Queen of Outer Space

Neal,what do you suppose the mission is?

Send Captain Patterson and his crew in.

Yes, sir.

Go in, please.

Good morning, gentlemen.

Professor Konrad,

Captain Patterson,

Lieutenant Cruze,

Lieutenant Turner.

How do you do, Professor. We're honored, sir.

It's a pleasure, gentlemen.

I have a mission for you, Captain.

You're to ferry Professor Konrad to Space Station A.

You disappointed, Captain?

The mission not important enough for you?

Oh, it isn't that, sir.

Well, anything Professor Konrad does is important.

Space Station A is his brainchild.

He fought for it. He built it.

It's just that, um,

we were hoping for a crack at the exploratory orbit around Mars.

You'll get it. You and your men have earned the chance.

But this mission is of the gravest importance.

There are indications of serious trouble up there.

Professor Konrad will tell you about it when you're underway.

Until then, you're not even to discuss this with anyone.

Yes, sir.

Departure at 1400.

Your navigational data is being checked out.

Good luck, gentlemen.

At ease.

Doctor.

Lieutenant.

Lieutenant.

Pleasure, Captain.

A lousy milk run.

And we're stuck with it.

Look, we're the guys who made the first orbit around the moon.

We're not ordinary space jockeys.

They got freighters for that routine stuff.

You heard what the Colonel said.

This is a mission of the gravest importance.

What's important about a taxi run

to that bus depot up there?

Bus depot?

Oh, I'm sorry, sir. I, uh...

No, no, Lieutenant. It's a good name for it.

It is a way station in space.

Spinning tirelessly 10,000 miles above our earth,

where travelers in space can take on oxygen, fuels,

supplies of all kinds for their journeys

to the far reaches of the universe.

Cruze: Yes, sir.

Welcome aboard, doctor.

Thank you, Captain.

Excuse me, sir. They're still fueling the second stage.

The liquid oxygen.

I should know.

I've seen enough of these rockets blow up in my time.

Departure on time, Captain?

Yes, we'll be ready. Our navigation is all preset for us--

recorded on tape and fed into our autopilot.

I still want Lieutenant Turner to check it, though.

Hey, where is that guy?

Where else?

Oh, but, Larry, spaceships are dangerous.

I mean, what if it should get lost up there

or blow up or something?

Oh, I wouldn't know what to do without you.

I'm sorry, baby, but I don't have any other choice.

I'm the navigator, and they can't make a move without me.

He's saying good-bye to a friend.

Lieutenant Turner, report to the ship on the double.

Oh, Larry.

On the double, Lieutenant!

So long, honey. Don't do anything I wouldn't do.

Bye.

Thanks.

That was a pretty dirty trick

if you don't mind my saying so, uh, sir.

Come on. Let's get this show on the road.

Take a look over that flight plan again.

Ready, Professor? It's almost takeoff time.

Ready, Captain.

Starfire to control room, ready to take off.

Zero plunge...

20...

19...

18...

17...

16...

15...

14...

13...

12...

11...

10...

9...

8...

7...

6...

5...

4...

3...

2...

1...

Fire.

Are you all right, doctor?

Yes. Yes, I'm all right.

First stage burnout 2 seconds late.

Second stage... Right on the nose.

We should be on predicted course and speed.

Good. Verify it with the base.

Yes, sir.

Let's take a look at your baby.

Fine. Fine.

There it is.

Your way station in space.

A few hours cruising, and we'll be there.

How many times have you made this run, doctor?

A hundred or more, I should say.

I fought for the idea of a space station for many years,

but it wasn't until that memorable day in 1957,

when the first satellite was rocketed into space,

that I got any support.

22 years ago...

July 1963...

We put the first materials for the space station

into orbit around the earth.

22 years ago,

the first brave men stepped out into space...

With 10,000 empty miles beneath them,

to assemble that material.

Dr. Konrad, the Colonel said

there were indications of serious trouble up there.

What did he mean?

They've made some disturbing observations

from the space station.

Apparently, we have some deadly neighbors in outer space.

The earth may be in mortal danger.

Captain, there's something strange going on out there.

Some sort of a beam.

What is it?

A beam, a ray... Energy of some kind...

God knows what.

It's gone! It just blew up!

Men. Good men on her.

Captain, it's coming towards us.

Hang on!

Prepare for maximum acceleration.

It's overtaking us!

It looks like snow.

That ain't snow, Mike. That's angel hair.

Huh?

We done died and gone to heaven.

Captain.

Give me a hand here, men.

Captain's been hurt.

His head's cut.

This must be what hit him

when all that stuff was flying around the cabin.

It's a small cut.

It may have been a concussion.

Where are we?

I was afraid you might ask that, Captain.

Lieutenant Turner here says we're in heaven.

Mr. Cruze doesn't seem to agree.

I myself would vote for Alaska.

Alaska?

It's a bad joke, my boy.

I have no idea where we are.

But first things first. How do you feel now?

Oh, I'm all right.

Ooh! Besides a headache.

Captain, what hit us?

The same thing that blasted the space station, I guess.

It picked us up like a chip of wood in a flash flood.

That it did.

Automatic landing controls must have worked perfectly,

or we'd be splattered over a hundred acres.

Did you get a report off the base?

No. The radio's knocked out, both transmit and receive.

Captain, are we back on earth?

Easy enough to find out.

Larry, would you see if the artificial gravity is still working?

Yeah, it's working.

Turn it off.

.887.

Then we're not on earth.

I tell you, we're in heaven.

Take a look at that speed indicator.

Over a hundred miles a second.

We could have been going twice that fast.

Or 10 times that.

We could be almost anywhere.

Uh, what about Mars?

Mars has polar snowcaps.

It also has a surface gravity of .38.

We'd all be bouncing around like ping-pong balls.

Why don't we check outside?