Giovanni was meant to be on that flight.

Is that what it was called? A flight? An Astro-trip? It certainly wasn't a plane ride. So maybe a space ride?

Never mind that. He had to find out the location first. His five bodyguards helped out with that, particularly Antonio. Giovanni had no idea who he called but it worked. The rocket event was taking place at Port Roxane, west of Delaware.

He raced to the bathroom, closet, and kitchen within a span of thirty minutes, hurrying to get prepared. The clock read 9:05 when he rushed over to a suitcase lying open on the floor. He’d been procrastinating unpacking since he returned from Miami two days ago. It was just as well because the case certainly didn't contain anything suitable.

Nevertheless, Giovanni picked out a random shirt and pants. In all his haste, he did not bother to check whether they matched. They didn't.

Next, he found a hoodie and a pair of ripped jeans with the tags still on them. Giovanni vaguely remembered picking it up at Levi's the week before, then hating it. However, preference was not the priority.

Once again, he was reminded of why Antonio was his favorite. The man had two facial expressions in total: a frown and a very rare, very light smile. He was not pleased right now. He wasted no time in showing his disapproval.

"You're right. I look stupid."

Giovanni rushed back to the walk-in closet for a suit instead. His father would have his head on a platter if he went on TV wearing such a ridiculous outfit.

When he got back, room service delivered the spread of food to his living room. Perks of living at the family hotel.

He quickly grabbed two sandwiches and gulped down a glass of orange juice, while buttoning up his waistcoat. "Pete, I need you to drive like a bat out of hell, okay? I can't miss this flight!" he yelled as all six of them exited his penthouse.

Pete and Antonio always rode with him. The other three were to follow in the second Range Rover.

It was 11:35 am when he arrived at the launch pad. Giovanni sighted the AA lady first. She looked pissed. Microphones were shoved in his face. Reporters were swarming the place like moths to a flame. There were about more than different stations and his bodyguards hurried to get them out of his way.

"He's here!" his secretary screamed as he got closer to the rocket thing.

"How you doin', Nicole?"

Her exhaustion cracked through her smile. She must be sick of his bad habit.

"Mr. Gambetti, do you believe that the Inter-Galactic GG-20 is going to save the Earth?" One reporter had managed to get past the police barricade. His tape recorder brushed Giovanni's bottom lip as he eagerly waited for a quote.

Giovanni's mind reeled. The inter-what?

Antonio read his mind and whispered something in his ear. Right! The space rocket. Giovanni cleared his throat. "Sure. Why else would we make it?"

"Is it true that one of the space shuttles of the Gambetti Space and Aeronautics recently came across a spherical entity in space that is suspected to be a new planet?"

He chuckled nervously. Boy, those were a lot of words.

The AA lady came to his rescue. "This way, Mr. Gambetti."

Dr. Foxxman was nowhere near the pad itself when he was led there. Five other nerds were there though, and they did not look so happy.

Giovanni smiled cheekily. To be fair, they had good reason.

Some people believed that money stopped nonsense. Logan would disagree. If anything, it accommodated nonsense.

Otherwise, why would an obnoxious party boy with a fetish for debauchery be on this flight?

Logan could not help glancing at the man with a writhing side-eye. This was not a damn vacation; the fate of the world depended on this trip. What was Mr. Gambetti doing here?

There was no time to state all the reasons his presence was a bad idea, let alone enough time to get him thrown off the shuttle. Logan had a thousand and one things to keep track of— way more important things —so he just fumed silently as his boss picked a seat and strapped himself on.

Logan’s face twisted into a scowl. He could see the man take off his sunglasses, round ones today, when he glanced over his shoulder mere minutes before takeoff.

As he chose a seat to strap himself to as well, his palms fisted at his sides. Try as he may, he could not stop shooting furtive glances in the direction of Mr. Gambetti, his eyes filled with frustration.

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The man's body language spoke volumes— legs apart, arms crossed, shoulders relaxed. He was at home. Logan was not near him, but he leaned away as if trying to create as much distance as possible. Any form of rubbish was justifiable. One just needed to be rich enough.

So that was why on the 14th of January GSA sent out a total of four space shuttles into orbit, along with its CEO who was tagging along doing God knows what.

The average Space Shuttle crew had twelve astronauts per trip. The sole exception was NASAA’s former STS-59-F, which once carried fourteen passengers at once.

The Inter-Galactic GG-20 had been waiting for its biggest investor. That was the final passenger Borja was talking about earlier.

The four space shuttles already housed the necessary astronauts—with one AA in each of them and a sort of mix of the UN representatives from each of the Mission Directorates.

The number of passengers on space flights usually varied per mission. Back when the company was conducting test flights, they only had three members each, the commander, and pilots, who were both qualified pilots that could fly and land the orbiter. The on-orbit operations, however, were conducted primarily by the mission specialists who were specifically trained for their intended missions and systems. Mission specialists were basically non-pilot astronauts aboard shuttles. Besides those specialists on board were pilots, flight engineers and mission commanders.

There were no payload specialists anymore; they used to work for the company paying for the payload's deployment or operations.

The crew compartment, which had three decks and was pressurized and inhabitable, was present on every space shuttle flight. In addition to the commander and pilots’ seats, there were an extra two to four crew seats on the flight deck.

The orbiter's flying controls were located on the flight deck, which was the highest level of the crew compartment. An avionics system was installed on the orbiter to provide information and control while flying through the atmosphere. Microwave scanning beam landing systems, TACANs, accelerometers, radar altimeters, barometric altimeters, attitude indications, Mach indicators, and Mode C transponders were all part of the avionics suite. After they were moving slower than Mach 5, the crew deployed two air data probes during reentry. The orbiter was equipped with inertial measuring units (IMUs) for navigation and guidance throughout the flight cycle.

Radios and transmitters, which allowed for both speech and data transmission, would be used by the crew to communicate while in orbit. Two to four more seats were built up for additional crew members, with the commander occupying the front left seat and the pilot in the front right seat. The flying deck was below the mid-deck. There were three or four crew member chairs there as well as the galley and crew bunks.

The airlock, which could accommodate two astronauts on an Extravehicular Activity (EVA) — any activity performed by an astronaut outside of a spaceship —and provide access to pressurized research modules, was located on the mid-deck.

EVAs may either be tethered (the astronaut was attached to the spacecraft; oxygen and electrical power could be supplied through an umbilical connection; no propulsion was required to return to the spacecraft) or untethered.

Space travel suits have evolved from the initial modified U.S. Air Force high-altitude full-pressure suits, which included a full-pressure helmet during ascent and descent. Space suits were further improved after the most recent NASAA tragedy to ensure the astronauts' safety in an emergency. The environmental control and waste management systems were kept in an equipment bay that was located below the mid-deck.

Everyone had their duty. Mr. Party Freak was only occupying space.

Logan Foxxman's role was to provide high-level counsel and advice on all scientific areas of strategy creation and implementation. He would also concentrate on examining the impact of data, international cooperation, prospective activities, and reviews of scientific operations if they discovered a significant advance while in orbit.

The GSA Astronaut Corps had two ranks. Astronaut Candidate was the rank of persons preparing to become GSA astronauts.

Upon graduation, candidates were promoted to astronauts and given astronaut pins. The pin was available in two grades: silver and gold, with the silver pin going to astronaut candidates who finished astronaut training and the gold pin going to astronauts who have flown in space.

Despite his position at GSA, having worked there for a decade now, Logan had a silver pin. This was his first space travel. No man-child was going to ruin this for him.

Furthermore, there were the pilots, who were trained to fly and operate the space shuttle, including controlling its speed, trajectory, and position in orbit.

His subordinates in the Science and Space Operations Mission Directorates were in charge of performing experiments in a variety of fields, including physics, biology, chemistry, and medicine, to study the effects of space on the human body and to advance scientific knowledge.

There were astronauts responsible for keeping the shuttle in good working order: including performing routine maintenance, repairing any damage that occurred during flight, and ensuring that all systems were functioning properly. They must constantly monitor the shuttle systems to ensure prime functionality, as well as identify and respond to any potential problems.

All aboard must maintain constant communication with mission control on Earth, providing updates on the status of the shuttle and its crew, and receiving instructions and guidance as needed.

The spacecraft mission objectives included a safe departure from the station, followed by a deorbit burn and parachute deployment to slow the spacecraft before splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean, off the Delaware Space Coast.

Building on the achievements of Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy and Space-FX, the InterGalactic GG-20 was working on fully reusable launch vehicles that would be capable of carrying humans to Mars and other destinations in the solar system. Experts at GSA believed that a fully and rapidly reusable rocket was the pivotal breakthrough the world needed to substantially reduce the cost of space access.

Their innovation was similar to SpaceFX's family of Falcon launch vehicles—the first and only orbital class rockets capable of re-flight. Depending on the performance required for the mission, the Inter-Galactic GG-20 could either use their autonomous spaceport drone ships out on the ocean or one of the landing zones near GSA launch pads.

All pre-flight activities have been observed; load the shuttle with fuel, perform final checks on all systems and components, and conduct a crew briefing.

Once those were completed, the shuttle was launched into space, during which the shuttle's engines generated a massive amount of thrust to propel the shuttle into orbit.

As the shuttle ascended into space, the crew monitored its performance and systems. The engines would be throttled back at specific times to manage the forces experienced by the crew and the spacecraft.

However, the shuttle would still need to perform a series of maneuvers to stabilize its orientation and adjust its altitude once in orbit.

To a layman, the entire mission might seem easy. But as the Inter-Galactic GG-20 lifted off the earth, everyone on board knew it was anything but.