"Stage 5 preparing to drop reactor payload," announced the mission control operator.
Aaron, Erik, Friedrich, Hajime, and now even Saladin, watched nervously as the heat shields of the fifth stage of the Energia Lunar rocket opened.
Cameras mounted inside the cargo bay showed a massive metal case, bristling with retrorockets.
A small burst of gas dislodged it from the cargo bay and sent it hurtling towards the lunar surface.
"Retrorockets igniting," announced the operator, and the cargo bay camera revealed the bright white plumes of the reactor payload module's rockets firing to slow its descent.
"Reactor module touchdown success. All systems within working parameters," confirmed mission control.
Friedrich let out an explosive breath.
"Whew! That was rough! All right, let's do a reactor systems check," he said, and brought up the liquid metal reactor's systems on his computer screen.
"Diagnostic complete, systems are operational," he announced with relief.
