The crew climbed into the ship, filling their respective spots. Major Tom was the last to enter, the last to seat himself, and set the highest in the ship. He was in the capsule that would launch itself towards Mars. They would make a test run, and when all checked out, he would go on to his journey. The new engines should make the voyage only a month long.

Everyone sat in silence as the countdown began, and the systems’ checks were done. The hour slid by rapidly, only Major Tom noticed anything. After all systems were cleared, he jokingly said, “Send me up a drink, would ya?”

The crew within the ship, and in the Launchport laughed. Major Tom had finally relieved the stress that everyone had felt, except for his own. He was only worried that the engine’s might not fire, and would cost Earth too much. They had barely found enough from all the countries to pull this off. Much less attempt it again.

When they were all confident that things were ready for launch, the final countdown began. As soon as it ended, the mighty ship rose off the platform, with nothing wrong. It rose with the powerful thrust of the engines, and they never faltered.

Then, they went into the second stage. They dropped the launch rockets, and started pushing the ship upwards under its own power. It tore through the atmosphere with such a grace and beauty, that the crew within could barely breathe. The ride was smooth, as none had ever been before, and had gone off flawless.

Finally, the gallant ship neared the space dock, just above the stratosphere, and Major Tom’s role came into play. The capsule’s covers were retracted, revealing a small ship with the shining metal of a Greek god’s armor, and almost as strong.

Inside, Major Tom’s fingers flew along the boards, preparing for his final departure from the ship. He had gone over everything three times, just to be positive that the computer agreed with his own readouts. He looked up at the ‘Ready’ switch, and hesitated, only for a second, and pressed it.

The lights throughout the proud ship went to a flashing green, and everyone’s breath caught in their throats. The time was near. He would be going soon. Soaring through the skies of the almost totally unexplored world, and returning.

The second countdown began, and Major Tom’s finger paused over the ‘Launch’ button. The ground crew asked for data and reports for the final clearance. And they were elated with what they received. They all went quiet again, for the final countdown.

4...
3...
2...
1...

The capsule blasted off the ship and soared out into deep space. It was glorious. The engines fired perfectly, and Major Tom was out of sight within an instant. Communications began to get fuzzy, though. Tom was talking about the Earth drifting below him, drifting, falling. Floating weightless. And, then, the final words were spoken to the Ground Crew.

“Give my wife my love.”

They went into a frenzy, they couldn’t get a reply from him. They boosted the power far beyond the capacity of the weak wires, and still yielded no response. The Chief screamed until his voice was hoarse, and then screamed more. Major Tom was his best friend, he would not, could not, allow Major Tom to be lost in space. The images of it were enough to tear his heart out, much less the reality.

The world had been watching along with the Crew. Their television sets were filled with the images of it all. The news had even put a picture of Major Tom in the upper left corner of the screen each time they did an update on his condition. It was always the same.

Unknown.

The boost was not good enough, and the wires finally failed. The stations all around the room began to burst into flames. The sparks flew into the great unknown, and showered down upon the bystanders. One by one, the stations went down in this glorious show. Fireworks had never even come close to competition with them. The beauty of the spectacle, though, was not seen by those who witnessed it. What they saw was much worse.

The death of Major Tom, and any attempts to rescue him.

The world mourned for him, along with the Crews on Earth, and at the spacedock.

His family almost died with him.

Major Tom sat in the capsule, ripping through the cosmos. And he could not help but grin. The magnificence of this limitless void and grabbed a hold of him, and he would never allow it to let him go. He knew what he was meant to do, now. He knew what all his dreams and hard work had been for.

“This is my home...”
“I’m coming home.”