roger that. Good luck. Over and out," Danny ends the transmission. You get to work on making sure that the camera is ready to go. It will be fun to show the world what the ship looks like. 

"Ready and action," You make sure the others are aware that you hit record. You are pointing the camera at Jay. 

"Hello everyone. I would like to welcome you aboard the Orian capsule," Jay remarks as he looks up from the instrument panel. 

"So Jay how are you feeling after take off?" You ask. You decide to conduct an interview because you are not sure what Danny wants with the footage. 

"I feel good and the view from up here is amazing," He responds you turn the camera around so it is pointing out of the window. Kelsey comes through the hatch. 

"Hopefully I'm not interrupting much," He remarks. 

"No your not interrupting. I was going to join you because I need to ask you a question," You respond. 

"well, commander ask away," he responds optimistically. Ten minutes later you have done the interviews and you have stopped recording. Hopefully, Danny is happy with your footage. Two days later the modules have reached the moon and you are getting into the dreaded EVA suits back on. 

"Sorry," Jay remarks because he thinks he has hit you. He didn't hit your hard so it doesn't matter. You hate how is slightly easier it is to hit something when getting changed in space. 

"Don't worry," You respond. Ten minutes later You've managed to get the EVA suits on. You check the personal item you bought. It's a photo of You as a toddler sitting on your dad's knee with Neil who is standing next to him. It is in good condition but it won't be for long. You carefully stash it in your personal items pocket. Another minute later Jay has boarded the LM. You are about to but you are stopped by Kelsey.

"Good luck," Kelsey remarks. You don't understand why he is wishing you luck because you got this far.

"Thank you," You say as you board the LM. It's a tight fit. Why couldn't they design the suits like they do in movies?

"Ok let's get to work," You and Jay start the process of getting down to the moon. You hear the distinct sound of the docking clamps being released. You watch Jay make the necessary adjustments. Seven tense minutes later the LM has come to a hover above the lunar surface.

"Contact," Jay calls out as a green light flashes.

"Confirmed," You respond. You cut the power to the engine. You are overcome with joy at the fact that you made it to the moon. You start to get choked up with emotion. 

"Commander are you alright?" Jay can sense something is not quite right. You wipe the tears from your face. You flick the comms switch so the team at mission control can hear what you have to say.

"Ground control Colombia has landed," You announce. You can hear the cheers from mission control. The tears have now created a river on your face. Jay passes you a bandana from his personal pack. You are hesitant to take it but you need to dry your face somehow. You take it and use it. You feel bad because it has a story behind it. You decide to leave the comms open.

"Sorry about that," You feel a little bad.

"Don't worry. My brother wouldn't have minded," Jay responds. You know Benji wouldn't care but you still feel bad.

"He wanted me to take something of his and I did so it doesn't matter," You giggle but not for long because you get down to work on depressuring the module so that it doesn't suffer a rapid depressurisation. You also have to think of something to say. It is hard for you to think of something

"Staring depressurisation," You narrate. A minute later the pressure matches that of the moon.

"Heading out," You leave the LM.

"Good luck Lilly," Jay responds as you climb down the ladder on one of the legs. It is a tense climb down. Thirty seconds you feel the ground underneath your boots.

"Here we go again," You announce your step that way because you are kicking off a new wave of moon landings. Plus you can't say that's one small step because that line belongs to Neil. Ten minutes later you are helping Jay set up an experiment. You are glad that he recovered in time. Thirty seconds later you have done setting up the experiment and you have wandered over to a nearby crater. You look over it. You are suddenly consumed by the regret that Neil couldn't watch from Earth.

"Thank you for your small step Neil," You grab the photo out. You also grab a small zip lock bag containing some of Neil's ashes. You throw the ashes into the crater. Jay has joined you.

"I'm sorry Lilly but we have a mission to finish," Jay politely reminds you. You put the packet and the photo back.

"Alright, Jay let's finish these experiments," You confirm. You start to set up what would become a beacon for future missions.