I had really hoped this show would discontinue the overtly racist Mr. Hibbit segments. But no, that’s still there.

At least there were some promising developments in the show proper.

After last episode, when Mutta landed the backup spot, I was expecting him to take it without reservation. What surprised me was that it ended up not being so clean a decision, as the backup spot was for an ISS mission, which would have made missions to the moon and Mars longer shots. It ended up being a pretty complicated choice, and I almost wish the show spent more time on Mutta agonizing. The fact that it didn’t shows he’s fairly steadfast in his goals; acting with his eyes on the prize. Too, it was nice of him to recommend Serika for the spot, which led to one of those wordless sequences the show is so good at.

Plus a five-star smile

Mutta’s new assignment, ambiguously between standard procedure and punishment for turning down the backup spot, is buggy/rover design. Given his experience designing cars, it’s less ironic and more a smart move by NASA staff. I’m pumped that the show will be focusing on more engineering, all the more so because it’s a project that ties into Hibito’s lunar troubles a while back. If I recall correctly, atypical latch design distracted both Hibito and Damien at a key moment, leading to the crash. If that fact isn’t already known to the engineers, it’ll probably be a simple mystery. But if NASA did their job, that fact came out in debriefing, and the real challenge will be correcting for all factors involved in the crash, from design complexity to potential changes in standard procedure. The episode left the problem very open ended, so it’s a puzzle that will likely occupy the next episode or two.