They hadn't gotten to launching the shuttle when Sammy and Jessy got to the viewing area to watch it launch. They could clearly see the shuttle and the rocket it was mounted to, though it looked like something made by Fisher-Price now. Sammy and Jessy at first wanted a closer look but found a warning sign posted in front of the viewing area. It read: "Warn1ng (picture of a rocket) blast is ex-puh-low-siv. D0 not cross this point and stay safe (smile face).
"Ex-cuz me," Sammy asked to a security fur walking just inside the area. He was another fox baby fur, but he was more silver in color than Sammy's traditional red fox coloration, "but will the rocket really expode?"
"Nah the rocket wouldn't explode," the security guard answered, "we got all that stuff worked out. But the rocket's engines do shoot fire and we don't want anyone to get hurt. You wouldn't want to get singed, do you?"
"No," Sammy agreed, "I wouldn't want to get singed."
"Do you work with the sigh-in-tests here?" Jessy asked.
"Beyond keeping stuff safe... no," the security guard answered, "but it is fun. I watch and make sure nothing bad happens. And the launch will be exciting."
"I hope so," Sammy smiled, "that why Jessy and I came."
"Great!" the security guard smiled, "the seats are right over there..." he pointed to a series of rocket shaped play sets that had stands built into them that ran along the main viewing area to the space shuttle launch area... "and we got a screen set up to talk with the crew when they blast off."
The security guard then pointed to a large television screen that was at least two stories (by human measurement) tall, if not more than that. For the moment it was black, but once they were ready to launch, they'd probably get a good look inside the shuttle's cockpit. Sammy and Jessy thanked the security guard and got his name, Lenny the Fox, no relation to Sammy the Fox. They made their way to the viewing areas and noticed that Alfred the Alligator had already gotten a seat on one of the top levels and had even saved two seats for them. They quickly ascended the staircase to get to that level and joined Alfred.
"Thanks for saving us seats," Sammy said as he sat down.
"Yeah!" Jessy agreed.
"It was no problem," Alfred gave a friendly smile, "This is going to be fun. They'll have a countdown... we'll probably get to help... and the rocket will shoot fire and it'll go up into the air."
Alfred then made pretend rocket noises and raised one hand to demonstrate. Sammy and Jessy giggled in response. They waited for a little while, but after what seemed like no time at all, the screen came on and they could see three baby furs seated in the cockpit of the shuttle. One was a bull bison baby fur, the second was a wolf baby fur, and the last was a bullfrog baby fur. All of them were appropriately diapered, but the only other piece of "clothing" they wore were their helmets, which looked pretty much like an upside down fishbowl that fit over their heads. The one for the bison baby fur even had holes in the sides for his horns to go through. Sammy and Jessy watched as they all waved, eliciting a wave back from the crowd.
"I'm Joey the Bison and this is Rita the Bullfrog and Timmy the Wolf!" the bison baby fur announced.
"Hi!" the crowd answered and waved. The baby fur astronauts then waved back on the screen.
"We're getting ready for the first baby fur launch to the International Friend Station," Joey the Bison spoke
"Furs in space!" Rita cheered behind him.
"We're gonna need your help to get the rocket going," Joey spoke, as a clock with numbers appeared on the screen, "we're all going to count DOWN from ten to one and when we hit one we're going to blast off, okay?"
"Okay!" Sammy and Jessy both cheered with the rest of the crowd.
"Okay, here we go..." Joey smiled.
Everyone then began to count down from ten. It was done in steady cheers from the baby furs in the stands and by the three in the cockpit of the shuttle. Though, when they got to five, Timmy and Rita stopped counting and began to make pretend rocket noises and acted like they were being shaken by the start of the rocket engines. Sammy and Jessy could both watch and see the rockets starting to shoot flame out underneath the shuttle and the rockets it was attached to, but on the screen, they could also see that things were rather stable. As thought the start of the rockets wasn't making the entire vehicle vibrate. The countdown continued until everyone reached one and Joey joined Rita and Timmy in making rocket noises.
"Lift off, we have lift off!" Joey cheered as the rocket carrying the shuttle effortlessly rose into the sky and began to fly off toward outer space.
The baby furs in the audience all cheered and wished Joey and his crew the best of luck. Joey thanked them and the screen went blank again. That left Sammy and Jessy with the sight of the rocket and the shuttle going off into space. It was fun an exciting to see, and Sammy hoped the three astronaut baby furs would have fun on the International Friend Station.