Space Oddity

This is Alex McAllister to Mission Control.

It is 0900 hours on Mars,

and the temperature's a balmy negative 40 degrees.

Wind speed, mild 5 knots,

and the radiation reading is on track for an annual 200 mSv.

Final numbers should be coming in through shortly,

but all in all, it is a good day to be on Mars.

Over and out.

This is Mars.

This will be the first colony on Mars.

When we were young, my brother and I would stare at the stars

and dream of the day we became astronauts.

And now that day is here.

I'm going to Mars to write mankind's next chapter.

I will travel there in this.

And then this will be my home.

This is where I'll work, explore,

marry,

pioneer,

and die.

Mars is where I'll die.

Honey, it's not gonna hurt you if you look away for two minutes.

It won't. People will.

- Oh, come on. I don't get to see you that often. - Mom,

- I've been busy. - Oh, you're here already.

- Hi, Lizzie. - Hi, Dad.

Ugh. Wash your hands first, Dad.

Get any sleep?

Walls are low. I'm gonna have to start trucking in water soon.

Or it's time to sell.

What? You said yourself. A drought is coming.

- You need to get out of here. - Nope.

I need someone to take over.

- Hey, can you flip that one? - Mm-hmm.

Clouds cleared. Hey.

Were you outside?

Hey, thanks for coming.

Uh, yeah, anything I can do to fulfill your unreasonable demands.

It was a request.

- Mom made it a demand. - I did not.

Well, I'm grateful you made the impossible journey from the city.

- Alexander. - That's fine, Mom. I didn't hear him.

- You need me to text it to you? - Would that mean I can leave?

- Elizabeth. - Uh, Mom, stop coddling him.

- I don't coddle him. - Can I start?

Oh, yes. Sorry, sorry. Elizabeth.

- Okay. - Shh, shh. Come on, settle.

Okay, here we go.

So, I asked you all here for a reason.

- Mm-hmm. - You need a lift?

- Oh, Mom. - Sorry.

I will not be returning to engineering.

Oh, God, just don't tell me it's a food truck.

I got through to the next round.

- Oh. - Next round of what?

The Mission Mars Space Program.

Um, what the hell is that?

I'm going to Mars.

Mars?

The planet?

Yep, and it's a one-way journey,

so I wanted to tell you all as soon as I knew for sure.

I'm sorry. Are we joking?

No, I'm, I'm going to Mars.

- Like with NASA? - No.

NASA's still, like, 20 years out.

We're gonna be going in ten.

I'm gonna start training soon,

um, in isolation.

So, I wanted to make sure that we all spend

some time together before that happens.

- You really believe this? - Knock, knock.

- The film crew. - The what?

They wanna interview me for the news.

They, they actually wanna talk to you guys too.

- What... other people know about this? - Hi.

- Uh, come in. Uh, I'm Alex. - Mm.

Lisa Kessler, NBC Local News 5. Where can we set up?

- Uh, just over there in the backyard. - Um,

- hi. Lisa Kessler. - Hello.

- Hi. - This is so cute. Okay, great.

This is really charming.

It's them? Oh.

Um, uh...

Oh, I think I could get an Instagram shot here.

You let this happen. Dad?

He's an adult, Liz.

He's lost it.

- - Liz, after the accident,

he spent months just lying in his room,

and now he gets up early.

He goes outside.

- So does it really matter why. - Of course it matters.

Well, how do you know this isn't real?

This is a private company. They have means.

Means to get to Mars?

Do you have any idea what that would cost?

- What kind of technology they would need? - Well, no, but he does.

And he's excited, and he's happy.

- Dad. - I'm gonna get back to work.

- You need to let Alex do this. - Why?

Because whatever gets him out of bed in the morning, we will support.

We will all support him.

Mom, what will people think of us?

Well, your father asked him not to name the farm.

Mom, I think it's a little bit late for that.

Well, then why don't you help him?

Hey, they want a photo of me as a kid.

I was supposed to be on vacation.

- You think one of these will work? - No, not that.

Look, you will refer any interview requests to me.

You will not say, you will not think a word without my approval, okay?

- I don't need a PR person. - Alex, let her.

- All right, Alex. - Hi, Liz. Bailey & Co PR.

- Let's go over the questions. - Oh, okay. Great.

- Okay, three, five. - Get two.

- Morning, Alex. - Hey, guys.

Nice day.

Freeze!

Put your weapons down and your hands up.

She said weapons down and hands up!

- I'm a civilian. - State your name.

Alexander McAllister.

- Your purpose? - Supply pick up.

- Denied. -

- Stop, Blake. - What the...

Shh, shh, guys, be quiet.

Are these marshmallows? You're throwing marshmallows?

No, no, I'm...

- All right, let's see what you got now. - Ah.

There are mini marshmallows, technically.

- Oh, my God. Okay, so that makes it totally normal then. - No.

It, um... That's not what I'm saying.

Just that...

- Um... -

Mini.

- Oh, swinging a miss. -

Slow news day, guys?

You still have one...

in your...

Missed one. Ah.

Ah.

- - Thank you.

You, you know there's kids up there, right?

- I'm... - Really?

'Cause all I see are highly-trained military operatives.

Smooth.

Thanks, Blake.

That's Commander Leehe to you, son.

Okay.

- What am I supposed to say? I don't... -

What family is dahlia pinnata from?

- Asteraceae. - Hm.

Yeah.

And what weeds are in that same family? Alex?

I'm not doing this, Dad.

- - Hey, What's up, Cosmonaut?

- Hey, man, did you get in? - You know it.

- We're on our way, bro. - Oh, I wish it were tomorrow.

Ugh! We'd be the first in line.

Oh, hey, did you see the press conference?

They say we'll even be able to watch the Super Bowl up there.

I don't even watch the Super Bowl now.

Well, you will when we're on Mars, brother. Trust me.

- Packs Nation. -

Hey, any news on training sites yet?

Nah. I'm still betting on Antarctica though.

It's the closest to the real thing.

God, I can't wait.

- All right. Over. - See you, man.

There you go.

There's three more.

Dimitri?

Can you help me with this?

Finally, my time to shine.

Okay, so I need you to hold this on here.

- Yep. - I'm gonna fix these.

What does he do?

Um, ideally, it will

germinate seeds using Martian soil.

But Martian soil is useless now.

That's what I'm trying to find out.

The winters in Russia are the same.

It is impossible to grow plants.

But somehow life finds a way.

That is from Jurassic Park.

It's an old Russian pro... No.