Closing the blast doors.

The crew members of the Priapus program, dressed in their blue NASA flightsuits, anxiously stood outside while they waited for the NASA contingent to pull up in black SUVs. Jonathan snapped at attention when the Director of Human Spaceflight Capabilities division in the Space Operations Mission Directorate and the Director of the Human Research Program stepped out of the lead car.

"Good morning, sir," Jonathan greeted the directors with a naval salute.

"We're not in the military, Jon," director Neumann chuckled. "At ease."

"Sorry, sir," Jonathan smirked, "**** of habit."

"I hope everyone got a good night sleep and a hearty breakfast?" director Baumann asked the crew.

Everyone nodded.

"Good, you'll need the energy while we do a final readiness check before the blast doors are closed," director Baumann smiled. "Shall we go inside?"

"We're coming back out here, right?" Zoe asked as she tried to get a signal on her phone.

"Yes, we will," director Neumann nodded, motioning for her to join the group.

For the next few hours the Priapus crew worked with NASA workers to crosscheck the list of supplies, gear, and equipment on each floor of the facility. They could not afford to have something vital be missing or not work properly once the blast doors were sealed shut for the next two years, making the crew self reliant on what they had (although not completely cut off from the outside world since they still relied on air, electricity, and fresh water piped in from the outside).

"So everything looks good!" director Baumann announced outside of the compound after all of the checklists were thorough verified. He looked at his watch and smiled, "And we were ahead of schedule!"

"Since I'm an aerospace engineer by training I'm not great at making impromptu speeches," director Neumann told the crew, who were lined up in front of the entrance, "so I'll get straight to the point.

"The two year-long Priapus Program will be NASA's longest analog mission to date. Like all analog missions, yours is very important because the data will help prepare us for near-term and future exploration to asteroids, Mars, and the Moon," the director continued. "Each individual will do her... and his... personal experiments, the project itself is experiment on how you as a group deal with living with each other in a confined space for an extended duration outside the influences of the rest of human civilization. Godspeed to you all!"

The directors walked up to crew and shook their hands while wishing them good luck on the project.

"Good luck, Dr. Lee," director Neumann smile while shaking Jonathan's hand but then leaned in to whisper, "As a married man I don't envy you."

Jonathan looked at him for a moment with a puzzled look. "Um, thank you, sir."

"Oh, before the doors close on you we want to give you some parting gifts," director Baumann announced to the crew, signaling to some NASA workers to retrieve cakes from one of the SUVs. "This may be your last time you'll taste cake so please enjoy!"

"Thank you, sir!" the crew thanked in unison.

"I guess we should get going..." Jonathan told his crewmates after checking his watch. "Take one final breath of fresh Nebraska air before we seal the blast doors shut!"

The female crew tried to linger outside a bit longer but Jonathan ushered them past the outer blast doors. He gave the NASA administrators and workers one final salute while the doors slowly closed. Lauren and Hane took out keys and, standing at control panels on either side of the entrance, locked the doors before they joined the rest of the group beyond the smaller second blast door. John took out a key to lock that blast door.

"I think I'm claustrophobic..." Zoe muttered.

"Your files says otherwise," Lauren shook her head.

"I want to go outside now," Zoe whined.

"It's too late now," comforted Leah, gently patting Zoe on the back.

"Okay, everyone, welcome to Day One of the Priapus Program!" Lauren announced. "Let's start by celebrating with cake!"

The women cheered as they started walking towards the dining hall.

"Are you not coming, Jon?" Cindy asked him after noticing him standing in front of the blast door, staring at it.

"Yeah..." he nodded before turning to face her with a smile. "I usually don't eat dessert for lunch but I'll make an exception."