A confident Captain. A committed Conservative who believes in their country and in the leading role of their great nation. This is what you are. You were entrusted with the command of the ship by the President himself and you intend to complete this mission at all costs. You believe in God and the founding values of your homeland.

"I come from a time when systems were not entrusted to AI, a time of space pinoeers and great know-how". This is what you are: the oldest and most experienced astronaut in your spaceship, in all America, and probably amongst all of the people involved in the Hope mission. When journalists, during the press conference, argued you may have been too old for this mission, this is what the Director of NASA replied: "If you want a job well done, ask Engineer Stewart".

Meritocracy is what made your country great. At every level of Society. So when you graduated with honors, the road to the top was wide open. But what's the reason pushing you to constantly strive for excellence? Maybe your passion for the job? Or the competition against your father, the greatest surgeon in the world? Is this why you embarked, then? To make history?

What is the American Dream? If someone asked you, you would have no hesitation in answering: the American Dream is your life. Top of the class at the Space Academy, you quickly progressed in your career and today, aged only 26, you are about to leave for the most important mission of your life: saving Planet Earth, for you, your family and the whole world - today more than ever, they are counting on you.

You are the face of "Good Morning America!", the TV broadcast that informs and keeps company to millions of Americans for dinner. This is how everybody greets you whenever they cross you on the street. This is the fair reward for the ten years you spent in the frontline, live, risking your life every day, driven by your motto: "The Press Must Be Brave As Well As Free", something you read on a brick when you were just 17. That exact day, that's the day you found your calling.

You were a young cadet when you joined the Russian space agency. Many years have passed since then, in which you've seen your country change radically. To public surprise, you've been chosen to lead the ship that will prove Russian supremacy to the world. In your eyes, there is both the tragic nostalgia of the past and the determination of the future.

Cold as Siberia, stoic and stubborn, you are the man who lived more than anyone else in space. You’ve been flying since you were a kid, and you went on your first spacewalk back when spaceships were nothing but metal blocks shot into space. For you, the ship' systems have no secrets: you can say you know them by heart, with eyes closed.

In your way of speaking and moving, there is always a cold measurement. Your medical experience is unparalleled, but you know that this is not the real reason you were chosen: rather, because of your inquiring gaze, to which nothing goes unnoticed, be it a defect, a weakness or a risk.

Rebel, arrogant, disrespectful of traditions and the past. Willing to prove your worth. Someone calls you the child of the "new Russia". You let them talk, and you don’t care. You know that simple words cannot define you, nor can they limit the undying flame that burns in your chest.

You appear to be scruffy and disrespectful. Because, fundamentally, you know you can afford it. "Genius and madness", they say behind your back when they think you're too distracted by your thoughts. But you let them talk. Because, at the end of the day, they recognize your excellent, unmatched and unrivalled intelligence.

Being a Captain is in your DNA. A Captain knows right from wrong and what is best for their crew. The last mission didn’t go as planned, but it won’t happen again.

This mission will open many doors for you, so success is crucial. You know your job well and, assuming the others don’t make mistakes, you shall carry out the task without fail. If the mission succeeds, your name shall be established among those who were critical to its completion.

When you started your work was a calling; over the years it became more akin to a battle against windmills. Too many deaths, too many injustices, too many things covered up because it was better not to talk about them. All for the greater good, or was it not? This mission isn't suited to you, but it is what humanity needs... supposedly.

The world is full of horrors, but there is always someone ready to step forward for the sake of others amidst it all; those people deserve to be saved. Among the masses there are those who keep struggling and stay determined, and you’re one of them. If your work also happens to get you accolades and fame, it just means that you're doing it properly.

Humanity determined its own destiny, and if it's destined to die, so be it. That doesn’t mean you won’t perform your duties, but you won’t feel dejected if things end up badly. You went through a lot during your life, and you learned how to adapt to every situation. Nothing can really faze you or take you by surprise.

You swore you wouldn’t take any more assignments. You could not - however - reject it, it was your last and only chance for redemption after the failure of the last mission assigned to you by NASA. You will show the whole world that there is still room in the history books for your name and that many more chapters are going to be written by humanity in the centuries to come. And then, your ranch in Vermont awaits you.

You think you've got nothing to lose. Too much time spent on space missions gave you a divorce that you hadn’t even been told about and not even a son. The only ones that never betrayed you over the years are the machines, so rational and predictable. Will it be so this time?

You have always been the second choice in everything, but not this time. The opportunity of a lifetime. Years of studies rewarded and the promise of your return made to your loved ones. You can finally study the effects of space on a crew under pressure.

Not very eloquent. A life spent at the service of others. An assignment that's almost a divine mission: the detonation is the higher will and you are the hand.

The captain specifically asked for you despite your unresolved issues. Your loyalty guarantees your family’s survival if you don’t make it. Radio silence has never scared you so much.

You are not here by chance: your homeland has assigned you a role. You have been chosen, trained for this. All the assignments you’ve executed, all the experience you’ve accumulated, have allowed you to be here, leading the most decisive mission in history. The years have sharpened you like a Dao, elegant and dangerous, and just like a weapon wielded by a Warrior, you always kill the target.

Even in a mission like this, there is no need to hurry. Wisdom and speed do not get along. Things done in a hurry never succeed: it is things done wisely that lead to victory. Throughout your life, you have sought the calm necessary to choose wisely, and found it in the precision and harmony of electronic circuits. That’s why you’re the best Space Engineer in the world: because you can see the Universe where others only see a lump of silicon.

The weight of Life and the weight of Death: both are yours to bear. Out there in space, you’re the scale needle: a tiny mistake and a decent human being becomes a pile of garbage to be rid of quickly, along with the other scraps of the spaceship. A brilliant intuition and a damned bastard can go back to harming the lives of others. All on your shoulders, always.

The shooting of weapons, in space, makes no noise. You are amazed every time you operate the weapons. The result in the atmosphere, however, is exactly the same as on Earth: enemies die, just as they should. It’s the balance of the universe, no matter which side you’re on, it’s always there. To win, you just have to choose the right side.

First in your aeronautical engineering class, first at the military academy, first Indian to set foot on the Moon, a perfect resume accompanied by successful missions and an exemplary behaviour. Now you are ready to save humanity on the spaceship of the Ark Foundation, another medal for your collection. Too bad you changed your mind when you got your hands on the team file: a group of ex-professionals known in the past for insubordination, disciplinary problems and abnormal behaviour. They’re the kind of people who shouldn’t be on Arcadia, that’s for sure.

Twenty years, you spent at the service of science. The engines of the first Mars landing, the plant that launched the first solar sail to the heliopause, they've been solely your hard work, and then... and then these bureaucrats, "all credit cards and no brain", decided that it was better to surround themselves with obedient dogs. Of course, breaking your boss’s nose didn’t help! Bottom line, you ended up repairing robot-tractors in Ohio, waiting for an opportunity to prove your worth. Now, the day has come: the Ark foundation needs someone who knows how to get to the Sun, and when it comes to skill, your name is at the top of their list. At your return, everyone will acknowledge what you're worth. 

The Ark Foundation is a nice place for a guy like you. Ten years of research into the use of cryogenics in space flights come in handy when your new employer is the leading manufacturer of the human hybernation system. But now you get the chance to go back working for space and, for the first time, in space. It should have happened ten years ago, if only you hadn’t had that affair. The Brazilian Space Program Directorate sure didn’t like it, when its Administrator found out about your two spicy relationships. Besides, not everyone appreciates the fact that your flesh and blood and the person you married both have the same clandestine lover...

The day they downgraded you was the worst day of your life. Loyal to the system, entirely dedicated to the mission, you gave 15 years of your life to the uniform... 15 years wasted. They called you a defector. They didn’t listen to you, a quick trial, a kick in the ass and bye-bye.Your new life as head of corporate security has not been bad, but the proposal of the Ark Foundation leads you back to serve a higher purpose. People like you go all the way for the greater good, no matter what.

Life sure is amazing! If you had to bet your daughter’s life on someone running a communications system in a can suspended in the middle of nowhere at 3° K, you wouldn’t bet on yourself. Are you competent? Of course! Are you cold-blooded? Quite, but five years in jail and a certain habit of drinking like a fish have made you rusty. But maybe, between a prison cell and a can flying through the void, there is not all that difference. You have the chance to do something good again.