Apollo 15 lands on the moon making Molly Cobb the first American woman to land there. Due to a last second swap of landing site they end up at Shackleton crater near the Lunar South Pole, where they find ice allowing for the planned lunar base to go ahead.
This episode provides examples of:
- Alternate History:
- Apollo 15 's landing site is changed from the Hadley Rille in the Moon's northern hemisphere to the Shackleton crater near the South Pole.
- Molly discovers ice on the Moon in 1971, 37 years before it was discovered in our time.
- Armor-Piercing Response: Karen: "I did not come here to do this" Wayne: "Yes you did."
- Artistic License – Engineering: Changing the landing site to Shackleton Crater would not be possible at such a late stage. The LM and Command Module did not have enough propellant combined to change to a polar orbit. But the story needs it to happen, so it isn't a problem.
- Military Maverick: Ed suggests changing the landing site. The other male astronaut immediately loves it (but then he'll be in the command module while the other two are on the surface of the moon) and eventually - with some prodding by Thomas Paine - the rest of NASA comes around to allowing it.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Molly says both she and Ed are selfish assholes. Ed does not deny it.
- Precision F-Strike: Wayne uses one when he yells about Molly dying.
- Plagued by Nightmares: Wayne opens up to Karen about his nightmare regarding Molly dying on the moon. Turns out Karen has had nightmares of her own, since Ed was shot down in Korea (almost 20 years ago by now).
- Recurring Dreams: Unfortunately for Wayne, they are a particularly disturbing nightmare
- Shellshocked Veteran: Clayton (Danielle's husband) has seen some stuff in Vietnam. It affects him.
- Suddenly Shouting: When Wayne defends his behavior (smoking weed, painting his nightmares) to Karen, he raises his voice and punctuates his fears with a Precision F-Strike.
- The Stoner: Tracy smells marijuana on Wayne Cobb and while Karen notices the smell, she can't pinpoint it until Tracy tells her what it is.
- Time Skip: At the end of the episode we get a time skip forward to October 1973 and the landing of the first lunar base "Jamestown."
