by Marie Jacobs
Astronauts on Pluto
Night Time Adventures A to Z
By Marie Jacobs
Copyright 2013 Marie Jacobs
••One••
Hi. My name is Mark and I am in the fourth grade. Most people would look at me and see a normal kid but at night when I go to sleep there is nothing normal about me. I have the most awesomest dreams a boy could ever dream!! Usually my dreams are about interesting occupations some people have when they grow up like a doctor or firefighter. Only in my dreams I am the doctor or firefighter. Whenever I hear someone talk about a really interesting job they have, I cannot wait to go to bed. I know I am going to have an amazing adventure when I go to sleep.
It all started when I was in the third grade. We were studying the Solar System. My teacher, Mrs. Matthews, was telling us about how astronauts could go into space in rocket ships. Some have even been able to land on the moon. I thought to myself how cool it would be to be able to go up in space and explore some of the planets.
On the playground at recess I was playing with my two bestest friends Nina and Madison. We were pretending to be astronauts and we were flying to Pluto. We were having lots of fun pretending to explore Pluto until our teacher called us to go back to class. Before we lined up I looked at my friends and said, "When I grow up, I am going to be an astronaut." Madison and Nina just laughed as we walked back to the classroom. None of us had any idea what was in store for us.
Later that night as I was getting ready for bed, I was telling my mom all about the Solar System and what we were learning in school. I talked about the planets orbiting the sun. My mom was surprised to learn there are only eight planets. When she was in school, Pluto was considered the ninth planet, but my teacher says it is not a planet. It is a dwarf planet. I am not really sure what that means. I continued to tell my mother all about the universe. I was so excited I almost forgot to brush my teeth, but my mom reminded me. She probably could not understand everything I was telling her since my mouth was full of toothpaste but she listened anyway. When I finished brushing my teeth, mom tucked me into bed and I fell asleep right away. But when I woke up I was in a very strange place...
••Two••
“Mark, do you see that?!” Madison exclaimed. “It’s Pluto. We are finally here.”
“Wow, look how beautiful,” said Nina.
I started to look around not really sure of what was going on. My best friends Nina and Madison were staring out the window of a space ship. Through the window I could see a planet. Nina was right. It was beautiful. But how did we get here? My mind was still really foggy. Am I dreaming?
“Look Mark. It is incredible. This is what we have come all this way for,” Nina said. “Are you excited?”
“Yeah, I am excited,” I said hesitantly. “It is really awesome!”
“Are you kidding? This is the maximum awesomest!!!” shouted Madison.
Madison likes to make up cool words all the time. Maximum awesomest is the word she made up lately. She likes to use it a lot. She made that up about a month ago so I think she will make up another one soon. She changes words often. But I am still trying to figure out what is going on. I guess I will go with it for now.
“So, what are we doing here anyway?” I asked.
“What do you mean what are we doing here,” Nina replied. “We were sent here to try to get pictures of Pluto and its moons. Don’t you remember?”
No, I don’t remember but I don’t want to say so. I mean the last thing I remember is mom kissing me good night. This has got to be a dream right? But it is so real. We are in a space ship and there is Pluto right out my window. Madison and Nina are looking at me kind of strange.
“I remember,” I mumbled. “This is way cool, right you guys?”
I think they believed me because they went back to the window to look at Pluto some more. While they were talking, I looked around. At the front of the spaceship there was a big window. Outside you could see the stars just like on Earth only they were much bigger and brighter. It was the coolest thing I have ever seen! Inside the spaceship there were many gadgets and gizmos (those are the words my mom uses when she doesn’t know what something is). It looks like Madison and Nina know what they are though. They were using them to fly us closer to Pluto.
“Ok, buckle back up you guys. We are going to land this thing,” said Nina.
“You got it,” Madison answered.
I sat down and buckled up and got ready to land on Pluto. Nina and Madison were at the controls. Nina had this funny head set on. Nina is kind of the leader of our little group. I guess it's cause she is older than us by a couple of months.
“Houston, we are preparing for landing,” said Nina.
“Roger that Pluto III. We may lose contact for awhile so we will be standing by. Houston over and out.”
Ok, that was cool. Nina was talking to people on Earth? Wow. This dream is getting better and better.
“Are you ready, Mark,” Madison asked me turning around in her chair.
“I think so,” I said.
Madison said, “Good, let’s get this show on the road.”
••Three••
Landing on Pluto was pretty neat. It was kind of like being in an airplane. Nina and Madison did most of the work but I got to push a few buttons too. There were a lot of buttons. I like to push buttons. I wanted to push all of them but Nina wouldn’t let me. She said if I don’t know what it does don’t touch it. Man, that is all of the buttons. I don’t know what any of them do. But she let me push a few. Anyway, the landing went pretty smooth. After we landed, we had to get our space outfits on. We had these big white suits that were made just for us. Mine fit me perfectly. I looked like a giant marshmallow with a fish bowl on my head. So did Madison and Nina. The fish bowl gave us the oxygen we needed while we were on Pluto. We did not know what kind of air was on Pluto. Our suits were made to make walking on Pluto more like walking on Earth. The suite was really heavy though. I was not sure if I could walk on Pluto or Earth but we would soon find out because Nina was letting down the door.
“Here we go,” said Nina. “Are you guys ready?”
“Are you kidding,” shouted Madison. “I have been waiting for this my whole life!!”
When Nina opened the door, there was a big inflatable slide for us to slide down. It was kind of like one of those big blow up slides you see at some big party with a slide on one side and stairs on the other side to climb back up. We bounced and rolled all the way to the ground laughing and giggling.
I said, “That was cool. Let’s do it again.”
So we ran up the stairs and slid down again and again, until Nina said, “Hey guys. This is not why we are here.”
She was right so we stood up and looked around. It was the most awesomest sight I had ever seen. We just stood there for a few minutes looking at Pluto. We could see the sun in the distance but not like on Earth. It was not as bright and seemed much smaller.
“Houston wants us to collect air samples, rock samples, and soil samples. We also need to see if we can find any water or living creatures,” Nina explained.
Just then Madison let out this loud burp and went flying backwards about ten feet.
“Wow, that was awesome,” exclaimed Madison.
We were all laughing so hard we almost did not see the little creature run by and hide behind a big rock. We stopped laughing and looked at each other.
“W-w-what was that?” I stammered.
“I don’t know but let’s find out,” said Madison.
Madison is not afraid of anything. She went running after the little creature we saw. I looked at Nina. She shrugged and
ran after Madison so I followed too. What could it be? Could there really be something living on Pluto?
Madison ran over to the rock that the creature hid behind. She squatted down and called to the creature. “Come on out little guy. We won’t hurt you.”
To our amazement, the creature came out of hiding and walked right up to Madison. She petted him and he snuggled right into her lap. Nina started snapping pictures.
“He is so soft you guys. Come feel,” Madison said.
Nina and I walked over to get a better look and pet him. He was really soft. But he was also the funniest looking creature I had ever seen. He was small, about the size of a puppy. His face looked like a horse and his feet looked like a duck. But he only had two feet. When he walked his stomach slid along the ground. His fur was an aqua color like the nice part of the ocean we go to for summer vacation.
“Can we keep him,” asked Madison.
“You know we can’t, Madison,” said Nina. “He might not survive on Earth. He was created for this planet.”
Madison slowly put the creature back down. “Yeah, I guess,” she answered. “But we need to give him a name. What should we call him?”
I spoke up, “He looks like a cross between a horse and a duck.”
“How about a Dorse for the species,” said Madison. “You know for duck and horse. And I am going to call this one Bluie."
“That is a good idea, Madison,” said Nina. “Let’s take one more picture of you and him together then we need to get back to work.”
Nina snapped a few more pictures then Madison let the little creature go back to his home. Finally it was time for us to explore.
••Four••
“We need to go back to the ship to get our Roving Vehicles,” said Nina.
Roving vehicles? I perked up at that. I get to ride a roving vehicle? I wondered what a roving vehicle was. I took off running back to the spaceship only something really cool happened. I could run way faster on Pluto than on Earth. Only Madison passed me cause she is like the fastest runner in the whole third grade. On Pluto, she was even faster.
“Did you see that Nina,” asked Madison.
Nina replied, “I did see that. We need to get that on tape. NASA is not going to believe this. How fast do you think you ran?”
“I don’t know. We will have to time it,” said Madison.
“Okay, you find a starting point and an ending point and I will set up the camera,” said Nina. “Mark, you can find the timer.”
“Sure,” I replied. “Here it is. Are you ready Nina?”
Nina answered, “I'm ready, how about you, Madison?”
“Ready,” called Madison
“Okay, Mark. You say go,” said Nina
“On your mark,” I say in my best announcer's voice. Madison looks at me and giggles and Nina just slaps her head and groans. “Get set...Go,” I yelled.
Madison dug in and started running while I timed her and Nina filmed her. Only it was very hard to keep up with her. Wow, she can run fast especially on Pluto. When Madison got to her ending point she ran back over to see what we had figured her speed at.
“You are not gonna believe this,” I said. “You were going 60 miles per hour. That is as fast as a car on the highway!”
“No way!” exclaimed Madison.
“Yes way,” I said. “Just look.”
I showed her and Nina the time clock and they just shook their heads. I mean 60 miles an hour is kind of incredible.
“That is pretty amazing,” said Nina.
“Wow. I am fast!” Madison says.
As we were thinking about what we just saw, we started walking back toward the spaceship.
Soon we would get to ride the roving vehicles, whatever that was, while we were exploring Pluto. I couldn't wait to see it.
Nina let down another door on the spaceship and inside were three vehicles that look like giant four wheelers. Awesome. The tires were about the size of tires you would put on those big monster trucks only just a little smaller. There were several places on the RV (that is what I decided to call the roving vehicle) to store samples that we found. All three of us climbed up on our RV’s. Mine was red cause that was my favorite color. Madison’s was blue and Nina’s was green. We started riding out to collect samples in the special containers that NASA supplied for us. We decided it would be best if we all ride together instead of splitting up. We were in a strange place that had never been explored before. We were not sure what we would find.
••Five••
We rode for about an hour then got off the RV and started collecting our samples. I saw some really cool looking rocks so I picked them up. At home I have a rock collection. I have always liked collecting rocks. I have rocks from several places in the United States. I have different gems and minerals in my collection. Madison and Nina collect rocks too. These rocks didn’t look like the ones I had at home. These rocks were black like coal on the outside but purple, pink, and blue mixed up on the inside. It was way cool. I ran over to show them to Nina and Madison.
“Look what I found you guys,” I said. “Aren’t they great?”
Madison picked up one of the rocks and asked, “Where did you find these. Look at them Nina. They are so pretty.”
I just rolled my eyes. They are cool not pretty. Girls always use that word pretty but not boys.
“Let’s put some of them in this container to take back to NASA. They will want to experiment with them,” said Nina. “Mark, can you fill this container with those rocks?”
“Sure,” I replied.
I took the container Nina handed me and walked back over to where I found the rocks. I filled the container and then put a few in the pocket on the front of my space suit. I wanted to take some of them home with me. Madison and Nina put some in there pockets too.
Nina said, “Now I am going to fill this container with air.” She pulled another container out of her RV and opened the lid. “There. Now we have rock samples and air samples. Madison, see if you can collect some dirt in your container.”
“Okay,” replied Madison. She squatted down and dug into the dirt on Pluto. “Here you go, Nina.”
“Thanks Madison,” said Nina.
“Now we have to go find some water right?” I asked Nina.
“Right,” she said.
So we loaded back up on our RV’s and rode a little farther away. Riding our RV’s was really cool. We rode over hills and big rocks. No matter what we came to our RV could ride right over it. This was the best four wheeler ride I have ever been on! We raced over the rockiest ground I had ever seen. We were really having the time of our lives.
Suddenly, Nina stopped ridding. Madison and I turned around and rode up to her.
“What is it,” asked Madison.
“Look there,” Nina said pointing. “Doesn’t that look like ice?”
“It does,” I said. “Let’s go.”
We took off riding in the direction Nina was looking. When we got closer we found what looked like a giant waterfall that had been frozen. It was amazing. I wondered if Pluto was warm enough for part of its year to have running water or was it closer to the sun at one time. This was an awesome discovery.
“Nina, are you filming this,” asked Madison.
“Yes, I am. Isn’t this cool?”
“You are not kidding,” said Madison. “I will see if there is a way to collect a sample.”
“Great idea, Madison.” said Nina.
Madison took out an ice pick and was able to get a sample of the ice to send back to NASA.
“Well, we have gathered dirt, rocks, and air samples. We have found water. We found a really cool creature that lives on Pluto. Does this mean our mission is finished,” I asked.
“I'm afraid it does,” answered Nina sadly.
••Six••
The ride back to the spaceship was not as enjoyable as the ride to ge
t the samples had been. We were a little sad to be leaving. This was a really cool experience and it was about to be over. But about half way back to the spaceship my RV started sputtering. I was not sure what was wrong with it so we kept going. Then, my RV just stopped.
“Hey you guys. What’s wrong with my RV,” I asked.
“I’m not sure. Let me check it out,” said Nina.
Nina got off of her RV and walked over to look at mine. “I think it might be out of fuel,” she said.
“Oh no. What do we do,” I asked.
Nina replied, “Don’t worry. I have some water pills in my RV.”
“Water pills,” asked Madison.
“Yes,” said Nina. “Our roving vehicles run off of hydrogen. NASA formulated a special pill for us to use on our vehicles. We just drop a couple of these in the tank and we are on our way again. Madison and I had better put a couple in ours also.”
Nina put water pills in everyone’s RV’s and we started on our way again. We tried to make it fun by having races and jumping rocks and stuff but we were really sad to be going back.
“I wish I could see Bluie one more time before we go,” said Madison.
“Maybe we will spot him before we leave,” I told her. But we didn’t see Bluie or any more Dorse before we made it back to the ship. Madison was really disappointed, but we needed to leave. We had been out of contact with NASA for several hours and they would be waiting to hear from us. Our mission was over. We loaded up the roving vehicles and walked slowly up the stairs to the spaceship. We were so sad we didn’t even try to slide a few more times before we left. Nina closed the door of the spaceship and we got out of our space suits. I put the rocks I found on Pluto into my pants pocket so I would not loose them. Nina stored the samples we collected and we all got ready to leave Pluto.