Jupiter One, Earth Nothing

The launch was scheduled for mid July. Every day up to the launch was spent checking and double-checking every small detail to ensure the safety of the astronauts, but seemingly more important a successful landing on the moon. It would be the first lunar landing of any human being. Assuming all went well it would be considered man’s greatest accomplishment in all of history.

On launch day tensions were high. It was days like these the tobacco industry looked forward to. Soon after morning everything was complete. The launch went smoothly. There was no falling debris, no system failures, not a problem in any aspect of the launch. A quarter of the success was simply getting through the earth’s atmosphere. At this the scientists and engineers back at mission control were already feeling a slight sense of relief. The next 380,000 kilometers of the journey from the earth to the moon was going to be critical, but with the first hurdle cleared, the mood was incredibly optimistic.

It took the shuttle several days to get to the point in the mission when they began to get ready for the landing. The crew had spent almost a year and a half running through different scenarios in the stationary simulators on the ground, so almost any problem they might encounter could be dealt with by nearly second nature reactions. At 3:00 p.m. mission control sent word to the crew to begin engaging for descent to the moon. The maneuvers took the better part of a full workday. By 8:00 p.m. they were ready for an early morning descent. The plan was to touch down on the moon just as the sun peaked into the valley in which they were destined to land. This would give them a full twelve hours to gather data, collect samples, and make some entertaining videos for the people back on Earth.

Three men in a space shuttle didn’t make for ideal sleeping conditions not to mention the excitement of making history. Not knowing what hazards the moon landing might throw at the astronauts, the scientists in Cape Canaveral wanted to make sure they were well rested. They would settle for decent sleep however.

They woke only two hours before their scheduled decent. In the process of checking all of the instruments, machinery, and suits the crew chief would make small talk between the guys and the folks down on the ground. One discussion was about what they should say when they stepped foot on the moon. Another was about how they would celebrate. Champagne wasn’t an option on a spacecraft so they would settle for the next best thing…hot dogs. On this note, they all remarked that it would be slightly unsatisfying to have to make the dough for buns before they could enjoy the dogs.

Physical space on a shuttle is very limited, so any food that they would have to bring would be either very small in volume or somehow be turned to liquid. By this time hot dogs had become a staple of American society so it only seemed right that this would be their celebratory food. The only problem was that the buns with all the air in them would take up too much room. A simple solution was found. Since yeast is what makes the bread rise and the dough become so massive they would leave the yeast out until they got back into the shuttle after their moonwalk. A small hot plate was packed on the shuttle so they could cook the dough just enough for it to rise and become a little more like what they might get at Coney Island.

Some things were uncertain about the surface of the moon. There was speculation as to whether or not the surface would be hard enough to support the landing craft for a take-off or if the dust blown from the thrusters would congest certain parts of the machinery. Those were all going to be dealt with if a situation were to arise. There were so many unknowns. There was the possibility that even the easiest of tasks might not turn out how it should.

The landing took place with no problems. Within hours the crew was walking on the surface of the moon. As they planted the United States flag in the lunar surface the crew chief declared, “This is one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind”. They spent the next few hours gathering dust and rocks, and taking footage so amazing not even a Hollywood studio could create, to take back to Earth.

At 5 p.m. mission control announced that the crew needed to return to the ship to avoid the sun going down on their lunar operations, since many of the take-off boosters and controls were solar powered. Upon successful ascent the shuttle would make a final circle around the moon for some more footage before their return journey home.

As they rounded the moon back toward Earth, it was officially time for their celebration. The yeast was removed from the storage and mixed with the bread.

“Mission Control, this is Captain Avery. Permission requested from the crew of Jupiter 1 to commence the barbeque.”

“Permission granted Jupiter 1. Let us know if hot dogs in space still make you gain weight.”

Captain Avery placed the raw dough on the hot plate. It would only take 20 minutes for the dough to be risen and crisp enough to wrap the dogs in. After about 5 minutes, the dough had already seemed to rise to the proper size. The immediate assumption was that with the lack of gravity the bread was rising faster than usual.

“Uh, Mission Control, it’s been 10 minutes and the bread seems to be already done. We could market this kind of speed.”

Mission Control advised the astronauts to turn off the plate otherwise they might get bloated with all the air in the buns. An amazing thing began to happen. After the hot plate had been off for 5 minutes, it was still rising. By this time it was nearly double the size of when they originally started cooking it. After 30 minutes it was double the size again. At this, Captain Avery was getting a little worried. Between him and the crew, they started to wonder when it would stop. During the whole ordeal, there was very little feedback from the ground. Finally word came.

“Jupiter 1, we have a theory as to what’s happening. Do you have any of the moon dust in the cabin with you?”

“Yes, and a few rocks.”

“Perfect. Take a little bit of that dust and sprinkle it on the top of the dough.”

When they did this, it was almost as if the blob of dough came to life. It suddenly began to expand faster than it had been. Out of curiosity, the captain took a small rock and threw it into the mass. Now it was the size of a Labrador.

Through communication with Earth, everyone had come to the same conclusion. The residual moon dust on their suits as well as any particles in the air was somehow interacting with the yeast to make it expand. Other than that it was unexplainable. The hope was that with minimal contact with any more moon particles the ship could enter back into the atmosphere before things got out of control. None of those hopes ever became a reality.

With this disaster, the shuttle name Jupiter was retired. The footage that was linked back to Earth was never released to the public for fear that any hope of a successful moon mission would be daunted in the future. As long as the country survived, the American public would never be aware that this even took place.

On September 12th 1962, President John F. Kennedy triumphantly declared that the United States would land on the moon within a decade. It was highly debated among academics whether or not this was actually possible given our limited technology. Everyone was surprised when on July 20th, 1969, with only seven years of preparation and technological advancement; human beings took their first steps on the moon.