[ WP ] The nations of the world have reached the space age without ever traversing the Atlantic Ocean and discovering the Americas . The first man in space looks out his capsule window .

Miguel'Miggy' Celas grunted as the main engine cut off, and the ship began its ascent through the upper atmosphere. For the next several minutes, it was just him, Sally, and nothing but an almost unnerving silence. The silence was only broken by intermittent squawks from the headsets; radio orders in preparation for the upcoming insertion burn. 
 
 Miggy looked at his console, the altimeter rising rapidly as they ascended through what would be the last parts of the atmosphere. Sally, his navigation tech, stood by calmly in her seat. She had n't said a word since just before launch. Miggy smirked in his helmet; It was a rare thing for her to be so quiet. 
 
 The ESU's Nascent was a thing of rugged beauty. Instruments mashed together in such a convoluted mess that it was no wonder it took 15 years to develop and train for. At least the engineers down there were kind enough to add a couple of easily viewed portholes next to their seats. Scuttlebutt said the russians only gave their guy one small navigation window, only large enough for the pilot to see if he was going to miss the earth on decent. Or not, seeing as how it exploded on reentry. Miggy hoped he would n't have to suffer such a fate. 
 
 `` Approaching 80 Kilometers, Captain.'' Sally broke her silence. 
 
 It was amusing, because everything on the flight was computer controlled, with every possible maneuver accounted for, plotted, and uploaded into the central core. Miggy sometimes wondered if there was any reason for him to be here, if not to just push buttons and talk for show. But he put aside those thoughts, and talked for show. 
 
 `` Alright, engage Main Engines 1 and 2. Begin Insertion burn.'' 
 
 The craft shuddered as the engines kicked on, and Miggy felt himself fall back into his seat as gravity seemed to shift. For the next several minutes, Miggy only worried about trying to keep his breathing normal. 
 
 `` 85 Kilometers. 87 Kilometers. 89 Kilometers. 90 Kilometers. Main engines cutting off.'' The engines cut their thrust, and Sally sighed into her headset. `` We have achieved a stable orbit, Captain. Welcome to Space.'' 
 
 Miggy leaned over to his side, and looked out of the window. He saw the central deserts of Old Arabia, and only a few seconds later, India came over the horizon. He tried to take it all in, to remember everything, but his emotions began to get the best of him. The years of training were all worth just these 30 seconds. He smiled, as he reminded himself that he would be up here for 2 days. Definitely worth it. 
 
 As the sun rose over the horizon, the Great Ocean came into view. Like a carpet of pure blue, Miggy mused into his headset. 
 
 `` It'll be nice, us being the first people to see the entire ocean at once.'' 
 
 `` Yeah, too bad I'm on the wrong side of the ship. But I got an ocean full of stars over here. You can be jealous.'' 
 
 `` You'll see it on decent. But goddamn, it's beautiful.'' Miggy felt his voice catch as he spoke. `` Looks like it's smaller than I expected. I can already see Spain from...'' 
 
 If his voice had caught before, it completely dropped now. Miggy had to swallow twice, before he tried again to speak. 
 
 `` That's not Spain.'' 
 
 `` What do you mean it's not Spain?'' Sally asked, bemused. `` Not like some other land is going to just crop up.'' 
 
 `` I mean, some other land just cropped up. There's an entire continent down there. Two of them. Holy shit, I got ta tell Control.'' 
 
 `` We're in radio blackout. Are you sure you're not just seeing things? There's no way there's another continent. We've done the math, and the world just is n't that big.'' 
 
 `` Oh yeah. Sure as day. Well, night. I ca n't see half of it, it's night time there. The world is bigger than we though. The math may be right, but we were wrong.'' 
 
 `` Oh. Oh god.'' Sally's voice cracked. An alert rang in Miggy's headset, Sally's vitals just had a spike. 
 
 `` What? Did something break?'' Miggy broke his long gaze out the window to look at her. 
 
 `` If we were wrong, then we are n't in an orbit...'' Her voice petered out to a whisper. `` We're on a parabola.'' 
 
 `` What do you mean?'' 
 
 `` I mean, the flight computer had a burn planned for a planet sized almost two thirds what we actually have. We never even entered space, let alone an orbit.'' 
 
 Miggy's heart sunk. Suddenly, he realized why the Russian craft did n't make it back. 
 
 `` What do we do? We ca n't contact Control, and look!'' She pointed to the altimeter. `` 99 Kilometers. Were descending. There's no way we can survive a decent at this angle.'' 
 
 Miguel began to feel panic grip his chest. This was n't in the protocols. There was no flight sheet for'If planet found to be larger than all modern science has accounted for.' There also was n't enough time to do all the things that needed to be done. Also, they were falling. Miggy searched his mind for the first thing that sounded like a plan. 
 
 `` We need thrust.'' 
 
 Sally stared at him blankly. At least, Miggy assumed it was blankly; her helmet's visor hid most of the details of her face. 
 
 `` Thrust? How? We only have enough for a deorbit burn, and even then, that wo n't be enough. Besides, the computer is p reloaded with the details. All we can do it initiate it.'' 
 
 `` But if we do, it'll keep us above the atmosphere long enough to let Mission Control know.'' Miggy stated, grimly. 
 
 `` Yeah, but what about afterwards? That's the last of our fuel. We wo n't be able to correct our course.'' Her voice began to quicken, `` Hell, we probably will end up flying off into space!'' Sally became quiet after her last statement. Either she had n't realized what Miggy had suggested, or, worse, she had. 
 
 `` We have to let Control know, but I want to make sure you have a say.'' Miggy looked at her through his visor. 
 
 Sally was silent for a moment. This time, Miggy did n't muse to himself. After what felt like an eternity, she spoke. 
 
 `` Initiate Deorbit burn. Ignoring alignment requirements. On your mark, Sir.'' 
 
 `` Mark.'' 
 
 The engines kicked on again, this time, only for a few seconds. Miggy tried to remind himself that the years of training were worth it for just those few minutes of gazing at the world from his seat. 
 
 Now he would have the rest of his life.
