Europa

June 3, 2048

I figured this mission felt a little rushed from the beginning. I was so excited about the opportunity that I figured August of 2048 just provided an ideal launch date to reach Europa. While that date does provide the optimal travel time to the moon of Jupiter, it turns out NASA has another incentive to send us now, as opposed to a year from now.

Today we were informed that China launched a three-person mission to find life on Europa a bit over a year ago. Our mission was the United States' way of ensuring that if there was alien life on that moon it would be discovered by America.

I should have known there was something suspicious when this mission first was green. I pitched a mission to Europa nine years ago, citing the location this mission would be landing as the perfect place to look for life. Why else would they green light it without consulting me other than the fact that there was no time.

Competition between nations has always been a driving force for space exploration. It's what led the United States of America to put a man on the moon. Rushing to beat out another nation has also been the motive behind some of the greatest space exploration disasters.

The fact that there is another Europa mission that was launched does not change my job on this mission. In fact, we will still be getting there three months faster than the Chinese team due to the capabilities of our rocket. Still, it sours my mood about the opportunity a bit.

Alien life seems like a topic that should transcend the nations of Earth, not divide them. I guess that is a view that is not shared by the leaders of our nations.

My only hope is that NASA did not take any shortcuts when it came to planning our mission or designing our rocket with the sole goal of defeating the Chinese team just to get the bragging rights of being the first country to discover alien life.