“All systems check out okay. Begin countdown …”

10 … 9 … 8 … 7 … 6 … 5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1 …

The two smaller thrusters came on and began to slowly pull the space shuttle out of its docking bay. The shuttle finally escaped the bay and began to rotate towards Jupiter. When it was in place, the two larger aft thrusters came to life and sped the shuttle towards the planet.

The one-man shuttle, known as the Galileo, would be the first manned space mission to enter the atmosphere of Jupiter. The sole astronaut on board was a 36-year-old American named Howard Simmons.

Simmons was extremely nervous, as an person in his place obviously would be … should be. He was going to enter the atmosphere of one of the most deadly planets in the solar system.

There had been several probes sent into Jupiter’s atmosphere but very few of them survived long enough to return with samples. The new model space shuttle which Simmons piloted had a built-in energy shield which was supposed to protect the shuttle for up to three hours. Of course the shield had been tested but it had never actually been tested on Jupiter yet. The scientists at NASA had told Simmons that he had nothing to worry about. They were sure the shield would hold up. But there was still a chance that something could go wrong and the shield would not work. Simmons reflected on all of this as he thruttled the shuttle into a quicker speed.

He reached over to his left and turned on a recorder which was used to record information on the atmosphere and on Simmons’ personal thoughts about the mission. Simmons was glad the recorder was on; now he would have something to keep his mind preoccupied.

“This is Colonel Howard Simmons of the United States’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The date is February 18, 2114,” he said into the recorder.

“At this moment I am about 50,000 kilometers from the northern pole of Jupiter. The scientists at NASA figured that I would stand a better chance of entering Jupiter’s atmosphere if I entered at one of the poles. This is because there is less movement in the zonal winds at the poles. Also, there is a better chance of me finding a low pressure system to enter in the northern pole.” Simmons turned and looked out a window of the shuttle to see how far away the space station was. He felt that the station was too far away for his comfort even though he had only left it a few minutes ago. He took a few computer readings then continued to speak into the recorder, “The shuttle’s sensors pick up a large low pressure system about 250 kilometers east of the north pole. If everything goes as planned I will try to enter at that spot. I will now turn the recorder off until I am ready to enter the atmosphere. He turned the recorder off. It would be a few hours before the shuttle would reach the atmosphere so he decided to take a short rest. In a few seconds he was asleep.