A Crew in Outer Space      “Ten…nine…eight.” The countdown h…

A Crew in Outer Spаce      “Ten…nine…eight.” The cоuntdоwn hаd begun. The rоcket wаs about to launch into outer space. It began to rumble and shake. Skip the Kangaroo was in the control tower on the ground. His voice kept counting. “Seven…six…five…four.”      In the spaceship, the animal in charge was Bessie the Cow. Her first mate was Cookie the Goose. The rest of her crew included Roy the Tuna Fish, Cooper the Mule, and Brownie the Hawk.      “Three…two…one!” Skip the Kangaroo finished the countdown. “We have liftoff!”      Flames shot out. Smoke filled the sky. The rocket began to shoot into outer space. “How do we look, Cookie?” Bessie asked.      “The thrusters are on full power,” Cookie the Goose replied. “I will reduce them when we are past the clouds.”      The rocket flew higher and higher. Crowds of people on the ground began to look up and point as the glowing ship flew into the blue sky.      “Still looking good up here,” Bessie said. “We are now past the clouds. We are turning down the power now to allow the first outer tube to drop off.”      Just then, a strange sound came from the rocket’s outer tube. On the ground, Skip the Kangaroo took a look at his screen. He saw that the tube had blown a fuse. It needed to be fixed by the crew.      “You have a loose fuse,” Skip reported to Bessie. “The outer tube cannot drop. One of your crew will have to walk down to fix the fuse.” Roy the Tuna Fish jumped out of his seat. “That is my duty,” said Roy. “Soon, I will have that fuse as good as new!”      “Be careful,” said Bessie as Roy left for the outer tube. In the outer tube, Roy found the loose fuse in the fuse box and took a quick look. He threw a switch and pounded down a stuck lever. He climbed back up to his seat in the spaceship. “Try now, Bessie,” said Roy.      With her hoof, Bessie the Cow pressed the button to drop the tube. The tube fell below the rocket. “Good job, Roy,” said Bessie with joy. “Now we can make it to outer space!”      The rest of the trip went quite smoothly. Skip the Kangaroo was proud to have such a good crew in the rocket.