and this is the mars mission control room, nicknamed "micker." i understand a comm packet is incoming from mars one base camp, so you may find this interesting.
smiles indulgently at the ambassador's misunderstanding.
no, actually, that's jim mcconnell, the capcom. our voice link to the astronauts? jim's been with the manned mars program since its inception. one of our real pioneers.
ah, no. this is as close as he gets.
then, at 1417, the x-band continuous data stream from mars went silent. all data -- med, environmental, everything -- suddenly stopped. while we were trying to figure out what the hell went wrong, we got a signal from the folks at the large array at soccoro.
the level of energy in the pulse.  didn't seem survivable.
the message is almost indecipherable. two teams are still working on it. you better see for yourselves.
if this was a earthquake, as we're now assuming, there's usually an auditory component.
well, so far our modelling says it should be in pretty good shape.
whoa, slow down. it's gonna take us weeks just to analyze this data.
luke may already be dead. and even if he's not, it's doubtful he's going to be able to transmit again. so we wouldn't know whether it's safe to land until you were almost there.
we're getting ahead of ourselves. you're forgetting the bigger problem. the orbits are all wrong. our first decent launch window is almost eight months from now.
on paper, yeah. but those stresses have never been tested in space.
i wasn't thinking of just the ship.
give me an updated mission plan by 0800 tomorrow. then i'll put it in the works.
what do you mean? bjornstrom can be up here on the next shuttle.
i haven't been given authorization for a mission yet.
he's no longer on mission status.
he washed himself out. he only had to pass a few more psych evaluations, but he refused to take them.
everybody has to pass the psych prelims. no exceptions. jim knew that.
that was his call. but i had to make one too. it was tough as hell, but i'd do it again.
i couldn't trust him!
not in a crisis.  i'm sorry woody, but jim lost his edge. are you gonna stand there and tell me jim mcconnell is the same man he was two years ago? you want me to bet four more lives on that?
we're going to continue analyzing this data and try to determine what the problem is with those images. frankly, we're just as stumped as you guys, but we'll keep on it. we agree that the evidence of the graves is inconclusive and that a ground search is advisable. be aware there are little sand storms kicking up near mars one base, but the big one you spotted is turning south. it shouldn't be a factor.
we're all pretty excited here and we're sure you must be feeling the same. enjoy your meal and get a good night's sleep. we anticipate that tomorrow morning you will be go for mars orbital insertion.
god bless you and goodnight. end of transmission.
data?
crashed?
when?
they used the remo as a lander.
it's mcconnell, it's got to be! nobody else could have pulled this off. son of a bitch! they're alive.