Mission of the Lunar Sparrow

Conflict escalates between Mission Control and Commander Field in Episode 7. Mission Control believes that the solitude of space flight has warped the Commander's mind, but Command Field sticks by her story of discovering life on the Moon. Since Mission Control has the final word on the ship's systems, it is able to take drastic action to stop her from acting on her convictions.

As Commander Field closes the distance to the Moon aboard the Lunar Sparrow, Mission Control’s sensors show no human life on the South Polar Lunar Base. Mission Control has no explanation for why the equipment and personnel are missing. Commander Field has an intuition about it, however, drawn from a troubling dream she had during a micro sleep. She shares this with Mission Control, but chooses to keep it a secret from admin. They would remove her from her command if they knew she had such a dream. She receives orders to land on the Moon and investigate and also to “scrub the socials” — to conceal what she thinks is really going on down on the surface.

After nine episodes, Mission of the Lunar Sparrow is complete. Perhaps feeling a little nostalgic after the run of the show, the series creator took some time out from casting his next project to interview one of the series leads about what it was like to make the podcast. They cover the casting process, discuss what's coming next for both of them, and reveal a bit about their working relationship.

d7kXtDwBj8Zg4IvhbS82

By now it's clear that Mission Control does the bidding of admin, another name for the US Government agency in charge of space flight, and Commander Field is starting to see some cracks in the moral universe that Mission Control works so hard to support. Admin is running hundreds of missions all over the solar system, many to mine on Mars, large asteroids, the Moon, which of course is the Lunar Sparrow's mission. Commander Field calls this out as colonialism, but Mission Control maintains that the nations flying the solar system do not own the celestial bodies they are exploring -- only the materials they take.

Their debate is interrupted by a strange presence that Commander Field senses on the surface but which Mission Control cannot detect.

When your moon mission goes wrong, you must be resourceful or you will perish.

Commander Rae Field is resourceful, with thousands of flight hours on her resume. But when her mission on the Moon meets with resistance from unknown forces, she is changed forever.

The journey unfolds over nine short-form episodes. Mission of the Lunar Sparrow is based on a novel written by H.G. Wells in 1901. Podcast written, produced, edited, and directed by Lee Schneider. Starring Andia Winslow.