Dr Helen Smith becomes concerned over the mental state of pilot Harry Sanders. She expresses her feelings to the base's second in command, Michael Lebrun, and tries to convince him to get Commander Ransom to remove Sanders from duty. Ransom refuses and assigns Sanders to pilot the Commander's shuttle for a trip to Earth. After an malfunction, Sanders cuts the communications link and goes outside the shuttle to make repairs and is thrown into space. When Ransom attempts to pilot the shuttle it explodes. The European agency sends a Welch scientist to take over the station and to investigate the shuttle accident.