[ WP ] In an alternate universe , two earths orbit our sun . Today we finally launch a first mission to visit our sister planet .

`` Houston to Hera II.'' The radio crackled to life. Rusty leaned forward and pushed the com button. 
 
 `` Hera II Houston, read you loud and clear, morning Gene.'' he settled back in the capsule's custom made seat. The time delay was getting bad. now pushing almost 8 minutes one way. Looking out the tiny window next to him the sun blared through unfiltered, a stream of white glinting off the silver hull of Hera II. Twisting his head he caught the limb of their goal. Theia glinted cerulean in the sunlight. He smiled and watched the small planet shimmer. So long had they waited for this moment. He stared silently at the orb as he waited out the time. 
 
 `` Morning Rusty.'' A gruff voice behind him greeted. He turned his head to the access tube as a balding man floated out of it. 
 
 `` Morning Alan.'' He smiled. When he first met Bean, Rusty had been intimidated. After all he had walked on the moon, but after all their time together the formalities had mostly worn off. 
 
 `` Gene got much to say today?'' he looked at his watch. 
 
 `` No, nothing for the next seven and a half minutes.'' Alan chuckled. 
 
 `` Good to hear, coffee this morning?'' 
 
 `` Please.'' He extended his hand. There was a hum as the food dispenser squirted hot water into the chrome package. A few seconds later a warm bag of liquid drifted into his hand. He glanced at the bag before sticking the straw into his mouth. 
 
 `` Ah, nothing like day 36 coffee huh.'' Alan began filling his. 
 
 `` No doubt.'' 
 
 `` Frank up?'' He nodded and removed the coffee, shaking it to try and distribute the warm fluids. 
 
 `` Yeah Mr. Borman's taking pictures as always.'' he nodded and sucked on his coffee. 
 
 `` Gotcha.'' The next seven minutes passed in near silence, both men enjoying the quiet hum of the machinery. Though technically it was Mission Day 36, CAPCOM was calling it Approach Day 1. The next six days would be filled with intense scientific observations and prep for orbital insertion. And Rusty was sure those geeks back at Johnson had spiked today's caffeine a bit to get them ready. 
 
 `` Rodger Hera II, signal received...'' Kranz's voice filtered back through. We've got your schedule for the day ready, some prep maneuvers and all that.'' To his left a machine whirred to life and began printed a small section of paper in really tiny font. `` We got some of your pictures back overnight and we tell you, Theia really looks great! Report back and we'll resolve any questions you got.'' 
 
 `` You got this Alan?'' He asked as Bean ripped the fax off the printer. 
 
 `` It's my job.'' He replied between sips. Rusty nodded and began to spin himself down towards the central access tube. Twisting his way through it, he flew forward towards the Habitat Module. Ahead the space opened up to about the size of an Airstream. It would be spacious if it was n't filled with food, sleeping bunks, and science equipment. He stopped for only a moment to grab his music player on the way by. 
 
 Moving bow-ward he glanced at the mission clock. 
 
 Date: 02/14/1977 
 Total Mission Time: T+ 36:02:36:14 
 Lares Flyby Time: T- 4:12:17:57 
 Theia Insertion Burn: T- 5:08:59:33 
 
 Reaching the front of the ship, he passed through the open docking adaptor to the lander, Osprey. Inside the conical spacecraft, a lanky man with graying hair held a long lens out of the ship's largest window. 
 
 `` How's she doing Frank?'' He asked as he clicked the button. 
 
 `` I'm actually trying to get some good shots of Lares.'' He commented without looking away. Rusty bent his head to catch a glimpse of the thick blue crescent. The adorable little water world followed Earth around in its orbit, sitting in the creatively named L5 Lagrange point, a balancing point where the gravity between the Earth and the Sun were equal. A little smaller than Mars, Thiea had the luck to catch the oblong gray shape now sitting in front of it, a large asteroid named Lares. They always called Theia Earth's little sister. If that was true then Lares was the Moon's little brother. An oblong rock about 400 miles wide, the rock lazily lumbered around Theia, helping stabilize the tumbling planet and lining itself up perfectly for their flyby on Sunday. 
 
 `` God I'm jealous of Hera III.'' Rusty mumbled as he stared. Frank nodded. Unfortunately Hera II was only an orbiter mission. They were going to fly around the tiny blue orb for ten days, dump the test lander on the surface unmanned, photograph the simple green plants that grew there, then head home. Still humanity's first interplanetary mission, still 60 days of capsule time. Yet they would still be forgotten under the glory that was going to be the Hera III manned landing. 
 
 `` Agreed.'' Frank snapped another photo, `` First Apollo 8 then this, I'm starting to think Deke does n't want me on the surface.'' An image of the stoic Astronaut Selector leader flashed in his head. 
 
 `` Well you know there's always at chance at the Aphrodite Program.'' 
 
 `` Heh, no they'll put some rookie in one of those seats instead of me... we Apollos are getting old you know.'' 
 
 `` Do n't remind me.'' Rusty stuck the headphones in his ears and clicked play on the tape. He smiled and watched the silent planet approach to the tune of ELO's Mr. Blue Sky.
