It's the dawning of a new era. US Air Force Colonel Lloyd Beadle unveils his British space travellers for the press, whose imaginations go into overdrive when they learn that one of the crew is a woman. But Beadle has another ace up his sleeve: Bimbo, a mongrel dog.

Gentian's in charge of the Life Science Projects, and David's doing Earth Observation, Astronomy, Crystallography and Communications — leaving Malcolm doing the dusting. And not terribly well. It takes a major crisis before the Mission Commander finally comes into his own.

Earthly problems invade the space station and Gentian Foster believes she knows why: Ackroyd's being beastly because he doesn't fancy her, and Mattocks is being patronising because he does.

After five weeks of constant surveillance, relations between the crew and Ground Control are strained. So when Beadle disappears for lunch, the astronauts decide to get even.

Fifty days in space should be newsworthy, but the media has already lost interest. Beadle promises to remedy the situation. Ackroyd, however, is more interested in the potent product of his lab experiment involving yeast, fruit flies and a copious quantity of blackcurrant juice...

Nine weeks into the mission: depression is rampant. The food is boring. The routine is boring. Then, catastrophe! A wiring fault plunges the station into darkness. With Mattocks and Ackroyd out of action, Foster must rely on Bimbo to save her.