SPACE-Station Alpha 2-1 was the oldest space-station in orbit around the Earth. It had been one of NASA's most advanced satellites launched in 2020. But almost fifty years later, it was now obsolete and no longer in use. Its sister satellites had all been decommissioned and dismantled, but Alpha 2-1 remained. It was still owned by NASA, but it had been converted into a museum so that people could come and see what life in space used to be like.

The man behind the idea to convert the space-station into a museum was a Colonel Hank Jameson. He had been the commander of Alpha 2-1 in the last ten years of its operating life and knew it better than any other astronaut had done. It had taken a lot of persuasion for the Board of Directors at NASA to allow permission for the space-station to be converted into a museum but eventually they relented. It wasn't so much that it would give away any of their former secrets, but because due to the age of the space-station, it might be dangerous. However, Jameson had gone to great lengths to make sure that it passed a typical NASA safety test before it could receive its first guests.

The idea of a space museum was greeted enthusiastically by the general public and soon ticket sales went through the roof. Now Space-Station Alpha 2-1 was receiving four sell-out tours seven days a week. Two brand-new space shuttles were built to carry up to twenty people at a time – the space-station could only hold so many people for what was only a ninety-minute tour. In total it was a three-and-a-half-hour round trip from Cape Kennedy. The journey to the space-station itself took just under an hour both ways with the shuttles passing at the halfway point.

Space-Station Alpha 2-1 had been receiving visitors for over a month now and had already been visited by over 1,000 people. On this particular day, Shuttle 1 had arrived right on schedule and docked with the station. Amongst the passengers was a family from London – Henry Brown, his wife Mary, daughter Judy and her younger brother Jonathan. For Jonathan, visiting the space-station was a dream come true for he wanted to be an astronaut when he grew up. In fact, the only reason they were there was because Jonathan had persistently nagged his father to get them tickets. Henry had eventually relented, but wasn't too impressed when Mary decided to turn it into a family outing. Judy wasn't impressed either. All she wanted to do was to stay at home with her boyfriend rather being dragged along to what she called 'A Nerd's World'.

"Oh, Henry, isn't it amazing?" gasped Mary gazing out of one of the space-station's windows at the Earth below. "This reminds me of our first picnic under the stars."

"Yes, well the sooner we're back on Earth the better," Henry retorted. "I'm not a confident flyer as you know, but this is rather too much for me."

"Are you having fun, Pumpkin?" Mary asked Judy.

"No, I am not!" Judy replied crossly. "And please stop calling me that! It's so embarrassing."

"Oh, come on, this is so awesome!" Jonathan cried running along the corridor and trying to bounce himself off the walls.

"Jonathan, don't do that!" barked Henry. "You'll hurt yourself and may even damage parts of the space-station. We're not getting billed for anything you've done."

"But if I'm going to be astronaut I need to know how to be able to float," Jonathan protested.

"Well you're not going to be an astronaut," said Judy grumpily.

"You can be whatever you want, Peanut," said Mary which made Jonathan feel much better.

Just then the PA sounded. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your stewardess speaking. We are nearing the end of our visit so could all visitors please return to the shuttle. Thank you."

"At last," Henry said. "Come on everyone. Back to the shuttle."

"Aw, really?" complained Jonathan. "But I want to go round again."

"No, you can't go round again, Jonathan," said Henry firmly. "We're not getting left behind, now come on!"

The Browns were the last to reach the Boarding Tube. Henry and Mary led the way with Judy following. She was about to enter the tube when she realised something. Jonathan wasn't there. Sighing heavily, she turned round and hurried off to find him – without warning her parents.

She soon found Jonathan trying to climb into one of the space-station's cryotubes. "What the hell are you playing at?" Judy snapped grabbing her brother and dragging him away. "That shuttle isn't going to wait for us!"

"Why do you have to spoil my fun?" grumbled Jonathan.

Henry and Mary were oblivious to the fact their children weren't with them as they boarded the shuttle.

"How was your trip, Mr Brown?" asked the stewardess.

"Oh, it was amazing, thank you," said Mary, knowing that Henry would only grumble. "The kids loved it. Haven't you, darlings?"

There was no response from either of the children. All three looked round and realised they weren't there.

"Where the hell are they?" Henry demanded.

"Oh, God, Jonathan must've wandered off," sighed Mary. "Look, there they are! Judy's found him."

"I'm sorry about this," Henry apologised to the Stewardess.

"It's okay," the stewardess replied. "There's still a couple of minutes before we're due to depart."

Judy could see her parents waving to them from the shuttle. "You see?" she said to Jonathan. "I told you they'd be worried."

Jonathan said nothing. He just sulked as he followed his sister to the boarding tube.

Suddenly there was a loud THUD and the space-station began to shudder and shake. The boarding tube shook as well which caused the shuttle to as well. Red lights began flashing and alarms started ringing. Something was wrong – very wrong.

5! (DUN)

4! (DUN)

3! (DUN)

2! (DUN)

1! (RUMBLE)

*Thunderbirds theme plays*

"THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO!"