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Beyond him, the Earth hung blue and white in the endless black of the universe.
Minus the other three people in Integrity, the four on the ISS, and the three on Tiangong Station, Charlie Spring looked out of the tiny window and could see every other human being currently alive.
Down there, below the clouds, were his mum and dad sunning themselves on their balcony in their flat in Alameda, Tori and Michael asleep in their Vancouver Special, Olly and Paulo visiting Paulo's parents in Milan, and most importantly, Nick and their twin girls Olivia and Freya were in Houston, probably making their way to NASA Mission Control right now.
Charlie had finished the latest O2O test transmission and had some time before he had to check in and then start the next one. He could look at this view for every second of his down time and never get bored.
He held up a hand to the tiny window. His family was too far away to touch, but he could cradle the Earth in the palm of his hand. If only that was enough to keep them all safe.
It had simultaneously been both a hard and an easy decision to accept the position of Mission Specialist on the Artemis II Mission.
Little Charlie had stared up into the night sky from his bedroom window and had often asked the moon to watch over him and Tori while they slept. It seemed a more obvious course of action than praying to the God of his abuelos, that deity had opinions about who he loved, but Luna just kept on shining down whether or not Charlie liked a boy.
That trust in celestial objects had remained throughout GCSEs, A-levels, a degree in Maths, followed by further degrees in engineering and the start of a career with the MOD. Then Nick had something of a crisis about where his life was headed and went into primary school teaching.
That something prompted Charlie to look at his own working life and almost as a joke, he had applied to the ESA and had been both slightly shocked and thrilled when he'd been accepted into their astronaut training programme. The first openly gay male to do so.
The training had been tough mentally and physically, but Charlie was tougher and had risen to every challenge. Knowing that he had the unconditional love and support of his husband and daughters had made the long hours and separation from them worth it. He'd made good use of video calls and shared playlists so that the time spent apart wasn't so jarring when they came back together as a family unit.
It wasn’t just the time away though, that made Charlie constantly question whether he had taken the right path, the inherent danger of space travel was ever present in his mind. Leaving the twins with one fewer parent and Nick without a husband was a very real possibility and one that they planned for, but as Nick pointed out, life itself was a risk.
So when the selection process for this mission series came around and he was asked to be a candidate, the girls were excited that Daddy would be going to the moon and had made him Taylor Swift-style bracelets to include as part of his personal items on the mission.
“Hey, Charlie.” The shift CAPCOM's voice crackled throughout the capsule. Charlie dragged his gaze from the window and pushed himself around towards the voice, his curly hair flying free and unrestrained. “Test results look good. And we have two excited girls and a husband here for you in Mission Control before the next phase.”
Charlie knew he wouldn't be able to speak to his family directly, but that didn't matter. Knowing that they would be able to see him was enough right now.
“Copy, Houston.”
He completed the maneuver away from the window and floated the short distance towards the video link and into the little nook.
The Mission Commander was using the hand held mic to talk about an issue they were having with the plumbing. A workaround could be found, but these kinds of issues were exactly what this mission was all about. Charlie tuned out the conversation between Integrity and Houston, he had his own message to deliver. He formed his hands into the shape of a heart and kept it in the position for a count of five so that there could be no mistaking that it was intentional. Then he pointed to the home-made beaded bracelets on his right wrist and held that for five seconds. Message delivered, he relaxed and spun himself around whilst focusing on the plumbing discussion. It seemed like a solution for next time had already been agreed upon.
“Thank you, Commander. Next will be the Outlook…” There was a break in the conversation, “Charlie? Copy heart. Copy bracelet.”
Charlie grinned and gave a thumbs up, then pushed himself away from the nook and back to the window. There were so many reasons when on Earth to feel despair and disillusionment at the state of the world, but from up here that little blue dot was all humanity had. He touched the window again. He’d never been further away, but had never felt closer to his fellow humans. Perhaps that message wasn’t just for his little family, but for all the inhabitants of his planet.
He held up his hands in a heart sign again and tried to enclose the Earth between them. His hands were too small, but also big enough.