Carina was an eleven-year-old child who loved to learn about outer space. She was fascinated by the stories that her parents, who were astronauts, told her. One day, her parents volunteered at work to go on a mission to explore the Universe.

On a sizzling summer day early in the morning, her parents had to depart to space. They left the house without noticing that Carina had sneaked into their luggage. They arrived at the launch site and felt overwhelmed by the massive white rocket with a streak of red, painted on its side. As they entered the rocket and prepared for launching, they heard a quirky noise coming from their luggage. Carina’s mother hastily stood up, opened the luggage, and screamed. She was astonished by what she saw. Carina was in there! “Carina, children are not allowed in the rocket!” her mom yelled. Carina claimed that she wished to learn about outer space and to be part of this important mission. Most importantly, she desired to be with her parents! She examined her surroundings and observed that the rocket was far smaller than she expected from the inside. She changed her mind and was about to step out of the rocket, but the countdown had started, “10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, blast off!” Now, it was too late for her to go back! She was stranded inside the rocket!

The rocket cut through the air, zoomed through the sky, and arrived in outer space. She started to explore the rocket but became bored since there was not much to see nor enough space to walk around. Suddenly, she bumped into a door and became eager to discover where it would lead her. Impulsively, she opened it. She looked around, but all she could see was darkness except for the shining stars. The universe seemed like a black canvas with tiny specs of colors. It was peaceful. She understood that the universe was huge, and that anyone could disappear in it. Suddenly, the rocket jerked, and she fell out of the door. She started floating further and further away from the rocket. She gasped, there was no oxygen in space, she could not hold it any longer. She slowly started to close her eyes. When she thought all hope had vanished, she heard her parents’ voices, “Carina, hang on! We are going to rescue you!” Her parents approached her, but just when they were about to catch her, Carina drifted even further away. They struggled to grasp her and bring her back to safety while she struggled to stay alive. Finally, her parents reached their hand out to her again, and with all her effort and strength, Carina pushed herself forward and held their hands. At that point, she fainted. They managed to grab her and pull her back into the rocket. When she woke up from this nightmare, she asked, “Where am I? What has happened?” Her dad explained, “A small meteor hit the side of the rocket while you were standing at the edge of the door, and you fell out. Now we are stuck in space!” Carina started to panic and regretted what she has done but that would not resolve the problem.

She went to the bedroom area although it did not even appear like one. The only piece of furniture she saw was a shelf with three rolled up sleeping bags. She grabbed one and tried to sleep. She rolled over and over again experiencing strong emotions. She was crying continuously when she heard her parents, in frightened voices, contacting someone from work, from the launch site. The person on the phone responded, “We can come and rescue you in a week. It is the earliest we can reach you.” Her dad exclaimed in despair, “We don’t have enough oxygen for one week, only for four days!” Those were the last words Carina heard: Everything became pitch dark, and she fell asleep.

The next morning, she slowly opened her eyes and scanned the room. Unfortunately, It was not a dream; everything that was happening was real. She walked into the main area and saw her parents trying to fix the rocket. The manual to fix the rocket seemed extremely complicated. Carina remembered that she loved technology and that she could understand complex manuals. She asked her parents, “Can I help fix the rocket too?” Her dad replied, “Carina, you will not be able to follow the manual. Leave it to us.” Carina understood why her parents refused her help: they did not trust her since she had sneaked in the rocket in the first place and had opened the rocket door. At that moment, Carina remembered her teacher saying on her last day of fifth grade, “Always work together as a team because it will increase your chances of arriving at solutions more efficiently.” Carina noticed that she had uttered those words aloud! Her parents smiled and hugged her. They agreed that Carina was correct about the importance of teamwork. From that point onward, they promised each other to always work as a team. At first, they were having difficulty in understanding the manual and fixing the side of the rocket, but as they relaxed, they became more confident. After all the arduous work and their determination, they fixed the rocket! They jumped with joy all around the small space in the rocket. Carina noted, “The rocket is shaking and creaking. I think we should stop jumping since it might break again.” They remained silent for a minute but soon burst into laughter. “Were they going to break the rocket again? No!” Carina thought.

They soon returned to their home planet, Earth. Although her parents’ mission to explore the universe was not fully successful, they achieved something more important: they learned to trust each other and work as a team. Later, Carina published a book recounting her adventures in space. To this day, she cherishes those special memories with her family.