“T minus ten seconds, nine, eight.” Lucas was sitting at a ninety-degree angle in the cockpit of a rocket ship. He had been preparing for this moment for many years, and he was the only one preparing for a trip like this. The year was 1969, and he was about to be the first man to ever go to the moon.
“Seven, six, five.” Lucas could feel his heart racing faster and faster in his chest. He heard the deafening rockets firing up, and felt the ship begin to shake violently. It had been quiet up until this point. It seemed weird to him that in only a matter of seconds, he would be miles away from where he was now. He looked out the window, taking his last view of the pond green grass. He swore he could smell it from within the ship. He was taking it all in, unsure if he would ever see it again.
“Four, three, two, one, liftoff.” The noise of the engine grew unimaginably loud, and the shaking became worse. The force of gravity pushed down on Lucas as the aircraft went higher and higher into the sky. It had been about two minutes before someone finally attempted to speak to him via radio.  It was Greg, his commander and flight instructor.
“Everything stable in there, Luke?”
“Err, all good,” he said while trying to keep his body from shaking.
“What are your current oxygen levels?”
“How much longer until this shaking stops?” said Lucas clearly distraught.
“Shouldn’t be much longer, just wait until you enter into orbit.” Greg and Lucas had become very good friends throughout their journey together. Greg had acted like an older brother to Lucas, teaching him the ropes when he first joined NASA. He said he saw potential in him immediately, and knew he was destined to do big things.
“How fast am I going?”
“About 25,000 miles per hour.” Lucas noticed the shaking had grown stronger as the minutes went by. He found it getting harder and harder to breathe, as the centripetal force of gravity pushed against his chest. He remembered the breathing techniques that Greg had taught him at NASA. Inhale, 1, 2, 3, exhale. Inhale, 1, 2, 3, exhale. This did not work very well, and Lucas became worried. He tried to keep his mind off of the situation by thinking of his family and children. No matter what he did, he couldn’t stop thinking about the possibility of never returning home from space.
“Greg?”
“What’s up buddy? How ya doing?”
“Not good, I can’t get my breathing to slow down. I feel lightheaded.”
“Did you use the 1, 2, 3 breathing trick I taught you? That always works.”
“It didn’t work, I tried it.”
“Okay, just sit tight and try to think of something that makes you happy.” Lucas thought it was funny that he suggested the same options he already tried.
Lucas started feeling sicker and sicker. He knew he was near passing out, and he needed to tell Greg. He reached for the button on the radio, and as he did his eyes shut on their own. He was 200,000 miles away from earth and unconscious.
“Alright Luke, the shaking should have ceased now. The moon should also be in sight.”
“Luke? Luke!” Luke was now in orbit, and it was dead silent. The only noise to be heard was Greg screaming over the radio. The ship was approaching the moon. Greg said he would be there in under ten minutes and continued yelling in hopes he would say something. As the ship entered zero gravity, the contents of the cockpit began to float. A metal bucket floated across the room from a shelf and bumped Lucas in the head. This and Greg yelling at him woke up the lost and confused Lucas.
“Greg, it’s me. I think I passed out.”
“Oh, Luke, thank God you’re alright. I need you to look outside for me.
“What do you see?” 
At first, he saw Earth in the distance. It looked like a white, blue, and green bouncy ball. Then he looked the other way, and saw the moon. It looked like a gray ball of cheese, with its different craters and holes.
“I can see Earth from afar, but the moon is approaching pretty fast.”
“Okay that’s good. The ship will deploy its landing gear automatically when it gets within 100 feet of the planet.” Lucas sat back in his seat, just to take things in.
“Alright now Luke, the landing gear will start lowering in thirty seconds, so be expecting a mild rumbling noise.”
“Nothing like the one I heard on the way up here, right?”
“Haha, no not that loud son.” The noise began and Lucas could see the gear lowering off the reflection of the planet. Then, they hit the surface and the noise stopped. He had just become the first person to land on the moon.
“Landing gear go down smoothly?” said Greg.
“All good up here,” replied Lucas.
“Good. Now, don’t think you are just going to open up those doors and go hopping around out there. You need to do a few things first.”
“Okay, like what?”
“Well first, check your interior oxygen levels, make sure they’re at least above ninety.”
“Ninety-four, sir.”
“Very good, now we need you to go out of the ship and take a ground sample from the moon’s surface.” A ground sample? Lucas wondered what for but didn’t ask. He went and grabbed the metal shovel and the specimen container. He opened up the doors to the ship, and the stairs unfolded onto the desolate planet. Lucas walked down to the last step, and briefly thought about how he would be the first man to step on another planet. He looked a couple feet ahead, and his jaw dropped. He wanted to radio Greg but he was speechless. Six feet ahead lay a pair of footsteps.