Lost and Found

Marjorie McMillan stood in the middle of the group of astronauts as they rode the elevator upward in the launch gantry to board the Artemis IV capsule which would take them to orbit and land on the moon. The three other astronauts with her, all men, were bantering back and forth, but Marjorie paid them no heed.  Her thoughts were on the conversation that she and her husband of ten years had had that morning.

After years of preparation for this launch, her husband had dropped the bomb this morning that he did not want her to go.  She played the conversation over in her mind, trying to determine if she could have done anything differently.

"You can't go to the Moon," Carl had insisted.

"I can't back out now," she had responded in surprise. "I am the Mission Commander. The entire launch would be scrubbed if I bailed now. Thousands of people have worked for this moment!"

"I couldn't live if I lost you," Carl insisted.

"We have trained for this mission. The scientists have done all the research. The team is ready."

"That's what they said about Challenger!"

"You know that's not the same thing," Marjorie said, exasperatedly. "Our systems have all been tested. That's not going to happen again."

The back and forth had gone on for a hour before, she told Carl that she had to leave or she would be late.

"If you care so little for my feelings, I don't think I can be here when you get back!" he had spat at her as she was going out the door to leave.  She had said nothing, and just finished closing the door.

Now she stood among her team, all of whom were pumped up with adrenaline, anxious to  get in the capsule and get strapped in, she could not muster the energy to join in the quips and comments zinging back and forth.  If any of the others noticed her reticence, they said nothing.

Marjorie tried to push thoughts of her conversation with Carl out of her mind, to just focus on the mission, but to no avail.

The elevator door opened and she and her team got busy entering the capsule, getting into position for liftoff and checking system monitors. Doing something that she had practiced so many times before finally helped her concentrate.

An hour later, a final pressure anomaly was resolved and all systems were GO FOR LAUNCH. 10…9…8 the final countdown started. Moments later a tremendous roar signaled that the boosters and main thrusters had ignited and the astronauts were pressed back into their padded seats as the G forces quickly increased.

The crew could not hears the cheers of the crowd watching from a distance or via television across the globe. They were merely enduring the hardest portion of the flight as their bodies seemed to be crushed.

Finally, the boosters expended their fuel and fell away.  The crew were able to resume their duties, the most important of which was ensuring that the life support systems were working properly.

This reprieve in activity resulted in Marjorie having to face her demons again. She loved her husband and had thought that he loved her just as much. His ultimatum had cut like a razor this morning. By

For the first day, the crew practiced various systems that would be used on future missions, then on the second day they fired their engines to boost them away from the Earth and towards the Moon. Except for minor inconsistencies in some systems, everything was working as expected, until …

          -          -          -

"Mission Control. Artemis. We are commencing our lunar fly-by and will be out of communication for the next 40 minutes as we position ourselves for Lander separation."

"Roger Artemis.  Take lots of pictures!"

The last communications partially broke up as the Moon began to block Artemis' view of Earth.  The crew vied for positions to look out the windows at the rarely seen 'dark' side of the Moon.  The fun did not last for long.

The Artemis spacecraft lurched from a tremendous impact and began to spin slowly out of control.

"Mission Control! Artemis. We have been hit!"

Of course, there was no response. 

Peter, the pilot of the spacecraft was watching out the window as the Moon came into and out of view because of the spacecraft's rotation.

"Commander," he said to Marjorie.  "I think we are leaving lunar orbit." 

He made this statement in a calm, matter of fact tone, even though it represented one of the most unplanned things that could be happening.

Mission Specialist James Cameroon added, "Our distance from the Moon is increasing rapidly."

Marjorie said, "I think we have collided with something and have been knocked off our trajectory.  Any damage being reported?"

Francois Gauthier, the other Mission Specialist chimed in, "Capsule integrity has not been breached."

James responded, "Main fuel level seems to be dropping. I think there is a leak."

"Suit up!" Marjorie commanded.

The crew were already wearing most of their Crew Survival System suit, but quickly donned gloves and helmets.

"Peter, see if you can stabilize the craft and use the main engine to return us to Lunar orbit."

"Roger," he replied as his hands flew over his controls.

The craft slowed and then stopped its spin as he fired short bursts from the maneuvering jets.

"Standby for main engine burn," he said readying the controls for firing the engine.

Nothing happened. He tried again and nothing.

"The engine is not responding," he reported.

 "Everyone to the Lander!" Majorie said.

No one questioned the Commander's order, as each of them filed quickly down into the Lander hangar.

"I know the Lander is expected to transport only two crew members, but we are going to have to hope for the best," Marjorie told the others. "If we don't get down to the Moon soon, we are going to be irretrievably out into space."

The others already had figured this out for themselves.  Marjorie and Peter took the crew seats because they had been training on the controls.  James and Francois wedged in where they could.

Once again, it was Peter at the controls.  He successfully separated the Lander from the main capsule, adjusted it's orientation and everyone cheered as the booster fired, pushing them back in the direction of the Moon.

"Marjorie, do you have a plan?" Peter asked.  "I know that you are aware that we are way out of normal specs here."

"I am aware," she replied.  "We are two people heavy and much farther away than the scheduled mission parameters."

"That means that we may or may not have the fuel for a successful landing," Peter said.

"More importantly," Marjorie added. "Even if we land safely, we certainly will not have the fuel to exit the surface and attain orbit again."

All four astronauts were exchanging looks, but no one wanted to add to this comment.

"Our only hope, is that we can make it to a point on the surface of the Moon where we can contact Mission Control, and that they can send another orbiter to rescue us before our oxygen runs out," Marjorie finally said what everyone was thinking.

Jason finally joined in, "So we are hoping to trade 'Lost in Space' for 'Lost on the Moon'."

"I'm open to suggestion, if anyone has anything else," Majorie offered.  No one volunteered any suggestions.

"OK. Let's get this ship down on the lunar surface and phone home!" Marjorie said.

Peter made numerous small adjustments to the lander's attitude, setting up to fire the main thrusters to slow their descent.  He was trying to thread a fine line between not crashing and also not landing too soon.  They needed to make it around the Moon to the side visible to Earth, if they were to seek help.

The lander scooted along still some distance from the surface.  Peter looked at Marjorie and shook his head.

"Our fuel level is insufficient to get us around to the visible side," he said.  "It will be close, but we have to get down before we totally exhaust what's in the tank."

"Put it down where you must," Marjorie replied. "If we get close enough to the horizon, we may be able to make it the rest of the way in the Rover."

The final descent was a nail-biter, and the landing was rough with the extra weight to compensate for, but the lander touched down in one piece and no one was hurt.

"Now, if the Rover was not damaged by whatever hit us to cause all this trouble, we should be able to traverse the remaining two miles to the horizon," Marjorie said.

Marjorie was not sure that she cared if they were rescued. Of course she was concerned for her crew, but personally she felt like it would not matter for her. She was empty inside. Devoid of feelings. Carl would not be there when she got back. But she had her duty and people were counting on her. She forced her mind back to searching for solutions.

Francois and Jason opened the hatch into where the lander was stored and went down to determine if it was fit for service.  They returned after only a few minutes with the good news that the hanger was in perfect condition and the Rover appeared ready for use.

"I'm the one who received the most training on driving the Rover," Jason said.

"And I have to go to tell Mission Control our status," Marjorie added.

As the two started to descend into the hanger, Marjorie cautioned Peter and Francois, "Try to rest and sleep as much as possible while we are gone.  I know it won't be easy, but we need to try to slow our metabolisms to conserve oxygen as much as we can.  If they can come for us, we don't know how long it will take."

          -          -          -

Back at Mission Control, no one was aware of any of the problems that the Artemis IV crew faced.  The module was still in the expected communications blackout circuit around the back side of the Moon. When the scheduled time for communications to be restored came and went, things changed.

"Artemis, Mission Control.  Do you read me?  Come in Artemis."

The communications tech turned to her supervisor and shook her head, this being the tenth time that she had asked Artemis to respond.

National news picked up the story almost immediately.  Live feeds from Mission Control made it impossible to suppress the information that something was drastically wrong.  People worldwide were collectively holding their breaths as the minutes ticked by with Artemis overdue for reappearing.

After an hour, suddenly there was a flurry of activity at one console.  The tech motioned his supervisor over and then a number of senior staff clustered in the area.  News cameras were shut off, as the people there were pointing at the screen and talking animatedly.  News casters were left with little information and filled the void with increasingly unlikely suppositions.

A public announcement was made several minutes later. Basically the same message was broadcast by all news agencies.

"We have breaking news from Mission Control.  The Artemis IV Moon mission is long overdue returning from their orbit behind the Moon.  Additionally, we have just been informed that debris has been discovered exiting the Moon's gravitational control, apparently departing from somewhere behind the Moon where Artemis was last known to be.  It is too early yet, to determine if this material is in fact from the Artemis craft, but it is common knowledge that there were no other man-made craft in the area that could be its source."

 As expected, the various newscasters had to fill minutes of on-the-air time, and did so with numerous speculations, but no further facts were known or given. The euphoria that had gripped the world was lost and could not be recovered. No one could give any hope of a possible course of events that would now result in the astronauts returning to Earth.

          -          -          -

Jason addressed Marjorie over the radio headsets.  They were still close enough to the Lander that the others could hear as well.

"On the Moon, there is no magnetic field, so we have to navigate by line of sight and the stars.  Peter told me which way we needed to go to continue to the horizon with Earth.  I will fix on landmarks that I can head toward.  Can you keep an eye on the stars?"

"Yes, I have practiced navigating with the stars many times.  It should not be so different here as the Earth."

With Jason at the wheel of the Rover and Marjorie in the passenger seat, they made their way across the lunar landscape, avoiding the worst of the craters and ridges and going over or through that which they could not get around. The Rover drove like a giant go-cart and its oversized tires made the ride a little bouncy.

It did not take long until they could see the light peeking through the rough edges of the landscape, streaking light through the valleys on the horizon.  The Moon was facing Earth in its Full Moon phase, so the lit horizon should also be where the two would be able to see their home planet.

"Looks like we are going to make it to the communications point before our O2 levels require us to turn back," Jason said.

"Right," Marjorie agreed.  "About half way to those light beams, I'm going to start trying to raise Mission Control.  Radio waves can sometimes bend around the edge a little, but not much."

When Jason had gotten them close, she started transmitting, "Mission Control,   Artemis.  Do you read?" every few minutes until finally, as they traversed a band of light shining through one of the valleys on the horizon, the static started to be broken up and resolved itself into words.

"Artemis! Artemis! This is Mission Control!"  At least that is what they thought they heard with quite a few of the syllables missing.

"Mission Control, Artemis.  We have crashed on the lunar surface and are unable to lift off! Do you copy?"

"Roger Artemis copy crashed on Moon.  Are all personnel accounted for?"

"Yes, all crew members are safe for now.  Lander out of fuel. Crew module lost in space.  We were struck by something and are now stranded."

"Roger Artemis.  Hold on, I have to notify everyone you are transmitting."

The wait was not long before the head of Mission Control was on the radio.  The two groups discussed the situation and the Artemis crew were told to wait in place while the problem was presented to NASA.

"Roger Mission Control.  Be advised that we have limited O2 in our suits and must depart shortly for the Lander site," Marjorie broadcast. ”We have no comms from the Lander site.”

"Roger Artemis, understood."

          -          -          -

When evening television shows were once again interrupted for breaking news, the mood swung in the other direction for the second time that day.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt your regularly scheduled broadcasts to share fantastic news!  A signal has been received from the Moon!  The Artemis crew is alive!"

A high-level meeting was hastily called with the President, Vice-President, members of the Cabinet and representatives of NASA.

"Mr. President, I am sorry to report that there is no way to mount a rescue mission to the Moon," a senior NASA official told the meeting.  "We have the Artemis V spacecraft built and it could be made serviceable in hours, but we do not have any launch capabilities at this time."

This announcement was followed by recriminations, comments about readiness and budget cuts, and even some table thumping, but the result was still the same.  There was not any way of getting the Artemis V capsule on the way to the Moon.

Once again, the public was informed that the Artemis crew was not going to return. Their fate was certain.

The whiplash of emotions around the world was seismic, but…

          -          -          -

The next day, the White House received a call from SpaceX.

"We can get your module to the Moon," they said. "Our Starship craft is not yet completed, but the Starship booster is ready and can lift the NASA capsule.  We already have been working on pairing the two.  We can go tomorrow, if you can get the Artemis V capsule to our launch facility in south Texas."

It was agreed that Artemis V should be sent to Texas while the best minds at NASA determined the feasibility of the endeavor.  It was eventually determined that, if they could launch within two days, the crew stranded on the Moon should have enough oxygen to survive until the rescue mission arrived.

          -          -          -

Artemis V launched on top of a Starship booster 38 hours after the plan was approved.  On board was a single astronaut, John Edward Ellis, a grandson of Astronaut John Lovell of Apollo 13 fame.  He was making the trip alone, because the craft was only configured for four crewmembers and there would now be five once he rescued the Artemis IV crew.

Lift-off went flawlessly and the capsule was on its way to the Moon, while the Starship booster returned to its launchpad in Texas.

The Artemis crew had made the Rover trek two other times since the original contact and were aware of the plans, and the timing thereof. They had done all that they could to prepare.  The had shared their coordinates on the Moon with NASA, and now they rested and waited and hoped.

All non-essential systems were shutdown to conserve battery power and everyone was in their survival suits so the cabin did not need to be habitable and moved as little as possible to conserve oxygen.

"Artemis IV, this is Artemis V, we are starting our descent!" the radio crackled to life.

"We read you V, we are ready!" Marjorie responded, the sounds of cheers accompanying her transmission.

The next seemingly hour long minutes passed slowly as Artemis V dropped into position near Artemis IV.  Astronaut Ellis made the trek between the two landers with an extra O2 bottle in case it was needed.

When all crew members had full O2 tanks, the five returned to Artemis V. Marjorie was the last to exit Artemis IV and patted the hatch as she secured it.

"Goodbye old girl. You did us good!" she said before stepping down the ladder and following the others.

No problem was expected with the extra crewman's weight, since they were less weight than the Moon rocks that the Lander had expected to return with.  The lift-off from the Moon went without a hitch and the Lander docked with the crew module after chasing it in orbit.  Mission Control was notified that everything was on schedule and Artemis V fired its engine to push it into the trajectory for the return trip to Earth.

          -          -          -

Reentry, landing, transfer to the escort ship and transfer to NASA all went as planned.

The five astronauts received a hero's welcome

Marjorie looked out over the sea of faces and cameras and there he was at the back. Carl had come! Heedless of the questions from those she pushed through, she made her way to him.

When they met, they hugged a hug like few people have experienced. It was love and longing, fear and happiness and bullets successfully dodged all in one.

Carl said to Marjorie, "When I thought that I had lost you, I didn’t think that I could bear it, but when I heard that you were coming home, I knew that I could not just give you up."

To which Marjorie responded, "And I decided that I love you too much to put you through that again.  I told NASA that this was going to be my last flight mission."