Red Planet

By the year 2000, we'd overpopulated, polluted and poisoned our planet...

...faster than we could clean it up.

We ignored the problem for as long as we could but were kidding ourselves.

By 2025, we knew we were in trouble...

...and began to desperately search for a new home: Mars.

For the last 20 years, we've sent unmanned probes with algae...

...bioengineered to grow there and produce oxygen.

We'll build ourselves an atmosphere we can breathe.

And for 20 years it seemed to work. It looked like we'd pulled it off.

Then all of a sudden, oxygen levels started to drop.

We don 't know why.

The international community has thrown all its resources behind us.

It's the greatest undertaking man has ever attempted.

Our ship, Mars-1 , is too massive to launch from the surface of the planet.

We've shuttled to the high-orbit space station...

...for a low-gravity launch to begin our six-month trip:

The first manned mission to Mars.

The hope and survival of mankind rests on us.

But I know we'll solve the problem.

Because the best scientific minds are going there to find the answer.

And I'm leading the mission.

I'm Bowman, pilot and mission commander.

Chantilas, chief science officer and the soul of the crew.

Santen, a hothead, but a fine copilot.

Gallagher, our mechanical systems engineer. Maintenance.

Frankly, not my first choice.

The two civilian members of the team are:

Burchenal, one of the world's leading bioengineers, his own greatest hero.

Pettengil...

... terraforming expert and last-minute replacement on the science team.

And packed away in her box, AMEE:

Autonomous Mapping Exploration and Evasion.

A multi-task robot on loan from the Marines.

In other words, our Mars surface navigator.

We're the first travelers to another planet.

It's another giant leap for mankind...

...and if we don 't find out what's wrong on Mars, it could be our last.

Alpha Mach lndicator.

-Clear. -Confirmed.

That concludes the primary systems checklist, commander.

-Thanks, Lucille. -You're welcome.

Gentlemen. . .

. . .take over.

-Can't believe we're doing this. -Just follow the routine.

Secondary systems. OHS/RCS.

-Clear. -RCS, confirmed.

-Optical alignment sight. -Op sight, rate 19.

How many hits you get on your website yesterday, Pettengil?

-I got 500,000. -That's great.

How many did you get?

A TU, 13. 6 degrees.

832.

All from your mother?

You know, it's strange. It's gone.

Yesterday I could see it. Today I looked and I couldn't find it.

So what? You think the Earth just vanished? It's gone forever?

-It's weird not being able to see it. -Yeah, so it's weird.

You'll get over it, or you won't.

Just something I wasn't expecting, that's all.

Up for a couple of turns around the campus?

My grandfather taught me to sail when I was a kid.

Taught me to read the stars.

"Just in case all the GPS satellites fell out of the sky," he said.

He said, "Any man who puts his life. . .

. . .in the hands of a bunch of batteries is an idiot. "

A real Yankee.

No, he just wouldn't approve something he couldn't build with his hands.

-He wouldn't have approved of this. -Going to Mars?

He'd say we were headed for trouble.

Say we didn't try.

We just finished poisoning the Earth. . .

. . .and everyone was dead in 1 00 years.

Then what was the point of any of it?

Art, beauty, all gone.

The Greeks. The Constitution.

We've been dying for freedom, ideas.

None of it meant anything?

And what about religion? Do we give up on God too?

You didn't just give up being a scientist one day, did you?

I realized science. . .

. . .couldn't answer any of the really interesting questions.

So I turned to philosophy.

Been searching for God ever since.

You're talking to a classroom of second graders from lowa. At 1 4:30.

Wait a minute. It's your turn to do the kiddies.

Oh, no. It is your turn, and you know it. Besides. . .

. . .I outrank you. I could order you to do it.

Just because they promote faster in the Navy.

Of course they do. You have to when you deal with the best people.

1 4:30, with a smile on your face.

This mean you're pulling rank for the shower too?

No, not rank.

Gender. Ladies first.

Could you pass me the towel, please?

Sure. Sorry.

Just pretend I'm your sister.

I have two sisters. They don't look like you.

This only works if we both believe it doesn't matter.

-So I should pretend you're Burchenal. -It could matter more than that.

Why don't we practice? You can get back in the shower naked. . .

. . .and come out, and I'll pretend it doesn't matter.

Why don't you go fix something?

Yes, sir. Ma'am.

-MEV systems check confirmed. -I'll be on the deck with Bowman.

-Yep, sure. -500,000.

832. Tighten up.

Get ready, boys.

I hate him. It's like high school.

There's the jocks and then us. You watch my back, I'll watch yours.

Do you want to help me with AMEE?

It's time for her prelaunch diagnostics check.

Hang on. Who are you kidding? You're a jock.

You did the NASCAR circuit, right?

I was just tuning cars. Wasn't really jock stuff.

-It's heavy. -Ears are still ringing.

What powers this thing?

A helium nuclear power cell.

Size of a beer can, runs her for eight months.

Hey, sweetie.

Sweetie? ls she our navigator or your girlfriend?

-Been a long flight. -Certainly has.

It's looking good. Let's check your Tl.

Tighten up!

So the military removed her reflexes?

That should make her your kind of girl.

Gut him like a fish.

Kill him.

That's my kind of girl.

That's real damn funny.

-Activity strictly prohibited. Cease. -She could've hurt me.

They took away her knife, but inside she's all Green Beret.

Back in navigator mode. You'll dig Mars.

So have a good time...

...and I hope to see you back on Earth soon. Good luck.

We miss you.

Bye.

209 web messages remaining.

Hey, Teddy. Remember me?

Sure hope you haven 't forgotten your old friends...

...now that you're a big hotshot astronaut.

Just letting you know I'm thinking about you.

I sense an irregular humidity mixture.

How you doing?

Fine. Soon as someone explains to me. . .

. . .why a flight deck indicator says the temperature is above normal.

About 1 0 degrees.

Fahrenheit or centigrade?

He's teaching me about biology.

-I've developed an interest in-- -Fermentation?

A billion dollars in this mission, and you use the lab equipment as a still?

No. I'm. . . .

I'm sterilizing.

And how do you propose that I explain to Houston. . .

. . .that two of my crew went blind drinking moonshine vodka?

Very carefully?

So, what? Doesn't this establishment serve women?

Allow me.

Commander Bowman.

I learned how to drink in the Navy, boys.

Chantilas, there were frogs around when you were a kid, right?

Lots.

And then we killed them. Every last one.

Now, since frogs breathe through their skins. . .

. . .they react to the toxins in the environment more rapidly.

That should've been a warning. Don't you think?

Your point?

Man's a party animal. If he's doing okay, then nothing else matters.

That won't change.

Unless there are larger forces at work than biology.

We're going to talk about God now? lf we are, I'll need another pop.

Not God. . .

. . .faith.

I had a girl named Faith. Cheated on me with a girl named Chastity.

You wouldn't be riding 309 million kilometers. . .

. . .into outer space and back. . .

. . .in a rocket ship that nobody ever tested properly. . .

. . .without having a little faith.

Let's forget all the hypotheticals for a second, okay?

I say. . .

. . .to hell with humanity. I say, Commander Bowman. . .

. . .when we get to Mars, we just take it.

We just take it over for ourselves.

Call Earth, tell them it sucks and don't bother coming?

Yeah. Whatever keeps out the riffraff.

You can do the religion thing.

Gallagher, you can keep the space john working, and. . .

. . .Pettengil's passed out. . .

. . .and I can handle pretty much everything else, you know.

King.

What about me?

Well, you'll be my queen.

Propagation of the species.

It's just a. . . .

It's just a joke. Commander Bowman, it was a. . . .

And on that note, gentlemen, I suggest we retire.

Mars-1 , Houston. You have acquired orbit.

Congratulations on 182 days of smooth sailing.

And welcome to Mars. Houston out.

Found a good parking space?

Yep. Right between Phobos and Deimos.