Set your story on a spaceship exploring the far reaches of space when something goes wrong.

Posted in Science Fiction on Apr 19, 2024

Submissions are closed

Sorry, we are not accepting submissions for this prompt as it is not part of an active contest. Make sure you don't miss our next contest by creating your free Reedsy Prompts account.

Or create a new Reedsy account:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 32 stories

“Two Deaths and a Glowing Plant ” by Eyza H

Submitted to Contest #247

“How much longer till we land?” Joan complained lazily as she swung her seat around, swaying her arms in their heavy armor. “Not our fault you were the first to gear up sweetheart– you should’ve waited a bit before putting your suit on” a man commented with a sly smile from behind her. “Don’t call me that!” she chided as she looked him, although with a small, knowing smirk. “Alright, you guys better strap in now. You know how it gets, and we don’t know the atmosphere of this planet yet” a stern voice sounded from the head of the s...

0 comments 0

Read story

“HAL-2315” by Mel Kennedy

Submitted to Contest #247

Prepare to enter hyperspeed.Thump. Thump. Thump.My heart races faster and faster as the computer completes its final calculations.Countdown.Five. Four. Three. Two. One.Hyperspeed activated.Between one breath and the next, I am travelling faster than the speed of light. I can’t help the yell of pure exhilaration as I shoot by stars and planets.This is the furthest anyone has been into this sector - I’m off the known map of the galaxy, so many years from home. Hyperspeed deactivated - you have reached your destination.“We’re here, we actu...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Star Oddity” by ♡ Tana ♡

Submitted to Contest #247

Somewhere during our second year in space, we started talking about astrology. One might think that flying past countless stars each waking minute would make us wonder at our own heavenly correlations, but we were too busy being proper astronauts to think about anything except propulsion and coordinates. National Geographic had run a special on us before we left, on New Year's Day, 2086. Star Light, Star Bright, Guide our Travelers Tonight, the headline read. It was not an overall hopeful piece, since most people assumed we would die. This f...

0 comments 0

Read story

“The Great Red Spot” by K.R. Danielsson

Submitted to Contest #247

June 22nd, 2100. Time: 0300.They say Jupiter is a star that failed—a sun that could’ve ignited if it were eighty times larger. We’re not sure why it never completed its cycle of transforming into a sun. But could you imagine if it had? Two gravitational forces on both sides of the Earth could have torn us apart. Maybe. Science is more of a practice than a mastery.As we departed from Earth on April 2100, Jupiter was in a state of ambiguity. The perpetual storm once believed to be shrinking, had instead swelled to engulf half the planet. It gr...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Chet Armstrong Almost Heroically Saves the World” by Eric Smith

Submitted to Contest #247

Stepping out of his Rocketship, Chet Armstrong waved to the crowd and flashed his trademarked smile (Patton number 9725). The Space Jock looked dashing in his bright red uniform and his dozen shiny medals. With perfect hair, the broad-chested rogue was hurried off the launch pad and into the general's offices. But not before blowing kisses to his fans. "Chet! What the hell happened up there? You have caused us a universe of problems!" barked General Flag. "How was I to know that their hands were also their eyes. I thought he was offeri...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Adrift” by J.C. Vayda

Submitted to Contest #247

An alarm went off in the control center and the intercom voice system came to life. “Warning! Warning! Sudden Impact! Sudden Impact!” An asteroid the size of Manhattan came into view, and Space Viking I was about to crash. The only crewmember onboard never imagined she’d hear that alarm go off when she went through the academy. She treated it like the boogeyman—some fake, made-up terror that haunts you by manipulating your imagination. The boogeyman isn’t real, right? He’s not actually going to burst out of my closet, right? The sudden imp...

2 comments 2

Read story

“The Last Voyage of Commander Jenkins” by Lawrence Bates

Submitted to Contest #247

The Last Voyage of Commander JenkinsLawrence M. Bates I open my eyes. It’s light out. Then something that sounds like a Chopin nocturne starts ever so softly to intrude upon my still half-awake, still half-asleep consciousness. I begin stretching to get the kinks out only to find my elbows banging against the side of my crypt. Oh, yeah. Right. I’m Joshua Jenkins, the captain of the starship Montmartre on a colony prep mission. All the hoses and med devices and such have been retracted from my body and the lid to my pod has been popped open b...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Borealis” by Tzetze Fly

Submitted to Contest #247

The hatch of the Aurora groaned open, its edges scraping against the jagged terrain. Astrid’s boots thudded onto the alien soil, sending up a puff of purple dust. Miles followed slowly, his eyes flicking around their surroundings. "Stable ground," Astrid announced, her voice echoing slightly within the confines of her helmet. "Finally, after nineteen months! Atmosphere and temperature readings all within normal range. This planet might really be it." "Could be warmer," said Miles. Astrid laughed, drinking in the silent panorama of undu...

1 comment 1

Read story

“Leaving Only Darkness” by Arne Cambourne

Submitted to Contest #247

It had been months since there had been any hope on the ship. Each day awake was a struggle. He had begun to long for the cryo-tank. The nausea that came with waking from a long suspension was no longer a concern for him. He suspected the rest of the crew felt the same way. Being awake now was the worst part of waking from the long sleep.The display on the wall in front of his tank didn’t help. Its stark red numbers made it clear how long he had been asleep each time he woke up. It measured the actua...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Virulent: Journey to Okron” by Ellie Northrop

Submitted to Contest #247

Journal Entry 7: September 21st, 2132 It has taken two years, but my team finally reached the dwarf planet Okron. Just as the Company had described: the air was breathable, water drinkable, and the land appeared habitable. Now, it is up to my team to create a colony to prepare for future generations. We landed our ship, the Virulent, in a large valley surrounded by mountain ridges. The valley provides plenty of protection from unknown predators lurking about. Also, it supplies acres of land perfect for agriculture. There isn't any water...

1 comment 1

Read story

“Hoarders. ” by Ben Ebert

Submitted to Contest #247

Flashing red lights and a powerful echoing siren around the entire ship. Blood ran along their arm and down to their fingertips, and they looked at me with such hate. “ Are you weak?” “Absolutely, I am weak…” -Before. They looked at me for answers from their different control chairs. The vessel floated rather silently through space. The five of us have spent every day for the last eleven months together. sent on a mission to collect resources from around every corner of the universe. Eleven months reaping food, metal, water, and every minera...

1 comment 1

Read story

“Beyond our star” by Katy Heald

Submitted to Contest #247

I have to get it working. Four hours without life support and we'll all be dead, but that's not the main thing. I mean, it is. Obviously. None of us want to die out here, least of all me. But we've also got a point to prove. They said we weren't ready. The Council fought us every inch of the way, and I know it was only Ethan's intervention that got our expedition over the line. Ethan's name, really. There's only so much can be denied to the crown prince, even by the Council. And the reason Ethan fought them so hard? Me. So we're ...

0 comments 0

Read story

“The big trip” by Maranda Watford

Submitted to Contest #247

We officially left Earth twenty-four hours ago. Me and my partner Samantha have been waiting eight years for this trip to space to discover a new planet we call Extra. "Harmony, I see nothing at all." Samantha says in a irritated voice I roll my eyes "Can you have a little Patience, we aren't going anywhere for a while." Samantha is IMPATIENT, but she's very excited because we've been studying this planet for years. It's the closest thing to earth we've seen, it has a sustainable climate, water and plants which means oxygen. Our planet is dy...

0 comments 0

Read story

“The Ascending Spacemen” by Sudarshan Varadhan

Submitted to Contest #247

The airlock of the space habitat swung open, revealing the two fully-suited spacemen. Their costumes were dull white with tinted blue helmets and golden reflective visors. The two spacemen stepped out into the grey alien planet, retrieved their long probes, and prodded the surroundings around them. Their equipment beeped and notified them of the collecting data.The mounds of greyish-blue sand camouflaged the space habitat with the grey mountain ranges behind it. The spacemen's shoes crunched in the planet’s stillness. The crepuscular rays be...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Space Chunking” by Bob Banel

Submitted to Contest #247

Captain Billy Chunk had the Conn of the SpaceTug Delilah. He had the throttles jammed to the firewall and was in a losing hot pursuit of the SpaceTug Medusa. The Medusa had a fouled Dok-A-Lok coupling on a Jumbo Class SpaceSkow and was now married to it for better or worse. The Medusa was being dragged along on a Nantucket sleigh ride trajectory and headed for something definitely worse than a burn up in the Earth's atmosphere. The Medusa had FUBAR'ed it drives and was neither use nor ornament. The crew headed by Captain Julie "Sweet" Stacks...

0 comments 0

Read story

Load more stories

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story in the form of diary entries, written by an explorer as they make their way through what they thought was an untouched location.

Adventure – 66 stories

Center your story around a character’s personal exploration, whether it's trying a new hobby, visiting an unfamiliar place, or learning something completely new.

Character – 89 stories

Imagine a world where exploration is forbidden, and write a story about a character who defies this rule to satisfy their innate curiosity.

Dystopian – 60 stories

Write a narrative about a group of scientists exploring the deepest parts of the ocean.

Adventure – 13 stories

Contest #247

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: The Great Unknown

$250

Prize money

260

Contest entries

102

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Apr 26, 2024 EST

Won by Madeline McCourt 🏆

Title: DANGER: UNSTABLE GROUND

View details

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

We'll send you 5 prompts each week. Respond with your short story and you could win $250!

Menu

CONNECT

BLOG

APPS

TOOLS

ABOUT

Set your story on a spaceship exploring the far reaches of space when something goes wrong.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 32 stories

“Two Deaths and a Glowing Plant ” by Eyza H

“HAL-2315” by Mel Kennedy

“Star Oddity” by ♡ Tana ♡

“The Great Red Spot” by K.R. Danielsson

“Chet Armstrong Almost Heroically Saves the World” by Eric Smith

“Adrift” by J.C. Vayda

“The Last Voyage of Commander Jenkins” by Lawrence Bates

“Borealis” by Tzetze Fly

“Leaving Only Darkness” by Arne Cambourne

“Virulent: Journey to Okron” by Ellie Northrop

“Hoarders. ” by Ben Ebert

“Beyond our star” by Katy Heald

“The big trip” by Maranda Watford

“The Ascending Spacemen” by Sudarshan Varadhan

“Space Chunking” by Bob Banel

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story in the form of diary entries, written by an explorer as they make their way through what they thought was an untouched location.

Center your story around a character’s personal exploration, whether it's trying a new hobby, visiting an unfamiliar place, or learning something completely new.

Imagine a world where exploration is forbidden, and write a story about a character who defies this rule to satisfy their innate curiosity.

Write a narrative about a group of scientists exploring the deepest parts of the ocean.

Contest #247

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

260

Contest entries

102

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: