In the year 2144, 78-year-old Helen Buchanan and her granddaughter Sophie hide out in an emergency radiation shelter in outer space. Noticing that Sophie only has 6 hours of oxygen left in her tank, Helen tries to calm her down and slow her breathing by telling her urban legends about a folk hero named Titanium Mike. In the year 2088, a group of molybdenum miners (including a young Helen Buchanan) in the Asteroid Belt argue over whether to accept Hardcastle's offer to buy them out. As tensions rise, older engineer Carter remembers how his first boss Ray Chen would have handled this kind of situation. Carter gets the other miners' attention and starts telling them Titanium Mike stories about perseverance. Awhile later, the group votes unanimously to reject Hardcastle's offer. In the year 2052, Ray Chen pitches his idea for the Asteroid Metals Extraction Corporation to a group of venture capitalists. They don't sound convinced until Chen wins them over with some Titanium Mike stories. Touched by Chen's passion, the venture capitalists agree to work with him. In the year 2041, Floridian PR strategist Tony Ramirez has been hired to help Virgin LLC promote their Branson Station project. In recent years, space has become just another place to work, and Ramirez hopes to recapture the heroism associated with astronauts in the past. Inspired by orbital welder Sara's stories about her heavy drinker friend Titanium-Belly Mike, Tony comes up with the legend of Titanium Mike and presents it to Virgin. In the year 2023, Sara Perez tells her friend Mike that she ran away from home at 15 and worked her way up from waitress to welder in Florida. Now that she's about to launch on her first orbital gig, her family has finally tracked her down and are going to drag her back home. Mike gives her a credit card so that she can afford to take a booster into space until her contract starts, allowing her to follow her dream.