She had a crush on him.

"This is so embarrassing to say in front of a national audience..." Cindy muttered, blushing beet red.

"What is?" Julie asked curiously.

The young doctor took a deep breath and unconsciously brushed her hair back over her left ear. "I... I had a crush on Jon back in medical school..."

The studio audience gasped, giggled, and then clapped.

"Well, who wouldn't be?" Julie smiled at the Navy SEA-doctor-astronaut.

Iris touched her son's knee and leaned over to whispered, "She is beautiful and a doctor!"

"Yes, Mom..." he blushed at all the eyes and camera on him.

"Did you go to any classes with Jon," Julie asked.

"No, he was a year ahead of me and we never crossed paths during our clinical rotations at the hospitals," Cindy answered.

"Did you two date?" Iris piped up.

The studio audience laughed and clapped.

"Regrettably, no," Cindy blushed.

"But that wasn't your only reason to volunteer?" Julie asked, diverting the spotlight off of Jonathan.

"Oh no," Cindy smiled with relief, "I want to contribute to the research that would help humanity one day go to Mars and beyond."

"Two years is a long time to pause your medical career you basically just started," Julie noted.

"Yes, but like Jon, it was an once in a lifetime opportunity to work with NASA I couldn't pass up," Cindy replied.

Julie turned to Jonathan to ask the question that was on everyone's mind. "So why is the duration of the Priapus Program two years?"

"Even though the Priapus Program is primarily focused on the possibility of humans living and co-existing in the confines of a generation ship, it wouldn't be ethical to lock a bunch a people away for decades... at least without being convicted of a crime!"

The studio audience laughed.

"The data from the Priapus Program will be used for NASA's plan to send humans to Mars," Jonathan continued, "which the first round-trip voyage will take about two years, during which the crew could spend about a month on the Martian surface."

"Thank you, Jon," Julie smiled. "Next we will meet three members of the crew of the Priapus Program!"