alternatehistory.com

# Introduction
# March 1985

Jim Ketty leaned back in his seat and remembered the first time he had ever seen a spaceship. He had been seven at the time, and his parents had driven all the way down to San Diego so he could see the new Apollo moon lander be unveiled at the Convair Astronautics plant. Later, he skipped out of junior high to take the bus to Pasadena and watch that first landing on the big screen outside of Mission Control. That grainy, monochrome sight of Grissom, Armstrong, and Lovell bouncing across the Sea of Serenity still sent chills down his spine.

A violent forward bump broke Jim's reverie, as the exhausted first stage fell away so as to parachute into the ocean. After a few seconds of weightlessness, the ring of rockets on the second stage ignited and pushed Jim back again. Ah well, he though, I'll get more than my share of microgravity in just a few minutes. First, there was the week-long trip to Station Beta at Earth-Moon L2, followed by two weeks of "orientation" at the Station. Then they'd finally board the Discovery and set off for the six-month trip (though most of that would be with centrifugal "gravity").

It all still seemed surreal to Jim, but here he was: Mission Specialist 2 on the first manned mission to land on the planet Mars.
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