Five metres to contact.
Slow and steady, Gladys.
One false move on this drill and we're swimming in molten slag.
Solar flare! A big one!
Shut it down. Shut it all down before it's...
...Too late.
The drill slipped. It's going right into the core.
Help!
Gladys!
5...
4...
3...
2...
1.
Thunderbirds Are Go!
Rise and shine, little brother.
- Oh, John, what time is it? - Time to suit up.
You're going to space.
Five more minutes.
Aah! OK, OK! I got the message.
- That's your closet, Alan. - Oh, whatever.
All right, so what's all the...?
Brains, is that a coffee maker?
I've engineered Max to produce 16 different types of hot beverages.
Still a little... over-extracted.
You're looking at the Asteroid 21 Louticia, home of the Golvanna Mine.
20 minutes ago an epic solar flare pretty much fried the station's electronics,
just as it was drilling into the molten core.
The resulting eruption pushed it into a collision course with the sun.
It's all so tragic. That's my favourite asteroid.
- You have a favourite asteroid? - Of course, Alan.
Asteroids are extremely entertaining.
- How many on board, John? - Just one.
It's a mostly-automated operation. The miner reports he's safe for now,
but the next return transport won't get there in time.
We need to go pick him up. Are you cool with that?
Sure. With everyone else still helping with that tunnel fire in the Pyrenees,
this will be a solo mission.
Not advisable. You'll need an extra set of hands if something goes wrong.
I'll gladly volunteer Max.
He'd do great in the desolate, unforgiving vacuum of space.
Er... thanks, Brains. But I'll be flying solo.
- I'll go with you. - Kayo!
You will? I mean, that's cool.
We're preparing to launch. Just hang tight.
International Rescue is on the way.
Well, it takes the company shuttle days to get here. I don't have that long.
We have slightly different equipment.
You want me go over the launch procedure with you?
I've flown this before, Alan. But if you want to give me your little presentation.
That's OK. We should er... get going.
5, 4,
3, 2,
1.
Thunderbird 3 is go!
- Wow. - I know.
Oh. Oh, that? I see that all the time. No big deal.
Thunderbird 3, your precise trajectory and optimum velocity
have been calculated and loaded into the navigational cluster.
- Thanks, Thunderbird 5. - Have a good flight.
You may have launched into orbit before, but I'm sure you've never done this.
3, 2, 1.
Acceleration rate stable, intercept locked in.
So, Zombie Apocalypse or Alien Storm?
- Er... what are you talking about? - Killing time.
It's gonna be pretty much autopilot until we get there. Don't you like games?
I've got better things to do.
Better than fighting zombies? What is all that?
Technical read-outs of the asteroid mine, if something goes wrong.
This is just a taxi mission. What could go wrong?
Did I mention we have zombies?
Go ahead. Conquer the undead.
Technical read-outs win.
Kayo, I'm transmitting the latest estimates.
Even at your current speed, any delay would make rescue impossible.
Hm. That is cutting it close.
Alan, wake up. You need to see this.
I'm not asleep... Ah, gross.
Space drool. I didn't get you, did I?
- Latest telemetry? - Yeah, we're really cutting it close.
No problem. We're only using 65% of the ion fusion engine's power.
- We'll speed up a little. - A word of caution, Alan.
Increasing your velocity will get you there faster,
but it will also greatly complicate your deceleration sequence.
I'm worried you'll use up all your fuel.
Brains, it's me. I can handle it. Better strap back in.
If we don't get off this rock soon, it's gonna get Balti in here.
Gladys is already feeling the heat.
Don't worry - we've got our best pilot on board; we'll get there in time.
That's another solar flare!
Brains, another massive solar storm just hit the asteroid.
- But Alan and Kayo... - Are gonna be flying right into it.
Time to slow this thing down.
This is Thunderbird 3. Preparing for deceleration sequence.
- Proton storm! - Everything's going haywire.
We've lost main power.
We've lost them.
Navigation controls aren't responding.
Everything is dead. We can live without comms,
but without navigation and propulsion,
there's no way we're stopping. What happened back there?
We just got hit by a massive solar flare.
Brains designed the ship to withstand that amount of solar radiation.
Otherwise we'd have been microwaved.
- So, what now? - I need to do a hard reset.
We'll power back up and hope everything works.
Let's see. And...
Everything doesn't work.
Kayo, this is kind of bad.
I need those engines to slow us down.
Or we'll shoot past the asteroid and into the sun along with it.
- Can it be fixed? - I don't know.
International Rescue, this is Thunderbird 3. Do you copy?
John, are you there?
- Kayo, I don't know what to do. - We're gonna be OK, Alan.
Just take it slow and remember your training.
Yeah. Yeah.
OK, we need to get these covers off.
I'm still tracking them. No change in velocity or trajectory.
There are redundant systems on board.
Alan and Kayo should be able to repair the damage.
- If they have time. - That's the one thing they don't have.
At the speed they're going, they'll pass the asteroid any minute.
- I'm calling in the others. - There's nothing they can do.
But they need to know.
Alan and Kayo are clever. They'll be all right.
I don't know, Brains.
Alan, we just flew past the asteroid.
- OK, hand me a new module. - It's getting out hot out there.
Here goes nothing.
- Ha-ha! - Yes!
We've got navigation and propulsion.
Strap in. I'm turning this thing around.
They've reversed course.
They're back on an intercept with the asteroid.
OK. We've matched speed with the asteroid.
It's a whole lot bigger up close.
We're safe from the solar radiation. It's the heat I'm worried about.
We need to get inside the asteroid - that should protect us from the heat.
Well, there's the front door.
But we still don't have a comm channel. We can't let him know we're here.
We could always go out and knock.
- That's exactly what we're gonna do! - I was joking.
I'm not. Can you help me rig up an electro-magnetic interference generator?
Sure. But that will only make their consoles squeal.
We've got power.
Oh, now what?
Wait a minute.
I know what this is.
Remember when my dad would make us all practise Morse code?
You said it was the biggest waste of time in the universe.
I never understood why we had to learn
some ancient binary pulse code. Until now.
How did you know?
To work on Galvanna Mine, you have to be space rated.
Morse code is still a requirement. It was er... in the read-outs.
Boy, was I surprised to hear that Morse code. Nobody uses that.
Wait! You're International Rescue?
Would you look at that, Gladys? They're just a couple of kids.
Told you nobody cares about us out here.
Hey! We just risked our lives to come and save you and your plant.
- Gladys. - How about a little gratitude?
- It's not about that, Kayo, remember? - I'm sorry. You're right.
Thank you very, very, very, very much for coming to rescue me.
It doesn't matter, anyway. You're too late.
Did you notice the temperature outside? We're done for.
If we leave this rock now, we'll melt.
It's only a matter of time until the asteroid does too.
He's right. We've run out of time.
There's no way Thunderbird 3 can survive out there.
- So we're just gonna accept our fate? - Unless you believe in miracles.
Bring any of those along with you, Rocket Boy?
Maybe I did.
We're International Rescue. We make the impossible happen every day.
All we need is a big enough kick to move this asteroid a few degrees.
We'll slingshot around the sun instead of crashing into it.
You're right about the impossible part. We don't have engines.
- This is a rock in space! - You have explosives, don't you?
Explosives? Oh, we do have those.
Ned Tedford at your service.
We call these crackers.
They'll split an asteroid in two if you put them in the wrong place.
But if we position them in the right place, it'll give us the push we need.
- I shouldn't have sent them out there. - It's what we do, John.
- But Alan's just a kid. And Kayo... - Doesn't need you look out for her.
And you shouldn't underestimate Alan just because he's the youngest.
That kid's a lot more clever than we think.
And exactly why are we doing this?
Because the safest place to be when those nukes go off is aboard Thunderbird 3.
- This had better work. - Here goes nothing.
It's working. We're changing course.
- I knew you had it in you, Rocket Boy. - Thanks.
Now we just have to make it around the sun without burning to a crisp.
Hold on a minute. I'm detecting movement on the asteroid.
Big movement. It's changing direction.
The asteroid is now gonna slingshot around the sun instead of crashing into it.
And with the insulating properties of the asteroid
combined with the radiation shielding of Thunderbird 3, they'll be reasonably safe.
Well, that's some good news.
Of course, at the speed they'll be travelling,
the asteroid will be thrown into interstellar space...
- Without any hope of recovery. - You know what I like about you, Brains?
You're always looking at the positive.
That was sarcasm... wasn't it?
Hang on, guys.
Almost halfway around. They're really cooking.
Temperature readings are maxed out.
If it wasn't for the asteroid protecting us, we'd be done for.
So, then, we just wait it out.
Take a nice trip round the sun and back to home we go.
- Not exactly. - What do you mean, not exactly?
We have a slight problem.
Oh. That's not good.
What's not good? What kind of a mess have you gotten us into now?
Well, when we overshot the asteroid,
we used up most of our fuel slowing down and flying back to it.
So? This rock we're riding in is going plenty fast enough.
But in the wrong direction.
When we escape the sun's orbit, we won't be pointed towards earth.
- Any more bad news? - We still have no communications.
"Be a space miner! Live a life of adventure!"
You should have stuck with gardening, Ned.
- I'm an idiot. - Can you be more specific?
My brothers always say I make it seem so easy. Like I don't even try.
- I think I started to believe them. - None of this is your fault, Alan.
It's a mission. Things go wrong.
But I wasn't ready. Now we're probably gonna die.
Don't say that. You've been through worse.
I've never been this far away from everybody. We're all alone out here.
Brains, my brothers - they can't help us.
Look, Alan: I've known you long enough to be certain that you don't need help.
That's the last module. Fire it up.
- It works! - Yeah!
- Yes! - Oh, great.
Alan, Kayo, what a relief.
In case you're wondering, back side of the sun looks exactly the same as the front.
- We're monitoring your fuel situation. - Yeah, it could be better.
We'll report back as soon as we have a solution.
F-A-B. Tracy Island, out.
We've almost completed our orbit. Temperatures are dropping a little.
I think we've made it through the worst, as far as getting melted by the sun goes.
I say, as soon as we're out of the sun's corona,
we ditch the rock and take our chances.
And I'm telling you we don't have enough fuel. We'll be stranded.
I'll think of something. I just need a minute.
How old are you? 12?
Gladys thinks the grown-ups need to be in charge.
And we say ditch now.
Two things.
One: Alan may be young but I trust him with my life.
Two: we won't take orders from a plant.
- Gladys. - We're in a bad situation.
Don't make it worse for yourself. Understand?
Right you are, then.
If only we could get a little extra kick in the right direction.
- What? - A kick.
A kick! Did we use all the crackers?
One left. For "just in case".
They made it around the sun.
I'm tracking their trajectory, but it doesn't look good.
They're headed nowhere close to Earth.
Hey, guys. I'm gonna try something, but it's a little crazy.
Alan Tracy crazy or "Should I be worried" crazy?
I'll let you be the judge of that.
I still don't see how this is going to work.
We're sitting right on top of that last explosive charge.
When it goes off, it should shoot us from the asteroid like a cannonball.
Along with our engines, that should give us enough velocity to get us back to Earth.
I've mapped your precise spin using telemetry data from Thunderbird 5.
I'm transmitting to you now the exact moment at which to launch.
The margin of error will be less than one half second.
You'll only get one shot at this.
Otherwise, we fly off in the wrong direction. I got it.
- Don't Gladys and I get a say in this? - No!
- Coming up on launch. - I'd strap in, if I were you.
Here we go. 3, 2, 1.
Fire!
Did it work?
It worked. We're heading in the right direction,
with just enough fuel to get us home.
ETA to Earth: three hours.
Not bad, Rocket Boy. Sorry we doubted you.
I'm sorry I doubted me too. And thanks for sticking up for me.
Are we there yet?
And then I thought: Why not make us the cannonball?
Ha! You should have felt the speed. It was massive.
You did good, Alan. We're all proud of you.
Ah, no big deal. I wasn't worried at all.
- Er... I think I'm gonna turn in. - I don't blame you.
Get some rest.
I'm heading back up. Good work up there, Kayo.
- How was it really? - It was scary.
But Alan was a Tracy. He saved us all, Scott.
- He makes it look easy, doesn't he? - Mm-hm.
Rest time's over, hotshot. We've got a rescue.
F-A-B.
Kidding!