- [first lines]
- Reporter: [watching TV news] ... as the astronauts make the final preparations for their Friday launch to the orbiting Antares spacecraft, from there to Venus and beyond. Today they had their final medical examinations, and they posed for their official portrait in Mission Control. The next few days for the crew will be devoted to saying goodbye to Earth and their loved ones.
- Maddux's Father: Which one are you?
- Maddux's Father: [tired glance as if at child]
- Reporter: The mood here is buoyant but it's clear...
- Maddux's Father: I'm not on this one.
- Maddux Donner: [narrating] My old man called space travel a fool's game. He says human beings are 60% water. They eat, sleep, defecate, can't follow directions, and explode like piñatas when exposed to the vacuum of space. Lately - I've been wondering if he's right.
- Jen Crane: He was making a pass at you.
- Zoe Barnes: He not my type.
- Jen Crane: What? The smart, good-looking, handsome American hero type?
- Maddux Donner: [narrating] Being an astronaut is all about control. From the walk to the launchpad to the final touchdown, you don't want surprises. It's not about fate. It's about planning. In space, there's simply no room for error.
- Maddux Donner: [narrating] Man belongs in space - because of exactly what he brings into the void. We carry the baggage of our past, our fears, our superstitions, our failings. But we also carry our hopes and our dreams. The hard lessons we learned from our lives.
- Maddux Donner: For all our faults, and whether we're guided by our destiny or we guide it ourselves, we're resilient. We can adapt. We can find redemption in the simplest acts of humanity. I've never heard of a robot or a probe that was able to do that.
- [last lines]
- Mission Controller: Antares, you are go for Venus in five, four, three, two, one...
- Paula Morales: [presses button on screen]
- Mission Controller: Ignition...