Space

The episode begins with a 1977 news release, the host of which tells about the discovery of water on Mars and an element of the landscape similar to a human face. Nowadays, Lieutenant Colonel Belt, the former commander of the space mission, and now the head of the shuttle launch program, is tormented by memories of what happened to him during the flight. In his nightmares, he sees Martian "faces".

FBI agents Mulder and Scully meet with Michelle Genero, who is responsible for providing communications at NASA Mission Control. Genero is sure that someone at NASA is sabotaging the shuttle launch attempts. The recent launch of the space shuttle was canceled 3 seconds before the start, and Genero fears that the next launch is also under threat. In addition, she is personally interested in a successful launch, because her fiance will be on board the shuttle during its next mission.

Mulder and Scully go to NASA and meet Belt, a childhood hero for Fox. Belt rejects the agents' suspicions, claiming that nothing unforeseen can happen to the mission. He allows Mulder and Scully to watch the launch from Mission Control. However, communication with the shuttle disappears immediately after it enters orbit. While driving with Mulder and Scully in the pouring rain to Mission Control, Genero sees a ghostly Martian "face" approaching her through the windshield, which leads to an accident.

The shuttle has turned towards the sun, and the Mission Control Center is not able to return it to the correct position. If the situation is not corrected, the astronauts will soon burn out. Genero is sure that communication with the shuttle was deliberately disrupted by someone at the Center. Belt orders the astronauts to deploy the shuttle in manual mode – a risky step in which communication with the shuttle completely disappears, and which, nevertheless, leads to the desired result. Despite the fact that the flight becomes very dangerous for the astronauts, Belt orders the crew to continue the mission, thereby calling Genero and FBI agents. At the press conference, the Belt does not inform the press about incidents during the flight. Mulder asks him about the reasons for this behavior, and the colonel replies that the shuttle flight program will most likely be closed if the mission does not end successfully.

Belt returns home, where he has a new flashback: he screams when some astral entity leaves his body and flies out the window, rushing into the sky. At the same time, astronauts aboard the space shuttle report that they heard a blow from outside, and then begin to feel a lack of oxygen. One of them claims to see something like a ghost outside the ship.

Agents find evidence that Belt knew about the damage to the shuttle equipment and the possible breakdown of the seal on the Challenger. Belt admits that some astral entity lives in him, which controls his actions. He has a seizure, but he manages to inform Mulder that the astronauts can successfully land the shuttle if they change the trajectory of its movement. In the hospital, Belt continues to struggle with what lives inside him, and eventually jumps out of the window and crashes. During the fall, he remembers his last space mission.

Mulder suggests that something possessed Belt, forced him to sabotage the launch of the shuttles. At the same time, Belt was the one who gave Genero evidence of what was really happening. Mulder salutes Belt, who died like an astronaut: he gave his life for the success of the mission.