A space shuttle launch commanded by Colonel Marcus Aurelius Belt is aborted three seconds before launch due to a mechanical failure. Two weeks later, on the eve of a new launch, Mulder and Scully are contacted by Michelle Generoo, a communications commander at NASA's Mission Control. Michelle reveals that the failure of the launch was due to a malfunctioning power valve; she shows the agents an X-ray of the valve she received from an anonymous source, which shows that the valve was deliberately sabotaged. The agents travel to Houston to investigate the possibility of a saboteur within NASA. They meet with Colonel Belt, a personal hero of Mulder's; he is dismissive of the idea of a saboteur. The agents stay at Mission Control to watch the shuttle launch, which is successful. Several hours later, Michelle informs them that communications with the shuttle have been lost. The agents follow Michelle back to Mission Control, but Michelle is attacked by an apparition resembling the Face on Mars and crashes her car. Mulder and Scully rescue her and return to Mission Control.
Due to the communications issue, Mission Control is unable to rotate the shuttle properly. Ground control establish that the problem could be on their end; Mulder, Scully, and Michelle investigate the data storage room to check for an intruder, but find nobody. Michelle and Belt decide to abandon control of the shuttle and allow the astronauts to perform the rotation themselves, which they do successfully. Belt gives a press conference, but does not disclose the communications malfunction. Mulder confronts Belt, who states that he lied to protect the future of the space program. Belt returns home and has a flashback to an encounter with an apparition that entered his body while on a spacewalk. The apparition leaves him and rises into space.
The next morning, the shuttle experiences an oxygen leak. Belt fails to show up to Mission Control; Mulder and Scully go to his apartment, where they find him, seemingly unwell. Belt directs the astronauts to complete their mission of delivering a payload before returning to Earth, angering Michelle, who believes that astronauts will run out of oxygen if the continue the mission. Scully speculates that Belt knows that the shuttle was sabotaged, and is putting the future of the space program over the lives of the astronauts. Mulder and Scully begin reading through documents on other failed space missions to find proof that Belt knew about the sabotage. The astronauts report seeing a ghost outside of the shuttle, causing Belt to have a breakdown.
Mulder and Scully discover a copy of the X-ray Michelle received in an archive and learn that it was ordered by Colonel Belt. They also discover evidence that Belt could have known about that Challenger disaster beforehand. The agents and Michelle discover Belt having a seizure in his office. He reveals that the shuttle has been sabotaged and will not survive reentry, his face temporarily morphing into that of the apparition. Mulder demands that Belt tell him how to save the astronauts; he reveals that the shuttle must change its trajectory to survive. Michelle directs the astronauts to reenter at 35 degrees, resulting in a successful landing. That night, Michelle gives a press conference, stating that the mission was a success. In an effort to stop the apparition from causing further harm, Belt jumps from the window of his hospital room, killing himself. Mulder speculates that, while the apparition caused the damage to the shuttle, Belt sent Michelle the X-ray as a means of warning her, and that he gave his life to protect the future of the space program.
"Space" is not a good episode, reportedly being Chris Carter's least favorite. The idea of the antagonist being a space spirit that looks like the Face on Mars is fairly ridiculous, not helped by the fact that the spirit has no established motivation for wanting to keep humans from exploring space. The result is an episode nearly devoid of real suspense or tension. Additionally, tying Belt and the spirit to the all-too-real tragedy of the Challenger disaster is an exploitative move that pushes what would otherwise merely be a boring episode into the realm of the distasteful.
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