Having finished his training, Mutta is offered a spot on the ISS backup crew; a very rare opportunity for a new astronaut. Knowing that the moon mission is his goal, he turns it down and recommends that it be offered to Serika instead. As a result, Mutta is assigned to work with an engineering team in charge of designing new lunar vehicles. He worries that this may be a dead end for his career as an astronaut, but Vince suggests that if Mutta is able to produce results, he may be rewarded with a spot on the moon mission.