Atmosphere

In December of 1984, on the day of the accident, Vanessa holds her hand over the hole that shrapnel tore in Griff’s suit. The airlock and the main cabin have returned to normal pressure levels, though, so Vanessa no longer needs to keep her hand in place. She opens the airlock door to the main cabin and drags Griff, who has passed out, inside. She makes her way into the ship through zero gravity and takes off her spacesuit. She then sees Hank’s body. It’s clear that he’s dead. She then sees Steve’s body and realizes that he has also died. From Houston, Joan asks Vanessa to confirm whether Lydia is alive. Vanessa finds Lydia’s body and checks Lydia’s pulse. She is still alive. Before Lydia passed out, she was able to patch the hole in the cabin using a clipboard and duct tape.

In Houston, they determine that Griff and Lydia will need medical attention within the next 10 hours to survive. They believe that the shuttle can make it back to Earth within four or four and a half hours, but Vanessa will have to land the shuttle, something she’s never done before, not even in simulations, because she isn’t a NASA pilot. Vanessa has been hankering for an opportunity to fly, but this isn’t what she had in mind. Mission Control in Houston also determines that the payload bay doors are open, and Vanessa will have to go back outside the shuttle to manually shut the doors. To do that, she’ll have to put her spacesuit on, something that normally requires two people. When Vanessa hears that, she reacts stoically. Joan wishes that she could say more to Vanessa than she can say over the public communication line.