Now suited and tethered, Vanessa Ford enters the shuttle’s payload bay to inspect and fix the right-side latches on the forward bulkhead. She pushes away thoughts of Hank Redmond’s death and the grief of his wife Donna and baby Thea, and redirects her mind to her surviving crewmates—John “Griff” Griffin and Lydia Danes—and to Joan Goodwin on the ground.

At the forward bulkhead, Vanessa sees the inner side of the hull breach and discovers the right payload bay door is bent, likely by debris from the explosive cords. She reports to Mission Control that the door is warped and may not fully align. Joan responds that the doors can tolerate some variation and instructs Vanessa to begin so they can assess the situation.

Vanessa reviews the latch layout—thirty-two total—and prioritizes the forward bulkhead set. The left four have already closed electronically, so she moves to the jammed right four. Drawing on training, she retrieves the toolkit, positions herself in foot restraints, and uses a ratchet wrench on the gearbox to work the first latch, trying to block intrusive panic about Steve Hagen’s death and the crew’s fate.

She fights a surge of despair, then steadies herself with methodical action. As she cranks the mechanism, she recalls Steve telling her he considered her like a little sister and believed in paying forward experience so future astronauts would benefit, even long after he was gone. The memory grounds her, and she tightens the latches.

Vanessa successfully closes the right gang of four forward-bulkhead latches. Joan confirms telemetry matches. Vanessa observes the door still does not fully meet due to the bend, so she attempts to pull it tighter with the wrench to minimize the gap, aware that too large a gap could cause the shuttle to burn up during reentry and that failure would mean never seeing Joan again.

She controls her breathing—counting in, hold, and out—to keep focus as she continues turning the gearbox. The scene closes with Vanessa still working in the dark payload bay, facing significant remaining tasks and the lingering risk posed by the warped door.