Major Tom And his flight across heredity and space
Major Tom and his Flight Across Heredity and Space
Main Characters:
Narrator: JJ/Paulette
Young Major Tom: David/Leo
Old Major Tom: Jimmy/Alessandro
Luna Tide: Alexa/Mariela
Brazilian/Russian Astronaut: Pablo/Yaroslav
French/Norwegian Astronaut: Julieta/Sebastian
American Astronaut:Fran/Diego
UK/Spanish Astronaut: Brittany/Lalo
Information Director:Cloe/Carola
International Space Station: Maya/Ximena
Minor and group Characters:
Radiation Specialist: Paolo/Julian
NASA 1: Andrea/Shanti
NASA 2: Jeronimo/Zoet
Shuttle Pilot 1: Emanuel/Derek
Shuttle Pilot 2: Ilan/Andres
Europa Clone University Students:
Maya, Sofia, Yureni, Sara, Jenny, Monica/Alejandra, Alessa, Lucia, Gaby, Jasmine, Ana, Shanti
Hybrid Earth-Europan: Liat/Alan
Hotel Galactic Bellhops (2): Jenny and Sofia/Ana and Zoet
Old Luna:?
Scene One:
(Narrators enters)
Narrator: Hello Ladies, gentlemen.
I have a story to tell. It begins with a celebrity astronaut, and his long-lost daughter. This is an epic with many twists and turns. But to begin, please meet Luna. Luna Tides.
(Enter Luna- Fore stage)
She was born in a time when space travel was still in its infancy. Many new technologies were sending men to different parts of the universe in search of new life and scientific exploration.
One of those men was an astronaut named Major Tom. His journeys had taken him to the far reaches of the known universe, and sadly his last mission failed to return him to his Mother planet, Earth. He was lost to the world, a celebrity for his endeavors, but also he was lost to his one-year old daughter.
It is her story that brings us here today. She has just turned 18. As she has become an adult, and she is longing to learn more about herself, she is burdened with need to learn more of her estranged father….She embarks on a journey that begins at NASA.
Scene 2:. NASA (JJ set design: a board table with chairs around, all scientists seated, all looking up at the screen.)
(Enter Luna / sits down at empty chair)
Luna: Hi, I appreciate you taking the time to see me and explain some details about Major Tom. I was only 1 year old when he disappeared, and I know that here at Nasa, he was considered a household name, a super astronaut and a hero. I want to know more about him, if there is anything you might remember about him?
Nasa 1: I remember him as a tall man, strong and brave! Physically, he was able to perform all the necessary tasks of an astronaut.
Nasa 2: He would train in the NASA pool for hours to learn about gravity and how to move and work in Zero gravity effects.
Luna: I suppose he was fit then!
Nasa 1: Yes, I remember him as a role model to his coworkers. They would compete for how long they could stand a turn in the centrifuge..
Nasa 2: That is a way to train for the extraordinary speeds that we must endure during lift-off and re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere.
Luna: I know that his love for flight and for learning about space travel would have kept him motivated to train. I also know that he had a yearning for the unknown. A need to discover what is all out there? What is our universe made out of? Is there a possibility of life on other planets?
Nasa 2: It is true. He was an excellent example to his peers of the time and future astronauts and cosmonauts. Would you like to see his mission video from the moon?
Luna: Yes please! I am still wondering what happened during his re-entry? How and where did he disappear?
Nasa 1: Please watch carefully and you might see some clues as to where he might have gone after the mission. Although, we here at NASA have searched the video logs and found nothing over many years.
SHOW VIDEO OF YOUNG MAJOR TOM WALKING ON THE MOON.
Chorus sings: SONG - Walking on the Moon in the style of the Police
NASA 1: That was quite a mission your Dad took. It made him a celebrity here on Earth!
NASA 2: Have you any new ideas as to what happened to him? I say that he didn't disappear but lives on somewhere in this universe. We wish you all the luck in finding your famous father.
NASA 1: We have heard rumors about life on other planets and humans going to live there. As well as a secret location for retirees of the space program. They call it the Hotel Galactica. It is so secret, no one knows its location or even if it exists!
Luna: Thank you all so much for your help, and advice. I think I know where I might start looking for him! All I need now, is a shuttle to go and seek him out in space! Know where I might find one?
NASA 2: We have just what you need! I have the newest shuttle technology! Perfect for small crews of explorers! It is guaranteed to handle the very dangerous take-off and re-entry procedures!
NASA 1: We are very interested in discovery of our lost here. We would like to assist you in your search. Bring in the International Astronaut Team!!!
ENTER 4 astronauts, different nationalities.
NASA 2: These are (Introduce astronauts) And this is Luna Tides, The daughter of Major Tom. It is your mission to assist her in finding her father. Good Luck and Godspeed!
SCENE 3: SHUTTLE SCENE (Foreground in front of stage)
Pilots 1 and 2: Lets start our primary checks! Cargo: Check! Engine: Check!, Oxygen and life support systems? Cabin seals Check! Engine seals Check! Human cargo, Check! Liquid fuel: Check 100 percent full! Ready for Lift off…. CHECK! All aboard and set! Ready for countdown and liftoff!
Luna: I am so happy you could come along and help me...I have many questions for you. Lets fly by the first possibility. The moon Europa, on the planet saturn..
US Astronaut: Yes, I understand that the Intergalactic University there has had many Earthlings study and even stay and live there. You might be lucky and find someone who knows about Major Tom.
Brazilian/Russian Astronaut: The planet has only just discovered a way to make an atmosphere that we can breathe in. As well as producing water for plant-life.
UK/Spanish Astronaut: They have a place called One-tree-hill. This is where they first grew a plant with success, and now it is a famous landmark on the planet.
French/Norwegian Astronaut: It is actually the site for the University! Let´s go!
PILOTS: Countdown...10,9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 ,...We have LIFTOFF!!!!!! Its the final Countdown!
(Music Europe:Its the final countdown.)
SHOW IMAGES WHILE TRAVELLING TO PLANET ON SCREEN, Information Director drones on and on inside shuttle as they fly:
Information Director: From the beginning, before humans ever entered space there were animals sent up. Amoebas, fruit flies, rats, and even dogs and apes became hardy space veterans throughout history. As journeys were able to be extended for longer and longer durations, some unexpected results were recorded. It had little effect on the amoebas and a slight effect on fruit flies, but with mammals it seemed living at zero gravity conditions extended the lifespan of the organism. Meaning they lived for longer than others. If you lived at Zero G your body would spend less energy fighting the effects of gravity, your cells would oxidize more slowly and you would live longer. Major scientists were toying with the idea of immortality in human subjects.
SET 2 Scene 4: Moon Europa on the Planet of Saturn, ONE TREE HILL AND INTERGALACTIC UNIVERSITY. Students frozen on main stage around tree.
Luna: Is it safe?
Shuttle Information director: Don’t worry, Luna. We have been able to change the chemical makeup of the atmosphere, to make it possible for us to breathe here.
Luna: Let’s go and meet some of them, and maybe ask a few questions!
ENTER Europa scene from Shuttle.
What an interesting group of creatures. Are they aliens? They look different from us...all except that one over there. She looks like a hybrid, Half human, half alien.
US Astronaut: .So this is Europa! The only moon orbiting Saturn that can sustain human life!
Information Director: Yes...although at first it was just bacteria, now there is life. Hence One Tree Hill!
French/Norwegian Astronaut: .Its kinda smaller than I expected ,huh sigh
Luna: (worried about her father) It looks like the Moon, all inhabited, the only difference is that here, it is hot as Jalapeno sauce (fake laugh)
Europa Clones:.Argh !!!!!!!! WHO’S HERE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Russian/Brazilian Astronaut: What!… There is another difference between here and the moon, were are not alone!
UK/Spanish Astronaut: (SCARED) Wait!I have seen that face before… It is a Europan. In the book it says that they have clones…
US Astronaut: (STUNNED) So… they copy themselves.
UK Astronaut:: No not necessarily they also like to copy other people, look closer, don't you recognize him- he is Neil Armstrong. The first man to walk on the moon!
Clones: (copying human language) hello … I like to copy.
LUNA: Wow they learn really fast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Clones: we learn fast
(CLONES DANCE: If you like-a Me Song.)
LUNA and CREW: WHAAAAAAAAT!!!!
Clones: Do you like it
LUNA and CREW: Nooo!!!!
French/Norwegian Astronaut: Thats weird
US Astronaut: Yeah I didn't know they could have intelligent life on other planets!
UK/Spanish Astronaut: Really! I have heard that 2 moons here on Saturn may have the possibility of live bacteria, but nothing bigger than that!
Luna:Have you have seen my father?
Clones: No, who is he?
Luna: Major Tom, the famous Astronaut.
Clones: ahhhhh we know him!
Luna: really! (excited)
Clones: just kidding...But we know someone that knows him!
Luna: are you sure?
Clones:: 50% 50% percent
French/Norwegian Astronaut: You are going to trust him?
US Astronaut: He is the last hope we have.
Clones: Come with us, we will take you to the hybrid Europa. He had a father like yours, a human! Try not to stare...I know he looks different than us...its quite obvious that he is a hybrid Europa-Earthling.
Music Star Wars Theme: ENTER LEFT SIDE STAGE KNOCK LOUDLY
Clones: Its me Tobuku, I come with visitors
ENTER HYBRID
Hybrid: What is the situation? Why are you staring at me like that?
Clones: Sorry, she has never seen a clone or a Europan. You are half her species, and half our species. You must be a sight! She is named Luna and she wants to find her dad.
Hybrid: Oh! A fellow Earthling! What is the name of your dad sweetie?
Luna: Major Tom
Hybrid:
My own Dad was an Earthling, I understand your quest to meet him. Looking for a sense of identity when everyone around you is different. I am different here and on Earth. Everybody stares.
I can give you a map to find your dad. He lives on the elusive and secret Hotel Galactica on the International Space Station. With any luck he should still be there! He had a problem during his mission. Ground control tried to reach him, but communications were down.
Luna: Thank you !! Lets take off!!! There is no time to lose!
UK Astronaut: Lets show our thanks by the salute!
MAIN Crew RETURN TO SHUTTLE. Start takeoff sequence again,
CLONES and chorus sings Ground Control to major Tom Space Oddity - David Bowie while they start take off sequence...
SCENE 5:
Shuttle Information Director:
We will be passing very close to the sun. The sun is a yellow, star, that gives off medium-level heat. As opposed to the blue star of Vega...blue stars are the hottest! Passing in the field of the sun can be dangerous. This can be a very sticky situation. We are lucky, we have a specialist on board to help us with this situation. Please meet our Radiation Specialist.
Radiation Specialist: We need to be on the lookout for solar flares: Bursts of energy from the Sun. Energy in the form of radiation can be harmful to humans even in small doses. So we here at NASA make sure that we can provide some minimal protection from the sun’s radioactive rays:
Each one of you needs to wear a radioactive shield.
HE PLACES RADIOACTIVE SHIELDS ON EACH TRAVELLERS’ FOREHEAD.
Radiation Specialist: This should protect us until we reach the Hotel on the International Space Station.
US Astronaut: How can we be sure of this secret Hotel? Wouldnt it be something that we would have heard about on the news? Wouldn't everyone come to see about this incredible opportunity? I know I would have jumped at the chance to live on the International Space Station.
French/Norwegian Astronaut: Yes, my country have been trying for years to get more time to complete our research on Quarks and Black Holes! Yet the competition for time is stiff and we only get a block of time every year.
Russian/Brazilian Astronaut: I think you are forgetting the main reason for the Major's decision to live here: As you know there is good reason and it comes with consequences. The Life Force aspect is eluding you.
Luna: What is that?
UK/Brazilian Astronaut: The Life force aspect is the reason why people choose to live their lives (or more accurately end their lives) in space. The effects of Zero Gravity on human longevity is remarkable!
Russian:Yes, many nations are concluding their theses on the subject now.
Luna: You mean that it is true? You can live longer at zero gravity conditions?
French/Norwegian: Yes. My country is working on it too.Famous scientists, cosmonauts and astronauts are trying out different experiments with human and animal subjects.
US: I imagine that is why Major Toms’ final journey was such a mystery. My country is trying to seek out answers to this question.
Russian/Brazilian: It is all elderly subjects at this time, who volunteer to live their remaining time in space and discover what the possible benefits could be.
UK/Spanish: Finding a cure for cancer is one of the side effects being investigated by these human guinea pigs.
Luna: I think we may get lucky!
SCENE 6: INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION
Director Space Station: At a few hundred kilometers altitude, the Earth fills half your sky, and the band of blue that stretches from Canada to Africa, which your eye encompasses in a single glance. It can break your heart with its profound beauty! What brings you travellers here...you seem a little young to retire…
Luna: Retire? Is that why people stay here? I am hoping you might know my DAd, Major Tom...we heard he might be here.
ISS Director: Yes he is staying here at the Hotel. Let me have him summoned, Bell Hop!
(Bell hops arrive hopping around.)
Please go and fetch Major Tom from his quarters.
(Bell hops hop away and return with Major Tom. Then hop off stage.)
Major Tom: What a nice surprise! I believe that you are my very first guests! How nice! Who might you be…
US Astronaut: We have been sent from NASA to see what had happened to you all those years ago. This is Luna Tides, your daughter!
Luna: I have been looking for you for days! I am so pleased to finally meet you!
(They shake hands)
ISS Director: Can I interest your crew in some refreshments?
Major Tom:
I was left out there on the dark side of the moon. When I awoke from unconsciousness, I was shocked to be stranded in Space. The only thing to keep me alive was my space suit, which is actually just like a one-man spacecraft that has life support systems built in. I knew my oxygen would be created from Carbon dioxide using rebreather technology, but I also knew the batteries wouldn’t last forever.
I was lucky enough to be spotted by a transport shuttle that was going to the Hotel, with supplies and food for the Space Station. I was reeled in like a fish on a line, taken on board and finally deposited here. I have been involved in zero G experiments on longevity and old age.
Russian/Brazilian Astronaut: We thought that was a possibility. How are your findings and conclusions coming along?
Major Tom: They are going very well, and we have collected a lot of data for the future.
Luna: Do you think you might ever be able to come home?
Major Tom: Home? Earth is my home, but this is the closest I will ever get to it again. I am afraid that after so much time living at Zero G, it would be too dangerous to attempt re-entry. I would not regain my muscular control. I have retired up here, till death.
Luna: Do you miss your life on Earth and the people you left behind?
Major Tom. Of course my Darling, Earth is where I come from and where everyone i know of grew up there, under that relentless and incredible blue.
ISS Director: That is why they call it the Blue Planet. It is the water that promotes plant and wildlife. It is what makes it so special for humans. We circle the planet many times a day and we see 16 sunrises and sunsets. From dawn to dawn only takes a fraction of the time on Earth.
Major Tom: After a while you get used to the view. It never loses its thrill, but you become accustomed to it. Although i am sad to have missed your childhood, but I would not give up this opportunity for anything. I am a citizen of space, and as you are related to me, it sounds like we have that in common.We are travellers, explorers, guardians of knowledge.
Luna: Yes, I suppose i have found what i was looking for...now i can see where i get my passions from! I will always see you as my role model in life. I will be one of the best female astronauts since Dr. Sally Ride!
Major Tom: I will be waiting for you, I will watch the skies for you. There is only more planets to discover, wormholes to pass through and galaxies to explore! Now, go. Go home to our heavenly planet of life.
Luna: Thank you, Dad. (They embrace) I´m coming home.
US Astronaut: What a view eh?
Russian/Brazilian: The way you can see so much of the Earth with the naked eye from here. It is the best view I could imagine.
UK/Spanish: Florida will soon be in view again. I wonder if that tropical storm i saw swirling over Mexico yesterday has hit Fort Lauderdale yet.
French/Norwegian: Are any of the mountains in the Andes over Chile snow-free this year?
Luna: You should admire the aquamarine waters and darker reefs around the North-Eastern side on Australia. The Great Barrier reef is the largest of its kind on our planet. I could stare at it all day.
ISS Director: What about the chain of Islands that we call Hawaii...constantly changing as their volcanoes leak lava to form more expanding into into the ocean and exploding the existing land, turning it into some black unrecognizable deadland.
UK/Spanish: What about the Northern Lights swiftly moving across the skies of the North pole.
US: You can see a volcano erupting in New Zealand, and a Sahara sandstorm approaching Brazil, and unusually cold weather in Austria!
Director ISS: You look at the West Antarctic Ice Pack and wonder if it will melt and obliterate all the coastal cities on the planet!
PILOTS and radiation specialists enter
Pilot 1: In the daylight though, it is hard to see any sign of human inhabitation. But at night,
everything you see is due to humans. Lights blinking and twinkling all over the planet shows how many and how busy we are.
Pilot 2: The brightest swath of light is over Eastern North America, continuous from Boston to Washington. It is the most densely populated areas of the continent.
Radiation Specialist: Over there we see a burnoff of natural gases in Libya, Northern Africa. The dazzling lights of a Japanese fishing fleet that have moved towards the South China Sea. On every Orbit, the earth tells a different story.
Major Tom: You get to thinking about the earth as a living organism. You learn to worry about it, care for it and wish it well. It also leaves you with a tremendous sense of responsibility. There is clearly no one else out there, it is our home, and we are the only ones who can take good care of it. It is the fragile blue planet that gives us life and contentment.
Pilot 1: National borders are almost invisible, as are lines of the Tropic of Cancer or Capricorn. We are all members of one race...members of one Planet.
Pilot 2:: Spaceflight and exploration, therefore are human endeavors. Most people after some meditation, have similar thoughts of the Earth, as one, not a place divided up into countries and states.
Major Tom:The Nations who have began our journey into flight are also the very ones who have seen this perspective, and most if not all of those who have entered space have come back with a Transnational perspective: The Earth is one world, and we are all in it together.
Luna: Its time to go home...back to Earth. Are you ready crew? Let’s start for home….
Crew starts for the shuttle: We’re going home….
Chorus sings Peter Shillings..Coming Home.
Applause!
Narrator returns:
Chorus sings Counting Stars while Narrator names all the characters and actors. (Luna was played by, ….) All come and take their bows.
Song Ends, Narrator remains….
SURPRISE EPILOGUE
Narrator: But WAIT!!!...It turns out that many predictions did come true. Luna became an accomplished NASA Astronaut and went on many missions to space.
(Luna enters upstage back to the audience. Old Major Tom joins, puts an arm around Luna )
Narrator: Major Tom was also successful. His experiments on immortality did develop, and he remained in space for many years to come...until one day he had another visit, from a familiar family member. They lived for many years together, quietly orbiting the Earth, watching out for each other.
Main Characters:
Narrator: JJ/Paulette
Young Major Tom: David/Leo
Old Major Tom: Jimmy/Alessandro
Luna Tide: Alexa/Mariela
Brazilian/Russian Astronaut: Pablo/Yaroslav
French/Norwegian Astronaut: Julieta/Sebastian
American Astronaut:Fran/Diego
UK/Spanish Astronaut: Brittany/Lalo
Information Director:Cloe/Carola
International Space Station: Maya/Ximena
Minor and group Characters:
Radiation Specialist: Paolo/Julian
NASA 1: Andrea/Shanti
NASA 2: Jeronimo/Zoet
Shuttle Pilot 1: Emanuel/Derek
Shuttle Pilot 2: Ilan/Andres
Europa Clone University Students:
Maya, Sofia, Yureni, Sara, Jenny, Monica/Alejandra, Alessa, Lucia, Gaby, Jasmine, Ana, Shanti
Hybrid Earth-Europan: Liat/Alan
Hotel Galactic Bellhops (2): Jenny and Sofia/Ana and Zoet
Old Luna:?
Scene One:
(Narrators enters)
Narrator: Hello Ladies, gentlemen.
I have a story to tell. It begins with a celebrity astronaut, and his long-lost daughter. This is an epic with many twists and turns. But to begin, please meet Luna. Luna Tides.
(Enter Luna- Fore stage)
She was born in a time when space travel was still in its infancy. Many new technologies were sending men to different parts of the universe in search of new life and scientific exploration.
One of those men was an astronaut named Major Tom. His journeys had taken him to the far reaches of the known universe, and sadly his last mission failed to return him to his Mother planet, Earth. He was lost to the world, a celebrity for his endeavors, but also he was lost to his one-year old daughter.
It is her story that brings us here today. She has just turned 18. As she has become an adult, and she is longing to learn more about herself, she is burdened with need to learn more of her estranged father….She embarks on a journey that begins at NASA.
Scene 2:. NASA (JJ set design: a board table with chairs around, all scientists seated, all looking up at the screen.)
(Enter Luna / sits down at empty chair)
Luna: Hi, I appreciate you taking the time to see me and explain some details about Major Tom. I was only 1 year old when he disappeared, and I know that here at Nasa, he was considered a household name, a super astronaut and a hero. I want to know more about him, if there is anything you might remember about him?
Nasa 1: I remember him as a tall man, strong and brave! Physically, he was able to perform all the necessary tasks of an astronaut.
Nasa 2: He would train in the NASA pool for hours to learn about gravity and how to move and work in Zero gravity effects.
Luna: I suppose he was fit then!
Nasa 1: Yes, I remember him as a role model to his coworkers. They would compete for how long they could stand a turn in the centrifuge..
Nasa 2: That is a way to train for the extraordinary speeds that we must endure during lift-off and re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere.
Luna: I know that his love for flight and for learning about space travel would have kept him motivated to train. I also know that he had a yearning for the unknown. A need to discover what is all out there? What is our universe made out of? Is there a possibility of life on other planets?
Nasa 2: It is true. He was an excellent example to his peers of the time and future astronauts and cosmonauts. Would you like to see his mission video from the moon?
Luna: Yes please! I am still wondering what happened during his re-entry? How and where did he disappear?
Nasa 1: Please watch carefully and you might see some clues as to where he might have gone after the mission. Although, we here at NASA have searched the video logs and found nothing over many years.
SHOW VIDEO OF YOUNG MAJOR TOM WALKING ON THE MOON.
Chorus sings: SONG - Walking on the Moon in the style of the Police
NASA 1: That was quite a mission your Dad took. It made him a celebrity here on Earth!
NASA 2: Have you any new ideas as to what happened to him? I say that he didn't disappear but lives on somewhere in this universe. We wish you all the luck in finding your famous father.
NASA 1: We have heard rumors about life on other planets and humans going to live there. As well as a secret location for retirees of the space program. They call it the Hotel Galactica. It is so secret, no one knows its location or even if it exists!
Luna: Thank you all so much for your help, and advice. I think I know where I might start looking for him! All I need now, is a shuttle to go and seek him out in space! Know where I might find one?
NASA 2: We have just what you need! I have the newest shuttle technology! Perfect for small crews of explorers! It is guaranteed to handle the very dangerous take-off and re-entry procedures!
NASA 1: We are very interested in discovery of our lost here. We would like to assist you in your search. Bring in the International Astronaut Team!!!
ENTER 4 astronauts, different nationalities.
NASA 2: These are (Introduce astronauts) And this is Luna Tides, The daughter of Major Tom. It is your mission to assist her in finding her father. Good Luck and Godspeed!
SCENE 3: SHUTTLE SCENE (Foreground in front of stage)
Pilots 1 and 2: Lets start our primary checks! Cargo: Check! Engine: Check!, Oxygen and life support systems? Cabin seals Check! Engine seals Check! Human cargo, Check! Liquid fuel: Check 100 percent full! Ready for Lift off…. CHECK! All aboard and set! Ready for countdown and liftoff!
Luna: I am so happy you could come along and help me...I have many questions for you. Lets fly by the first possibility. The moon Europa, on the planet saturn..
US Astronaut: Yes, I understand that the Intergalactic University there has had many Earthlings study and even stay and live there. You might be lucky and find someone who knows about Major Tom.
Brazilian/Russian Astronaut: The planet has only just discovered a way to make an atmosphere that we can breathe in. As well as producing water for plant-life.
UK/Spanish Astronaut: They have a place called One-tree-hill. This is where they first grew a plant with success, and now it is a famous landmark on the planet.
French/Norwegian Astronaut: It is actually the site for the University! Let´s go!
PILOTS: Countdown...10,9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 ,...We have LIFTOFF!!!!!! Its the final Countdown!
(Music Europe:Its the final countdown.)
SHOW IMAGES WHILE TRAVELLING TO PLANET ON SCREEN, Information Director drones on and on inside shuttle as they fly:
Information Director: From the beginning, before humans ever entered space there were animals sent up. Amoebas, fruit flies, rats, and even dogs and apes became hardy space veterans throughout history. As journeys were able to be extended for longer and longer durations, some unexpected results were recorded. It had little effect on the amoebas and a slight effect on fruit flies, but with mammals it seemed living at zero gravity conditions extended the lifespan of the organism. Meaning they lived for longer than others. If you lived at Zero G your body would spend less energy fighting the effects of gravity, your cells would oxidize more slowly and you would live longer. Major scientists were toying with the idea of immortality in human subjects.
SET 2 Scene 4: Moon Europa on the Planet of Saturn, ONE TREE HILL AND INTERGALACTIC UNIVERSITY. Students frozen on main stage around tree.
Luna: Is it safe?
Shuttle Information director: Don’t worry, Luna. We have been able to change the chemical makeup of the atmosphere, to make it possible for us to breathe here.
Luna: Let’s go and meet some of them, and maybe ask a few questions!
ENTER Europa scene from Shuttle.
What an interesting group of creatures. Are they aliens? They look different from us...all except that one over there. She looks like a hybrid, Half human, half alien.
US Astronaut: .So this is Europa! The only moon orbiting Saturn that can sustain human life!
Information Director: Yes...although at first it was just bacteria, now there is life. Hence One Tree Hill!
French/Norwegian Astronaut: .Its kinda smaller than I expected ,huh sigh
Luna: (worried about her father) It looks like the Moon, all inhabited, the only difference is that here, it is hot as Jalapeno sauce (fake laugh)
Europa Clones:.Argh !!!!!!!! WHO’S HERE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Russian/Brazilian Astronaut: What!… There is another difference between here and the moon, were are not alone!
UK/Spanish Astronaut: (SCARED) Wait!I have seen that face before… It is a Europan. In the book it says that they have clones…
US Astronaut: (STUNNED) So… they copy themselves.
UK Astronaut:: No not necessarily they also like to copy other people, look closer, don't you recognize him- he is Neil Armstrong. The first man to walk on the moon!
Clones: (copying human language) hello … I like to copy.
LUNA: Wow they learn really fast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Clones: we learn fast
(CLONES DANCE: If you like-a Me Song.)
LUNA and CREW: WHAAAAAAAAT!!!!
Clones: Do you like it
LUNA and CREW: Nooo!!!!
French/Norwegian Astronaut: Thats weird
US Astronaut: Yeah I didn't know they could have intelligent life on other planets!
UK/Spanish Astronaut: Really! I have heard that 2 moons here on Saturn may have the possibility of live bacteria, but nothing bigger than that!
Luna:Have you have seen my father?
Clones: No, who is he?
Luna: Major Tom, the famous Astronaut.
Clones: ahhhhh we know him!
Luna: really! (excited)
Clones: just kidding...But we know someone that knows him!
Luna: are you sure?
Clones:: 50% 50% percent
French/Norwegian Astronaut: You are going to trust him?
US Astronaut: He is the last hope we have.
Clones: Come with us, we will take you to the hybrid Europa. He had a father like yours, a human! Try not to stare...I know he looks different than us...its quite obvious that he is a hybrid Europa-Earthling.
Music Star Wars Theme: ENTER LEFT SIDE STAGE KNOCK LOUDLY
Clones: Its me Tobuku, I come with visitors
ENTER HYBRID
Hybrid: What is the situation? Why are you staring at me like that?
Clones: Sorry, she has never seen a clone or a Europan. You are half her species, and half our species. You must be a sight! She is named Luna and she wants to find her dad.
Hybrid: Oh! A fellow Earthling! What is the name of your dad sweetie?
Luna: Major Tom
Hybrid:
My own Dad was an Earthling, I understand your quest to meet him. Looking for a sense of identity when everyone around you is different. I am different here and on Earth. Everybody stares.
I can give you a map to find your dad. He lives on the elusive and secret Hotel Galactica on the International Space Station. With any luck he should still be there! He had a problem during his mission. Ground control tried to reach him, but communications were down.
Luna: Thank you !! Lets take off!!! There is no time to lose!
UK Astronaut: Lets show our thanks by the salute!
MAIN Crew RETURN TO SHUTTLE. Start takeoff sequence again,
CLONES and chorus sings Ground Control to major Tom Space Oddity - David Bowie while they start take off sequence...
SCENE 5:
Shuttle Information Director:
We will be passing very close to the sun. The sun is a yellow, star, that gives off medium-level heat. As opposed to the blue star of Vega...blue stars are the hottest! Passing in the field of the sun can be dangerous. This can be a very sticky situation. We are lucky, we have a specialist on board to help us with this situation. Please meet our Radiation Specialist.
Radiation Specialist: We need to be on the lookout for solar flares: Bursts of energy from the Sun. Energy in the form of radiation can be harmful to humans even in small doses. So we here at NASA make sure that we can provide some minimal protection from the sun’s radioactive rays:
Each one of you needs to wear a radioactive shield.
HE PLACES RADIOACTIVE SHIELDS ON EACH TRAVELLERS’ FOREHEAD.
Radiation Specialist: This should protect us until we reach the Hotel on the International Space Station.
US Astronaut: How can we be sure of this secret Hotel? Wouldnt it be something that we would have heard about on the news? Wouldn't everyone come to see about this incredible opportunity? I know I would have jumped at the chance to live on the International Space Station.
French/Norwegian Astronaut: Yes, my country have been trying for years to get more time to complete our research on Quarks and Black Holes! Yet the competition for time is stiff and we only get a block of time every year.
Russian/Brazilian Astronaut: I think you are forgetting the main reason for the Major's decision to live here: As you know there is good reason and it comes with consequences. The Life Force aspect is eluding you.
Luna: What is that?
UK/Brazilian Astronaut: The Life force aspect is the reason why people choose to live their lives (or more accurately end their lives) in space. The effects of Zero Gravity on human longevity is remarkable!
Russian:Yes, many nations are concluding their theses on the subject now.
Luna: You mean that it is true? You can live longer at zero gravity conditions?
French/Norwegian: Yes. My country is working on it too.Famous scientists, cosmonauts and astronauts are trying out different experiments with human and animal subjects.
US: I imagine that is why Major Toms’ final journey was such a mystery. My country is trying to seek out answers to this question.
Russian/Brazilian: It is all elderly subjects at this time, who volunteer to live their remaining time in space and discover what the possible benefits could be.
UK/Spanish: Finding a cure for cancer is one of the side effects being investigated by these human guinea pigs.
Luna: I think we may get lucky!
SCENE 6: INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION
Director Space Station: At a few hundred kilometers altitude, the Earth fills half your sky, and the band of blue that stretches from Canada to Africa, which your eye encompasses in a single glance. It can break your heart with its profound beauty! What brings you travellers here...you seem a little young to retire…
Luna: Retire? Is that why people stay here? I am hoping you might know my DAd, Major Tom...we heard he might be here.
ISS Director: Yes he is staying here at the Hotel. Let me have him summoned, Bell Hop!
(Bell hops arrive hopping around.)
Please go and fetch Major Tom from his quarters.
(Bell hops hop away and return with Major Tom. Then hop off stage.)
Major Tom: What a nice surprise! I believe that you are my very first guests! How nice! Who might you be…
US Astronaut: We have been sent from NASA to see what had happened to you all those years ago. This is Luna Tides, your daughter!
Luna: I have been looking for you for days! I am so pleased to finally meet you!
(They shake hands)
ISS Director: Can I interest your crew in some refreshments?
Major Tom:
I was left out there on the dark side of the moon. When I awoke from unconsciousness, I was shocked to be stranded in Space. The only thing to keep me alive was my space suit, which is actually just like a one-man spacecraft that has life support systems built in. I knew my oxygen would be created from Carbon dioxide using rebreather technology, but I also knew the batteries wouldn’t last forever.
I was lucky enough to be spotted by a transport shuttle that was going to the Hotel, with supplies and food for the Space Station. I was reeled in like a fish on a line, taken on board and finally deposited here. I have been involved in zero G experiments on longevity and old age.
Russian/Brazilian Astronaut: We thought that was a possibility. How are your findings and conclusions coming along?
Major Tom: They are going very well, and we have collected a lot of data for the future.
Luna: Do you think you might ever be able to come home?
Major Tom: Home? Earth is my home, but this is the closest I will ever get to it again. I am afraid that after so much time living at Zero G, it would be too dangerous to attempt re-entry. I would not regain my muscular control. I have retired up here, till death.
Luna: Do you miss your life on Earth and the people you left behind?
Major Tom. Of course my Darling, Earth is where I come from and where everyone i know of grew up there, under that relentless and incredible blue.
ISS Director: That is why they call it the Blue Planet. It is the water that promotes plant and wildlife. It is what makes it so special for humans. We circle the planet many times a day and we see 16 sunrises and sunsets. From dawn to dawn only takes a fraction of the time on Earth.
Major Tom: After a while you get used to the view. It never loses its thrill, but you become accustomed to it. Although i am sad to have missed your childhood, but I would not give up this opportunity for anything. I am a citizen of space, and as you are related to me, it sounds like we have that in common.We are travellers, explorers, guardians of knowledge.
Luna: Yes, I suppose i have found what i was looking for...now i can see where i get my passions from! I will always see you as my role model in life. I will be one of the best female astronauts since Dr. Sally Ride!
Major Tom: I will be waiting for you, I will watch the skies for you. There is only more planets to discover, wormholes to pass through and galaxies to explore! Now, go. Go home to our heavenly planet of life.
Luna: Thank you, Dad. (They embrace) I´m coming home.
US Astronaut: What a view eh?
Russian/Brazilian: The way you can see so much of the Earth with the naked eye from here. It is the best view I could imagine.
UK/Spanish: Florida will soon be in view again. I wonder if that tropical storm i saw swirling over Mexico yesterday has hit Fort Lauderdale yet.
French/Norwegian: Are any of the mountains in the Andes over Chile snow-free this year?
Luna: You should admire the aquamarine waters and darker reefs around the North-Eastern side on Australia. The Great Barrier reef is the largest of its kind on our planet. I could stare at it all day.
ISS Director: What about the chain of Islands that we call Hawaii...constantly changing as their volcanoes leak lava to form more expanding into into the ocean and exploding the existing land, turning it into some black unrecognizable deadland.
UK/Spanish: What about the Northern Lights swiftly moving across the skies of the North pole.
US: You can see a volcano erupting in New Zealand, and a Sahara sandstorm approaching Brazil, and unusually cold weather in Austria!
Director ISS: You look at the West Antarctic Ice Pack and wonder if it will melt and obliterate all the coastal cities on the planet!
PILOTS and radiation specialists enter
Pilot 1: In the daylight though, it is hard to see any sign of human inhabitation. But at night,
everything you see is due to humans. Lights blinking and twinkling all over the planet shows how many and how busy we are.
Pilot 2: The brightest swath of light is over Eastern North America, continuous from Boston to Washington. It is the most densely populated areas of the continent.
Radiation Specialist: Over there we see a burnoff of natural gases in Libya, Northern Africa. The dazzling lights of a Japanese fishing fleet that have moved towards the South China Sea. On every Orbit, the earth tells a different story.
Major Tom: You get to thinking about the earth as a living organism. You learn to worry about it, care for it and wish it well. It also leaves you with a tremendous sense of responsibility. There is clearly no one else out there, it is our home, and we are the only ones who can take good care of it. It is the fragile blue planet that gives us life and contentment.
Pilot 1: National borders are almost invisible, as are lines of the Tropic of Cancer or Capricorn. We are all members of one race...members of one Planet.
Pilot 2:: Spaceflight and exploration, therefore are human endeavors. Most people after some meditation, have similar thoughts of the Earth, as one, not a place divided up into countries and states.
Major Tom:The Nations who have began our journey into flight are also the very ones who have seen this perspective, and most if not all of those who have entered space have come back with a Transnational perspective: The Earth is one world, and we are all in it together.
Luna: Its time to go home...back to Earth. Are you ready crew? Let’s start for home….
Crew starts for the shuttle: We’re going home….
Chorus sings Peter Shillings..Coming Home.
Applause!
Narrator returns:
Chorus sings Counting Stars while Narrator names all the characters and actors. (Luna was played by, ….) All come and take their bows.
Song Ends, Narrator remains….
SURPRISE EPILOGUE
Narrator: But WAIT!!!...It turns out that many predictions did come true. Luna became an accomplished NASA Astronaut and went on many missions to space.
(Luna enters upstage back to the audience. Old Major Tom joins, puts an arm around Luna )
Narrator: Major Tom was also successful. His experiments on immortality did develop, and he remained in space for many years to come...until one day he had another visit, from a familiar family member. They lived for many years together, quietly orbiting the Earth, watching out for each other.