Kindly Note: This is a Daily Kos Series on a TV Series Bible (a reference document used by screenwriters) that I recently completed. To see a list of the other entries in this series, please click the link below. Thanks!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART I | PART II
=<<>>=
CHARACTER BIOGRAPHIES
LIEUTENANT MICHELLE BERNAL
She is 38 years old, Hispanic with black hair and brown eyes, physical, single, and no children.
She was born in A.D. 1988 and knew that she wanted to fly with the military at a young age. Curiously, she had no desire to be a pilot. She eventually found out about the Flight Engineer (FE) position and was thrilled to see that it was an enlisted billet, which meant that she did not have to have a college degree to be in a cockpit.
Her grandfather was not pleased when he heard the news. He had wanted her to go to college, knowing that a higher education would be helpful for advancement opportunities. She promised him that she would complete her degree – in the military. Her grandfather grudgingly approved. She did not realize at the time how this decision to please her grandfather would one day change her life forever.
In the spring semester of her Senior year in high school, she took and passed the ASVAB with a score high enough to qualify for the vast majority of billets in any of the armed services. So shortly after graduation, she enlisted in the United States Marine Corps at the age of 18 to become a C–130 aircraft [Image 42] FE. Her plan was to stay in the military as long as she could fly and retire only when she was grounded by the Flight Surgeon or when she obtained a rank high enough to fly a desk. She was on the cusp of realizing her dreams.
She trained intensely and was happy to be exactly where she was. Training on the airplane itself was the fulfillment of a dream. After more than a year, she finally earned her wings. It was the proudest moment of her life. Her grandfather was at the small graduation ceremony the Marines had held for her and the other honorees.
She absolutely loved her job, and thrived in the military. She loved going on deployments to different parts of the world. Everything was just like she had imagined. She liked wearing the olive green flight suit, making her indistinguishable from an officer. She loved her position in the cockpit sitting in between the two pilots. She always beamed with pride in the knowledge that it takes three crew members to fly the airplane, not two. She was in charge of making sure the airplane was healthy enough to fly while the pilots did their “pilot shit.”
The Marines also offered her plenty of opportunities to take classes in pursuit of her college degree, and she took advantage of it, with her grandfather always in mind. The classes helped when it came time for promotions, just like he had said. She worked hard, and after four years, reenlisted for another four. As she completed more of her studies, she rose faster in rank.
In 2014, after four more awesome years, she happily reenlisted once again. Two years later, and after ten years in the Marines, she graduated with her four–year college degree. Her grandfather was at the small graduation ceremony the Marines had held for her and the other graduates. He was so proud of her, and she was happy that her degree had made him happy. Shortly afterwards, she was promoted to Gunnery Sergeant.
Two years later, AiOS announced that they were hiring more astronauts, and so she and most of the flight crew in her squadron decided to apply. To the shock of everyone, she was selected! So instead of continuing with her career and reenlisting, she was to muster out of the service in a couple of months and report for training at Spaceport America. She was going to be an astronaut as a Gray Shirt Engineering Officer!
Her last flight as a Marine Corps C–130 Flight Engineer was an emotional and bittersweet moment for her.
::
LIEUTENANT ALEXANDRIA JEFFERSON
She is 38 years old, Black with black hair and brown eyes, physical, single, and no children.
She was born in A.D. 1988 and knew that she wanted to fly helicopters with the military at a young age. She was thrilled to discover that the US Army allowed enlisted personnel to become pilots, which meant that she did not have to have a college degree to be in a military cockpit.
She had always wanted to go to college anyway, knowing that a higher education would be helpful for advancement opportunities during and after graduation. And so she was doubly pleased to find out that she could complete her degree – in the military. She did not realize at the time how this decision would one day change her life forever.
In the spring semester of her Senior year in high school, she took and passed the ASVAB with a score high enough to qualify for the vast majority of billets in any of the armed services. So shortly after graduation, she enlisted in the United States Army at the age of 18 and became a helicopter mechanic on a UH–1 helicopter [Image 43]. Once mechanic training was over, she took college classes with the Army while becoming more proficient at her maintenance duties, hoping to one day fly the same type of helicopter she was working on now.
After two years of solid duty as a soldier, she was thrilled to learn that she was to be promoted to Warrant Officer 1 (WO1) and become a UH–1 helicopter pilot. The classes she took and all her hard work had paid off. Her plan was to stay in the military as long as she could fly and retire only when she was grounded by the Flight Surgeon or when she obtained a rank that only allowed flying a desk. She was on the cusp of realizing her dreams.
She trained intensely and was happy to be exactly where she was. After more than a year, she finally earned her wings as a fixed–wing pilot. It was the proudest moment of her life. Her parents were at the small graduation ceremony the Army had held for her and the other honorees. But her training had only just begun: the Rotary–Wing certification was an add–on to the Fixed–Wing license. Training on the helicopter itself was the fulfillment of a dream. After many more months of intense training, she graduated from helicopter flight school and was now a full–fledged Army helicopter pilot!
She absolutely loved her job, and thrived in the military. She loved going on deployments to different parts of the world. Everything was just like she had imagined. She liked wearing the olive green flight suit. She loved her position in the cockpit sitting in one of the two front seats, doing her “pilot shit.”
The Army also offered her plenty of opportunities to continue taking classes in pursuit of her college degree, and she took advantage of it. The classes helped when it came time for promotions, and was soon a WO2.
In 2016, after ten years in the Army, she graduated with a four–year college degree. Her parents were once again at the small graduation ceremony the Army had held for her and the other graduates. Shortly afterwards, she was promoted to WO3.
Two years later, AiOS announced that they were hiring more astronauts, and so she and most of the flight crew in her squadron decided to apply. To the shock of everyone, she was selected! So instead of continuing with her career, she was to resign her commission and muster out of the service in a couple of months and report for training at Spaceport America. She was going to be an astronaut as a Blue Shirt Astronautics Officer!
Her last flight as a U.S. Army H–1 Pilot was an emotional and bittersweet moment for her.
::
LIEUTENANT JENNIFER DOMINIC
She is 38 years old, Caucasian with blonde hair and green eyes, physical, single, and no children.
She was born in A.D. 1988 and was never bitten by the flying bug. Instead, she wanted to be a high school science teacher.
So off she went to a small community college after high school, working a 50–hour per week job as a food server at a fairly upper scale restaurant and going to school part–time. She had planned on taking an Educational Assistant (EA) job with a public school, but was horrified to know that her restaurant job paid substantially more. So she had the means to not only pay for school but also to party when not at work or studying. She enjoyed her time in school, and had a memorable celebration on her 21st birthday. A year later, and after four years working, studying, and partying hard, she graduated with her Associates Degree in General Science.
However, while it was nice to have a 2–year degree, she was disheartened to know that she still had another four years of hard work to complete for her 4–year degree. She was sick of her restaurant job, but didn’t want to reduce her income by taking an EA job. One day a friend suggested that she join the military, where she could get her college degree for free. The idea intrigued her, so she did her own research.
But what to do in the military? Be in a tank? On a ship at sea? She eventually stumbled upon flying, and was thrilled when she discovered that there were several enlisted flying billets, which meant that she did not have to have a college degree to fly. She also knew that she could complete her degree – in the military. Once she had her diploma in hand, she would apply to become a commissioned officer. She did not realize at the time how this decision would one day change her life forever.
She took and passed the ASVAB with a score high enough to qualify for the vast majority of billets in any of the armed services. So shortly after graduation, she enlisted in the United States Air Force at the age of 22 and became a Sensor Operator on the E–3 aircraft [Image 44]. Her plan was to stay in the military for 20 years, then begin her second career as a science teacher, with her military pension supplementing her teacher income. She liked to picture herself on the high school campus wearing her green Air Force flight jacket. She was on the cusp of realizing her dreams.
She trained intensely and was happy to be exactly where she was. Training on the airplane itself was the fulfillment of a dream. After more than a year, she finally earned her wings. It was the proudest moment of her life. Her parents were at the small graduation ceremony the Air Force had held for her and the other honorees.
She absolutely loved her job, and thrived in the military. She loved going on deployments to different parts of the world. Everything was just like she had imagined. She liked wearing the olive green flight suit, making her indistinguishable from an officer. She loved her position in the airplane, facing forward sitting behind a large desk brimming with displays. She always beamed with pride in the knowledge that it takes a crew and teamwork to successfully accomplish their mission.
The Air Force also offered her plenty of opportunities to take classes in pursuit of her college degree, and she took advantage of it. The classes also helped when it came time for promotions. She worked hard, and after four years, reenlisted for another four. As she completed more and more of her studies, she rose faster in rank.
Two years later, in 2014, and after six years in the Air Force, she graduated with a four–year college degree. Her parents were at the small graduation ceremony the Air Force had held for her and the other graduates. Shortly afterwards, she was promoted to Technical Sergeant.
Two years later, AiOS announced that they were hiring more astronauts, and so she and most of the flight crew in her squadron decided to apply. To the shock of everyone, she was selected! So instead of continuing with her career and reenlisting, she was to muster out of the service in a couple of months and report for training at Spaceport America. She was going to be an astronaut as a Khaki Shirt Science Officer!
Her last flight as a U.S. Air Force E–3 Sensor Operator was an emotional and bittersweet moment for her.
::
COMMONALITY
Note: The career trajectory of our three protagonists are similar, and so will be discussed as a group instead of individually.
Too soon for them, all three left the military and reported for training as new Ensigns on the Night Shift. It was during training that our protagonists met and quickly became best friends forever.
Since they had already flown professionally for the military, the training AiOS provided was more of an overview of the art of being an astronaut, including space shuttle emergency escape procedures, spacecraft safety and operations, spacewalk and Moonwalk procedures, etc.
After six months, they deployed together to Space Station Alpha for 91 days as Ensigns on the Night Shift. Their first launch into space was a thrillride of three–gees followed by microgravity. The view outside took their breath away; they had become infected with the Overview Effect. They loved their job as astronauts even more than flying with the military. Night Shift was really cool, in that there was no one with the rank of Commander and above that was awake at the time. Even the tourists were asleep. The station was all theirs.
All three remained on the Night Shift a total of three years, after which AiOS hired more astronauts as a result of the Moon base becoming operational, and they were promoted to the Day Shift. Their duties did not change, but the station and base seemed busier with all the people now awake and moving around, including tourists.
They remained on the Day Shift for two years before being promoted to Night Shift Lieutenant after the 3D printed lunar habitats became operational. All three agreed that being promoted was great, but they were back on the Night Shift, which was not so great. However, they were one of the people in charge of the lunar base during the night. They especially liked that there would be no more “doodie,” as only Ensigns are consigned to that fate. Instead, their third duty was the Expeditionary, where they would ride a rocket up to a higher orbit for satellite maintenance and refurbishment, or land on the lunar surface in a place that no one has ever been before.
Their quick promotion to the Day Shift after three years came as a result of the accident on the space station in 2025. Many others were also promoted to replace the crew members that had died that day.
It is the following year when the series begins, and our three protagonists are now recently promoted Lieutenants on the Day Shift.
::
OTHER RECURRING CHARACTERS
Starr Gaiser is a Tik Tok influencer who has a show called “Space News Update,” and is the unofficial spokesperson for the company.
Just like the military, a plethora of characters with various ranks and duties will come and go, interacting with our three main characters on a regular basis, whether on the ground or in space.
All other characters are non–astronauts who support the entire infrastructure for the astronauts whilst on the ground, in the same way the vast majority of the people working aboard an aircraft carrier support the relatively few who fly. They are flight controllers, trainers, chefs, manufacturing specialists, maintenance experts, medical professionals, etc.
Additionally, celebrities would be occasional guest stars and play themselves as orbital and lunar tourists, since they can in reality afford the price of the tickets. These celebrity guest stars will attract new viewers to our series.
