Dan L. King Sr.

Hansen's Rock Dan L. King Sr. 1st edition

An amateur astronomer discovers a new object in the sky over the South Pole. NASA determines that the space rock is very unusual; it is very cold and it is very magnetic. NASA concludes that the object will approach Earth and will enter a stable orbit around Earth. Russian scientists believe that the rock will strike Earth. The Russians launch a missile to destroy the space rock but they fail to intercept the rock and they cause it to come to Earth in Antarctica. Because of its unusual nature, the space rock makes a soft landing. Because it is so cold, when it passes through Earth's atmosphere it creates an ice tunnel that extends from space to the surface of Earth. There is a breach in the ice tunnel near sea level that is permitting Earth's atmosphere to be sucked into space. It is only a matter of time until the air on Earth becomes so thin that it will no longer be able to support life. The ice tunnel cannot be immediately destroyed because it is highly explosive due to the makeup of the surface of the space rock. The hole in the ice tunnel must be plugged as soon as possible. Plugging the hole will require exceptional resources and precision. If the one-chance-only mission fails, Earth could run our of air.