Chapter Two: Mission to Mars

Space was such a big, big place. Everywhere Fred and Chloe looked, they saw endless stars and Earth kept getting smaller and smaller, and farther and farther away. Fred felt a little nervous. He missed his mom and dad already, but he was determined to be a brave little astronaut. Everyone on Earth was counting on Fred to discover new places and new life in our solar system and he did not want to let them down.

Fred and Chloe passed much of their time playing Go Fish and making Fred’s favorite snack - peanut butter and banana sandwiches. These are a lot more fun to make in space than on Earth, and more messy too! After 100 sandwiches and 200 games of Go Fish, Fred and Chloe looked out of their window and spotted a large orange planet. It was Mars and they were approaching fast! They quickly readied the ship to land and Chloe barked the touchdown sequence. The landing was very bouncy, but the ship held fast and Fred and Chloe safely touched down on Mars. They were now officially the first Earth boy and dog to land on Martian soil.

Fred opened the door of his spaceship and looked out onto Mars. It looked just like the pictures taken by NASA’s robot Rover. The air was very dry, rocks littered the ground and they could see mountains and craters everywhere. On the closest crater, only a few hundred feet a way, Fred spotted Rover and ran to introduce himself and Chloe. Rover was very glad to see them. Even though he was just a robot, Rover was getting lonely on Mars all by himself and he needed someone to help him find some parts that mysteriously went missing while he slept at night.

Suddenly, Fred saw movement out of the corner of his eye. As he moved closer, he began to see what looked like hundreds of little worms waiving in the distance. Fred and Chloe moved even closer and to their complete amazement, discovered dozens of skinny, green aliens peeking out from holes on the side of the crater. Each one had two antennae on the top of their heads, one large eye and three toes. They were the coolest (and the only) aliens Fred had ever seen. He had done it! He had discovered life on another planet. But Fred had yet to find out whether these Martians were friend or foe.

Written by Jodi Pereira and Lucas Pereira