Will pulled down the clear visor on his helmet, glancing over at Dorothy to see that she was doing the same. Dorothy had to admit that she’d been impressed with the spacesuit and helmet that she’d been given. She’d been expecting something bulky, uncomfortable and difficult to move in, but the full suit only weighed about 20 pounds, considerably lighter than the launch-and-entry suits worn by space shuttle astronauts. The suit’s patented material let water vapour escape but kept air inside, cooling the suit without compromising safety. The helmet had been incorporated into the suit, rather than being detachable, and the gloves were touch-sensitive. In fact, Dorothy was so impressed that, if she ever managed to get her space pod operational, she’d have to see she if could convince Will to part with one of these …

‘Transfer from ground to internal power.’

Sam’s voice was loud in her ear now.

‘Ground launch sequencer is go for auto sequence start.’

The countdown was now at less than 15 seconds.

‘Activate launch pad sound suppression system.’

Dorothy felt a surge of anticipation. She was about to go back into space after years of being Earthbound.

‘Activate main engine hydrogen burn-off system.’

Will turned and smiled at her. ‘As dates go, this one should be memorable.’

Before Dorothy could come up with a pithy reply, the cabin was swamped with a deafening roar. She could barely hear Sam’s voice over the earpiece.

‘Main engine start. Lift-off in five seconds, four, three, two, one …’

Dorothy was thrust back into her seat as Virgil blasted off from the pad. She felt as if a giant hand was pressing down on her. The acceleration was incredible. She wanted to scream with delight but the G-forces were so intense that it was all that she could do to draw breath.

After what seemed like an age the crushing pressure started to ease, and Dorothy was able to move in her seat once more. Will shot her a quick look.

‘You OK?’

She nodded. Satisfied that she’d survived lift-off intact, Will leaned forward, preparing to detach the probe from the lifting stage.

‘Mission Control, all lights are green on my board, trajectory looks good.’

‘Roger that, Virgil, main engine throttling back, stand by for booster-stage separation in 20 seconds.’

As another countdown started to cycle its way towards zero, Dorothy turned her head and stared out of the cockpit window. The curve of the Earth was clearly visible below them now and the stars were more brilliant than they ever looked from the surface. God, she had missed this … She lifted an arm, feeling the almost-forgotten sensation of weightlessness.

The countdown in her earpiece reached zero and there was a shudder as the first-stage booster detached from them, beginning its return journey to Earth where it would make a powered landing at Devesham airfield ready to be reused on the next mission.