The year is 2232. Humanity has turned its sights away from the depths of its oceans to explore the vastness of space. Thanks to commercial breakthroughs encouraging further governmental development Earth now has colonies on the moon and earth. Back home the considerations of a unity earth people are being forged to make prospects in space safer than worrying about a fourth World War. From the moon vast solar farms have worked to provide power to simplify energy where nuclear doesn't bolster the populace. On Mars the concepts of terraforming and understanding of necessities in non Earth environments are being discovered. Mars is no promised resort planet yet but things are underway.

Currently the time it takes to send a rocket from Earth to Mars is the prospect of several years. A recent development is hopeful to shorten that time down to a single year. Still despite such advancements cryogenics is used to keep the crew alive while the flight is maintained autonomously unless a critical error requires the human attention.

In five weeks time the new prototype rocket will launch with its most seasoned crew. Astronauts with scores of safe and successful missions under their belt. They will oversee what happens to the new engine design.