In 500... (or less)

A Moment in History

Sure, there were a few that weren't going to watch. There are always a few. Ones who are engaged in some pitched online battle with pretend soldiers who wouldn't know the first thing about a real gun. Others who just don't care.

But most of the world was glued to their televisions. It's not every day that man lands on Mars for the first time. The launch was met with mild curiosity, barely making a blip in the evening news.

Then there were occasional updates during the 206-day journey. You can't blame people for being distracted, it's a long time to wait. An eternity for the younger generation.

The day finally arrived. The control room was filled with nervous anticipation. The braking maneuvers were a success. The command ship was in a steady orbit around Mars. So far, so good.

There are a thousand things that can and have gone wrong when landing on Mars. It's tricky business. Thin, wispy atmosphere that doesn't play nice with parachutes. Those were all robots in a sense, controlled from 94 million miles away. This time, the humans would have the advantage of being there, being able to react to sudden changes in the rate of descent.

"Ares 4, you are go for landing." A little more than four minutes later, the astronauts received the message. The broadcast delay was even longer, it took time to process the images and run them through the uplink.

Unlike the moon landing nearly four score earlier, the audio didn't have the faintest hint of static and the picture was crystal clear. The conspiracy theories were already forming about which sound stage all of this was being filmed on.

Yet most of the world believed, and eagerly awaited the moment. There were already many photos on Mars, yet none with a living thing in it.

"Roger, we are starting our descent." The signal would be interrupted as the craft passed through the atmosphere. It would be reestablished just before touchdown.

On cue, the pale, rusty surface came into view. The ship was no more than a hundred yards away.

"Smooth as silk on the way down. Touchdown in T-minus 15...14...13..."

People stood in the most famous of squares - Times, Red and Trafalgar to name a few - holding their collective breath. This would be one of those moments people would talk about for ages, explaining in fine detail what they were doing when the landing occurred.

"...12...11...10...9..."

Rocks and other features were now easier to spot. A cloud of red dust rose up to meet the lens, blurring the otherwise perfect view.

"...8...7...6...5...commencing descent engine shutdown...3..."

In the control room, there were high fives and champagne. Years of work, for some a lifetime, were finally coming to fruition.

"2..." And then the screen went blank. No feed, no communication. Everyone scrambled to see what happened. The malfunction was soon identified. Someone had unplugged the computer processing the uplink.

"Pearson! What the hell!"

"Sorry," Pearson said, looking up from his Facebook feed. "My phone needed to be charged."