10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Takeoff. The smoke from the shuttle engulfed Kennedy Space Center as it took off into outer space. The only things inside the shuttle were Craig and Annie, and only one of them was human. Craig was an astronaut; A male in his mid-30’s who lived in Cincinnati, Ohio with his wife Lisa. Annie was Craig’s co-pilot and fellow astronaut. When not on a mission, Annie lived in the Washington Centre for Intelligent Animals. Annie was a chimpanzee, and furthermore, she was the smartest chimpanzee on Earth, and Craig hoped that her intelligence would pay off as they rocketed past the Earth’s atmosphere. Craig was awestruck as the shuttle reached past the last layers of the Earth, and Annie was hooting with excitement as the view of 100 million stars came about. A big, metal object then blocked their view, and Craig realized that it was the International Space Station, their destination. They were headed there to repair a intermittent solar panel that transmitted data back to Earth. Craig just hoped that they would make it there guardedly. Craig was in the midst of his mid-flight nap when the beeping started.He opened his eyes and jolted up as his hands darted to the control panel. He located the source of the beeping; It was the movement radar. Craig had just enough time to see the little flashing dot on the screen disappear before a piece of space junk hit the starboard side of the shuttle. Annie woke up with a start and started screeching, but Craig could barely hear her over the chaotic beeping of all the system warnings. He turned autopilot off and took hold of the joystick. He then attempted to control the space shuttle manually, but it was of no use; The shuttle just plummeted through the vacant nothingness of space, pushed only by the touch of Earth’s gravity. First the lights went out, and then the engines shut off. Craig felt the dread build up in him. He knew for a fact that they
