The triplets.

"Please welcome Amber, Crystal, and Jade Li!"

Cindy's portrait window shrunk and appeared in the bottom right-hand corner of the giant LED video wall to give room for three young women sitting next to each other.

The studio audience clapped.

Iris gasped at the sight of three identical triplets.

"Hi, girls!" Julie greeted to the clap of the studio audience.

"Hi, Julie!" the triplets cheerfully responded in unison, waving to the host and Jonathan. "Hi, Jon!"

"Hey, girls," he waved back and smiled.

The studio audience clapped.

"They are triplets, Jon!" Iris whispered.

"I can see that, Mom..." he whispered back between the gritted teeth of his smile.

"So let's address the elephant in the room that everyone has noticed," Julie smiled at the audience. "Why did the three of you, identical triplets, all decide to volunteer for the Priapus Program?"

The three young women looked at each other silently as if communicating telepathically before one of them spoke up.

"Jon is from LA like us and he's smoking hot!" Amber giggled.

The studio audience laughed before clapping in agreement and approval.

"Okay, I think that's a given," Julia laughed, playfully fanning her face with her cue cards.

"The three of us are involved in sports medicine," Crystal added.

"And when we found out that NASA wants to study the physiological issues involved in living in isolation for a long duration," Jade clarified, "we couldn't pass up the chance."

"To work with NASA or with Jon?" Julie smirked.

"Both!" the triplets replied.

The studio audience laughed and clapped.

Iris elbowed her son and whispered, "Can you handle all three of them?"

Knowing that the cameras, studio audience, Julie, his mother, and the crew of the Priapus Program were all watching him for any and all reactions, Jonathan remained professionally composed and smiled politely despite slowly dying of embarrassment inside that none of his intensive training had prepared him for.

"Julie, I want to inform our audience here and at home that physical fitness is a top priority in long term space travel," Jonathan stated to deflect the attention back to the project. "Unlike science fiction movies and TV shows, such as Star Wars and Star Trek, we don't have artificial gravity technology. So when we go beyond the atmosphere of the Earth astronauts experience near weightlessness."

"Why is that a problem?" Julie wondered. "I could lose a few pounds!"

The studio audience laughed.

"Well, all life evolved based on Earth's gravity so in the microgravity of outer space astronauts may experience issues with their cardiovascular and musculoskeletal systems. This is because here on Earth gravity pulls the body's blood and fluids into the abdomen and legs but in space blood tends to be redistributed toward the head, causing altered responses of the nervous and endocrine systems.

"So this is why this is why NASA chose Amber, who's a physical therapist; Crystal, who's an athletic trainer; and Jade, who's an exercise physiologist, to be part of the crew of the Priapus Program. They will ensure the entire crew remain physically fit, even though the analog simulation is here on Earth and not in outer space."

The triplets cheerfully smiled and waved at Jon's description of their valuable contribution to the project.

"Thank you, girls," Julie smiled and turned to look at the camera. "While the triplets make sure the crew stay healthy through fitness, the next crew member will make sure everyone will eat healthy."