Ah, summer's officially here. Too bad we don't have a pool at our house anymore :'(

On Monday evening, Craig arrived for the second day of Space Camp and saw Kevin standing behind the huge crowd. "You're not up front today," he greeted him.

"Hi, Craig. I was early again, but everyone was already here."

"Must be something big tonight."

"Hello, boys and girls," said the instructor. "In 1977, the Voyager spacecrafts were launched with the intent to explore our solar system's outer planets. Can someone tell me what was ironic about their launches?"

Nobody seemed to know the answer, except for Kevin. His hand shot up immediately, but he was obstructed by the older kids in front of him.

"Anybody?"

He tried standing on his tiptoes, but his hand wouldn't reach over their heads.

Craig saw how desperate his classmate was waving his hand back and forth, so without saying a word, he crawled between Kevin's legs and lifted him up onto his shoulders.

"Whoa!" Kevin shouted surprised.

"Yes, you in the back."

"Oh! Voyager 2 was actually launched before Voyager 1."

"Very good."

"Voyager 1 moved faster though, and now it's almost reached interstellar space."

"Nicely done, young man."

"Thanks, Craig," he whispered.

"Yeah, well…we'd never get to the good stuff if no one answered," he let him back down.

"That trivia question has a lot to do with our first activity tonight," the instructor continued. "If you could all follow me to the screening room, we'll be going on a voyage of our own…"

"Oh boy!" Kevin shook with anticipation. "We're seeing a movie related to the Voyager question. They were launched in 1977—that's the same year Star Wars came out! We're watching Star Wars! I knew we would!"

"Great, kid. Don't get cocky," Craig warned him.

Kevin gasped and his eyes widened.

"What?"

"You just quoted Han Solo!" he pointed at him. "You do like Star Wars!" he grinned.

"Ugh…me and my big mouth."

"Come on, let's get good seats in the front!" Kevin pulled Craig by the arm. But by the time they got in the screening room, all the front row seats were taken. "Aw…" Kevin deflated. They found a couple of empty seats in the second row, but the kids in front of them were from the older, taller group. "Oh man… Now we won't be able to see anything," Kevin sunk into his chair.

All of a sudden, Craig started going into a coughing fit.

"Are you OK, Craig?"

His face was turning red, and he began pounding his fists on the back of the seats in front of him and Kevin. Eventually, the seats' occupants got tired of being hit on the back and moved to a different row. Still coughing, Craig got up and made his way down front. "Looks like a couple seats opened up," he called back miraculously cured.

Kevin slowly walked to the available seat with a guilty look on his face. "Sorry," he turned back remorsefully.

"Don't apologize," Craig said. "They shouldn't have sat up front in the first place."

"All right," the instructor said. "Now that we're all settled—"

"Here it comes…" Kevin whispered.

"—I'm going to pass out glasses to everyone so we can all enjoy Space Station 3D."

"AAH!" Kevin shouted for joy.

"Gee, you're taking your Star Wars-less disappointment well," Craig commented.

"Are you kidding? I've been wanting to see this documentary forever! It's a firsthand look at the International Space Station filmed by the astronauts themselves. Forty-seven minutes of IMAX magic," he popped his glasses on.

The movie didn't disappoint. They got to see everything up close and personal.

"That was so awesome," Kevin said as they left the screening room.

"It was a little weird with Tom Cruise as the narrator," Craig commented. "It isn't every day you hear a guy who got your hometown destroyed doing a voiceover in a movie. Ignoring that though, it was pretty impressive."

"My favorite part had to be looking out into the depths of the cosmos. What was yours?"

"Definitely the space walk. That's what I'd look forward to the most on a mission. If I could walk around in low gravity with my feet barely touching the ground, I'd be sooo happy."

"Did everybody enjoy the movie?" asked the instructor.

"Yes," they all answered, minus Craig, who was never one to follow the crowd.

"Great, because the night isn't over yet. If you thought the IMAX 3D was interactive, that's nothing compared to the experience you'll be having on our Mars mission."

"AAH!" Craig took his turn to shout for joy.

"Since this is a three-person mission, I'll be taking two people at a time with me on the flight simulator so you'll all get a chance to walk on the red planet. Now, can I have a couple of vol—?"

"We'll go first!" Craig grasped Kevin's hand and raised them high in the air.

"Ow! Not so hard, Craig."

"All right then," the instructor checked their names off on his list. "I'd say South Park, Colorado wins the award for most enthusiastic campers today. Why don't you boys follow me to the simulation room? The rest of you can watch from the window while you're waiting."

Craig and Kevin suited up and boarded the simulated shuttle. They were thrown back in their seats as the acceleration hit them full force. Luckily, neither of them had eaten recently, so they managed not to puke. When the flight had come to a stop, the door opened to reveal that the scenery had changed to look like the face of Mars.

"Go ahead and explore the surface, guys," the instructor's voice came through their headsets.

"You first, Craig. This is what you've been waiting for."

Craig gladly took Kevin's offer and jumped down. The simulated gravity had been turned on, so it was less than half of what he was used to. Fuck yeah, he thought. "Come on out, Stoley."

"Right behind you," he stepped out.

"I feel so light," Craig mused.

"You should: Mars' gravity is only about thirty-eight percent that of Earth's."

"There you go with that math again," he smirked.

Kevin sighed. "I wonder if Bradley's home planet is anything like this."

"That Biggle kid?"

"Yeah. I sure miss him. He was my best friend."

Craig thought for a moment. "Weren't you best friends with my cousin Red?"

"Red…? You mean Bertha?"

Craig stifled a laugh at her hilarious real name. "Yeah, her."

"We used to be really close. Then she started becoming popular, but I was still a nerd. We were in two different social classes at that point, so she went off with the girls' clique, while I connected with Bradley."

"So she left you high and dry?"

"No, it wasn't like that. It was the logical thing to do—a mutual decision, really."

"Uh huh…" he looked at him skeptically.

"Why don't we see if they put any props in the display?"

"OK." Craig decided to drop the subject for the time being. After all, there were rock specimens to collect.

Disclaimer: I don't own Space Station 3D, nor have I ever seen it. It sounds cool though.