As the sun rose over the flat plains of Merritt Island in Florida on July 16th 1969 the sea mist rolled out revealing the landscape. People had gathered all along the coast with tents and chairs, picnics and dreams waiting for the moment. Together humanity anxiously watched as it unfolded. The time crept up closer and closer until at last it was about to happen. These were the first steps of a journey spanning to the end of time. Everything began here.
The TARDIS faded into existence just on the edge of the Kennedy Space Center, just on the edge of the safety limit and the Doctor stepped out with a big grin lighting up his face. He stepped aside.
'Brilliant! Martha!' he called out. 'You're going to like this.' Excited Martha stepped from the TARDIS, the thrill of stepping out the TARDIS into a completely new world, never knowing what would be next, she would never get used to this feeling. Looking out she saw the nearby silhouette of the tall structure in the middle of the landscape pointing out to the stars.
'Is that Apollo 11?' she asked.
'The one and only!' he smiled at her, there was sparkle in his eyes as his spoke. 'This is the beginning, humanity exploring the space it all starts here with these three men. The story begins now.' Faintly carried by the summer breeze she heard the chant of the thousands who had come to witness the event. The Doctor ran inside quickly returning just seconds later with two camp chairs. 'Chair?' The Doctor put the chair down behind Martha who sat down next to the Doctor in his. 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11,
'10, 9, 8,' The Doctor and Martha joined, '7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0!' Perfectly in time with the crowd a large stream of smoke poured from the Saturn V boosting Apollo 11 up into the the atmosphere. The crowd were silent in awe of the scale of the event as the spacecraft disappeared into the sky. When it was no longer visible a huge cheer erupted from the launches audience and inside the buildings teams congratulated themselves on the successful launch clapping and patting each other on the back. Meanwhile the Doctor looked to Martha beaming but she was still quietly taking it all in until at last she spoke.
'Can we watch them?' she asked the Doctor raised an eyebrow so she clarified. 'The moon landing I mean?' The Doctor grinned at her.
'Of course we can! Got to be careful though, make sure we're not seen. Don't want your lot believing there's life on the moon. Well not yet.' he added quietly. Martha gave him a questioning look but she knew he wasn't going to explain to her so she let it go for now. 'Allons-y' The Doctor said ignoring the look and disappearing back into the TARDIS. Martha followed him inside taking one last look around at the excited crowd and empty launchpad. She was so unbelievably lucky only a handful of humans had ever set foot on the moon and here she was about to go a second time; not just that though, she got to see the start, travel through time with the Doctor and see days that had already been. Bring to life the people that had gone.
As soon as Martha had stepped into the TARDIS and closed the doors, the TARDIS dematerialized into the time vortex. The swirling purple blue of vortex, the strings of time together creating a passage through time and space leading to anywhere, any time. The TARDIS span through the vortex until dropping back into existence with ease into a large crater in the sea of tranquility. Almost immediately the Doctor stepped out onto the surface of the moon in a bright orange spacesuit followed, if a little tentatively by Martha in a more traditional white suit with a large domed helmet. She bounced slowly over to the Doctor laughing at the absurdity of her situation. Although she had visited the moon before there was nothing like actually stepping out onto its surface.
'This is amazing.' she said quietly. The Doctor nodded still grinning. He leaped along around in the low gravity. She tried to follow him but was uncertain on her feet. It was a weird experience.
'Doctor.' she called. 'Wait up.' The Doctor turned seeing Martha hadn't quite mastered the art of the moon walk he returned to her side.
'Just like a horse.' he tried to explain. 'Like you are leaping over a hurdle.' Martha tried with more success this time traveling a much greater distance and landing elegantly on the planets surface. The Doctor joined her smiling. 'Now you're getting it! Do you want to go and watch the moon landing then?' Martha nodded still proud of her jump and together they crossed the surface of the moon over to the landing sight.
As Neil Armstrong took that first step on the moon the Doctor and Martha watched from the sidelines, the beginning of the human races journey to the stars. Everyone would look back on this moment, this man, inspiring the world...
That's one small step for man, One giant leap for mankind.