Ryan doesn�t react to this, too consumed as she is with the panel. Matt looks out. A sad smile is on his face commenting you can't beat the view. Matt looks at the Earth with its ever-changing surface of blues and whites, greens and browns, massive and serene below him.
Matt continues his questions - what does she like about being up here. She hesitates, trying sincerely to articulate her feelings as we gaze down at the silent planet below, " The silence. . . I could get used to it." Matt begins telling Houston his Mardi Gras story while Ryan continues to work.
Before he can finish, Mission Control calls in and instructs them to abort the mission immediately. They are to initiate emergency disconnect from the Hubble. All the astronauts stop what they�re doing and anxiously await further instructions, except for Ryan who keeps working.
Houston orders them to begin re-entry procedure. They also instruct the ISS to initiate emergency evacuation. Matt is immediately flung into action and rapidly unharnesses himself from the Hubble. The Explorer instructs Matt to immediately return to Explorer.
Matt acknowledges and requests them to prep airlock. Mission Control reports that the impact has caused a chain reaction, hitting other satellites in its path and creating new debris. Norad reports that orbital and ballistic effects are driving the cloud of debris up toward the Explorer's altitude.
Matt confirms and orders Ryan to stop working, but she's determined to continue. She keeps on furiously tweaking. Matt asserts his authority with intensity. She looks up, sees Matt glaring. Looks him in the eye. She aplogizes and complies.
The Robotic Arm slowly withdraws, carrying Ryan back towards the Shuttle. Matt watches her go. The Explorer instruct Matt to initiate emergency disconnect from the Hubble. Shariff turns and heads toward the base of the telescope holding onto the hangar�s handrails.
Matt propels himself to the base of the Hubble using the propelling unit on his back. Mission Control continues that they have a full on chain reaction. It�s been confirmed that it is the unintentional side effect of the Russians striking one of their own satellites.
Shariff arrives to the base of the telescope. Matt and Shariff grab onto the base of the telescope. The locks attaching the Hubble to the Explorer release. Matt gives the Hubble a push away from the hangar. Pushing the huge telescope is not a difficult task in zero gravity.
Mission Control continues that most of their systems are going down. Debris chain reaction is out of control and rapidly expanding. Multiple sats are now down and they keep on falling. Telecomunications systems are gone. Expect a communication blackout at any moment.
Matt eyes the arm as it slowly retracts, carrying Ryan back. Ryan informs Matt there is a visual of debris at nine o�clock. Matt�s eyes shift, watching a large object, a piece of a BSE satellite, spiral toward them, and comments, "Half of North America just lost their Facebook."
The sat glides by at tremendous speed. Another object, part of a weather satellite, hurls by them, a little bit closer than the previous one. It is followed by a small piece of debris. It zooms by faster than the previous ones and hits the BSE satellite.
Mission Control transmit more data, but is cut off with a high frequency of interference, and the communication is lost. The arm transporting Ryan is moving very slowly. Matt thrusts himself over to Ryan, stops next to her, and instructs her to unstrap.
She reaches for the last clip, begins to undo it, but is struggling with it. Shariff makes his way back toward the airlock. A piece of debris passes, nearly hitting them. Further back, another piece of debris hits Shariff�s helmet, breaking through the glass and hitting his head like an expansive bullet.
"Man down!," Matt shouts and propels himself toward Shariff. A satellite explodes into hundreds of pieces and a chain reaction takes place. The debris from the BSE satellite hits the weather satellite, and it explodes, sending debris in all directions.
Another piece of debris hits the Hubble�s solar panels, making a 12-inch hole in its golden surface. Shrapnel pierces through the wing of the Space Shuttle, creating a five-foot hole. The Space Shuttle rolls. The arm, with Ryan attached to it, rolls with the Shuttle.
Another impact. A piece of debris hits the robotic arm like a cannon ball and detaches it from the Shuttle. The broken piece of the arm spins away from the Explorer at a great speed with Ryan attached to it. She passes next to the Hubble as a big piece of debris hits the telescope.
The top of the cylinder explodes into more debris, which is expelled in all directions, barely missing Ryan as she spins away attached to the arm. Ryan�s panic grows as she spins further into the nothingness of space.
With every spin, the shuttle, being punished by debris, diminishes into a tiny dot in the distance. Matt orders her to detach, but she's afraid to. Matt persists in getting her to detach, otherwise the arm is going to carry her too far.
She claims she can't and he tells her he won�t be able to track her if she doesn't detach. Ryan pulls herself together and tries to detach. The robotic arm keeps on spinning and stars orbit wildly in her field of vision. Ryan�s hands are trembling and she can�t get a grip on the hook.
As Matt�s voice is lost to static, Ryan squeezes the hook and is gone, kicking herself away from the robotic arm and flying free of the rotation. She catches a brief glimpse of the arm as it helicopters away, then loses sight of it as she rotates end over end in endless free fall.
A primal scream of God forsaken fear erupts from her lungs. The radio cackles and Matt's voice returns. She responds to his call. Ryan slowly spins, drifting into the empty darkness of space. He asks her for her position, but she doesn't know.
Tumbling end over end, Ryan fixes her gaze on her wrist. The effort makes her nauseous. She looks away, her GPS is down. Matt�s faint voice is heard on the transmission under a lot of static. Ryan is panicking and begins to hyperventilate. Her eyes rake the dark sameness of her surroundings.
As Matt�s signal grows fainter, her breathing becomes more labored. Matt implores her to focus and give him a visual. Ryan�s eyes flutter, then roll up into her sockets. Inside the helmet, Ryan swallows harshly, her throat suddenly dry.
She inhales and exhales with quick short breaths. Ryan�s eyes are wide open and desperate as her breathing. Her limbs look fragile against the black and incalculable void. She inhales. And her throat closes. Her mouth is open, but she cannot exhale.
Not a breath. Ryan�s choking. The lack of oxygen is making her veins pop out and her lips turn blue. Her eyes open wide, and she exhales. And begins breathing deeply. As her breathing steadies, she begins to focus, her eyes searching the distance.
Through the helmet, Ryan can see her face reflected against the visor, lit by the control panels. She can see her legs and arms floating against endless space as she drifts towards the empty void, broken only by lonesome stars whose position change as she rotates, giving way to the Earth, very still and very distant. Night is creeping across the sphere as the sun sets, a sliver of light on the Western Hemisphere. A metallic object floating over the Earth is hit by a ray of the sinking sun, and it gleams like a tiny star.
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