Ad Astra Per Aspera: To the stars with difficulties.
Ad Astra Per Derpy Aspera: To the stars with Derpy difficulties. 
Lightning Dust strands herself on her way to the red planet. With no way to move her rocket, she'll die unless Equestria's Best and Brightest find a way to bring her home despite cloak-and-dagger sabotage, snobbery, limited resources, and bureaucratic incompetence.
Content Note:
Death - Mentioned in the Prologue and Chapter 5. Chapters 7, 9, 10 (spoiler): Touched on: miscarriage.
Narcotics - Chapter 14 - Performance enhancers and blood doping discussed.
Sex - Inappropriate government-required questions in Dossier chapters; Ch. 11- a slightly saucy section.
Show Era: After Season 9.
Cover Art: The background Mars is by Kevin Gill with license to only the background Mars cover art at this link. The pony interposed on Mars is by owlicious, who also combined the two images.
Special Thanks: to owlicious for edits from the start through the end. 
EDIT: Oh, I was right, this is a submission for the Wonderbolts Sitewide Contest
None of them seem right.
Looking at a fleck on her helmet instead of the planet- that would be unlikely since she'd move her headShe put on her helmet twice in a row? I don't think I read a part where she took it off. I can't tell if the helmet falling off was the doom, or if it was implied that (1) she lost her helmet without noticing, or (2) she was losing too much air despite the helmet, and was confused/hallucinating/etc.Or it was just implied that she looked back later.EDIT: The story was updated
11882220
Thank you for playing along with the theories! Lots of creativity! I will comment more on them after the answer is revealed.
RE: The Wonderbolts contest:
- We will see!
- I also have another story I have been aiming at that contest (which permitted two stories), but that other tale may not get far enough along, which is a pity. If only the Wonderbolt contest could have started a few weeks before it did when I had more time to write. Alas and alack and all that.
11882230
Good catch. Thank you!
Fixed by ending the second paragraph with its penultimate sentence.
On second thought, something else seems more likely. I missed the parts about using rockets rather than flight magic earlier and multi-stage being rockets rather than a flight plan. Based on knowledge of orbital mechanics (kidding) from Kerbal Space Program and the Martian - there usually isn't much budget for extra fuel(delta-V) in space programs, to save on costs and weight for the craft, crew, and supplies, so if there's more fuel use than expected (loop-de-loop almost definitely not in the flight plan, and possibly close to moon sized, and
requiring full reversal of speed, twiceor probably just a slowdown for orbit, then speedup to leave orbit, which would still require extra fuel) there might not be enough for landing on Marred, the return trip, or re-entry to Equestria.- especially if she wasn't paying attention to any orbital mechanics lectures, which is something I'd have to guess at
- Same about needing to drop whatever weight they could in the spacecraft in the Martian's book/movie return trip, etc.
Not really related, but funny - https://what-if.xkcd.com/126/ (Stairs to space and how much butter you would need)
what-if.xkcd.com/imgs/a/126/options.png
Really good grammar overall aside from minor nitpicking on the chapter, moved to an ongoing proofreading conversation.
11882318
A fair comment. Agreed! I split it into its own paragraph as a fix. The 'she' was immediately following the reference to a "test pilot", but it now reads much better split into multiple paragraphs with less ponies per paragraph.
It also provided me an opportunity to turn the parallelism of three sentences into near-parallel paragraphs after some limited expansion. 
I think you are correct that the comma is best here. You are also right that occasionally a comma is not necessary, but I agree it is better in this situation. Thank you.
I agree the solid em dash is more ideal but there is no way to generate a solid em dash on my keyboard (or automatically). I would need to manually cut and paste, (more ideally) memorize and type an obnoxiously long keyboard shortcut (ALT+0151), or write the story in a word processor with a feature that automatically converts.
My workaround has been the double hyphen to represent an em dash. Noted that you prefer "details -- a view", with the spaces; however, "details--a view" is equally acceptable. I will keep in mind if there is a large contingent of reader preferences for the preceding and trailing spaces. My preference is for less spaces due to convenience, since less characters are typed (less of a chance for a typo), due to aesthetic preference and due to aural preference because an em dash sounds jumbled together without a pause.
Thank you again for the suggestion, however!
11882463
Again, I'm enjoying the story and looking forwards to the rest of it, and there's really good grammar overall, aside from minor nitpicking in a few places that are now fixed.
The rearrangement looks better, I have no complaints about ambiguity in the rewrite of the paragraph, and other comments were fixed. Looking forward to the rest of the story.
You do know that her name is not really derpy right it's muffins no seriously look it up that's her actual name in the show
11882220
11882290
Thank you for your guesses!
You put in a lot of thought. Many of your postulates could have been the answer. And then you arrived at the right one with your comment on "definitely not in the flight plan"!
You mentioned the Martian and I would cite the Martian, Project Hail Mary, and The Right Stuff as influences along with other sci-fi stories, portions of Changeling Space Program, histories of the space race, and nonfiction books on early rocketry technology development, so if those sort of things interest people, you'll probably see glimmers of them here.
Loved the twist ending.
Will she end up like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk%27s_Tesla_Roadster and need a lot of rockets or an impressive feat of magic to try to rescue? I'll wait for the next chapters to find out
EDIT: For readers imagining how Doctor Hooves acts and speaks (excited, British accent, scientist), see the below show clip about "Derpy and the Doctor" at 1 minute and 47 seconds in.
11882844
It's only mostly canon, and plenty of authors and artists ignore it.
Look at the tags on this story (and Fimfiction generally). The character tag is Derpy.
And on the tags available on derpibooru. She is Derpy Hooves there.
Even in merchandise, her name is rarely "Muffins"; it is usually a picture of a muffin and/or her face. Because it's not her name; it is the substitute Hasbro decided to use in place of her name.
I'm looking forward to more updates.
I'd liked that story and expanding the canon.
My headcanon for an outdated version of this chapter about a lab mouse was that it became inedible, similar to the scene in the below video.
11884514
Something I found funny to imagine in James T Kirk's voice.
These are the voyages of Equestria's first ponynauts. Equestria's first three missions: To explore the red planet. To rescue the first ponynaut. To boldly go where no creature has gone before!
On second reading and with the elaboration added to the author's note (the day of this comment) giving context, I'm really loving how this prologue fits in with the rest of the story (theme, events, explaining background/motivations, etc.), and I'm looking forward to the other chapters of the story.
I'd missed a few things because I read it too fast the first time.
good topic for a story
11886229
Less than 100 people have even opened the story (I assume some of the 101 views of the first chapter are repeats and my own). 
Thank you. I hope it delivers for you and that it finds an audience!
11884846
Only a few more chapters left now!
Thank you!
11888368
I'm looking forward to the conclusion of a story I personally found similar to The Maretian or the Changeling Space Program (and the various other works you've linked)
Hopefully, they'll get back by both returning on a trajectory close enough to home for a third group to rescue them later. Maybe the species will finally cooperate for the rescue, but I assume ponies would have reasonable plans that didn't rely on external help, so I don't know. (Alicorn/other help? Finishing another rocket?)
I had the idea for the below non-canon edit picture of the concept of Derpy being trapped on Marred, for the events before chapter ten, for non-serious memes, etc.
"We just don't know what went wrong"
(Below: Twilight seeing Derpy on Marred, edited for Marred to be much closer than the Moon to make the test pilot easier to see)
images2.imgbox.com/0f/b9/4udNSAV7_o.png
And for just Derpy (edit of this) on Marred with the current cover art of the red planet. The red planet is from NASA's 3D model of mars, and use of their images for non-commercial purposes with attribution are generally allowed by their guidelines.
images2.imgbox.com/55/e9/GzVXGVMD_o.png
Edit: Oh, I missed the part in Chapter 5 about oxygen, as well as the oxygen Device having finite resources in Chapter 6: Lightning Dust Continues / Twilight Tries / Spitfire Doesn't Make the Grade.
Original comment from when I thought the issue was fuel and the Device was magic is below:
I've been assuming all launches were from ground level, so I think it's mostly a matter of saving fuel for the launch to Marred and back.
They'd save fuel if there was a way for Twilight to teleport or accelerate the rockets before the launch, but if they called Discord then she probably can't, e.g. if it was sent to the moon (spells to transform items, seal them inside other items, reduce effects of gravity, etc.).
Even for helping with launch it from within Equus, Discord might be trying to avoid leaving any traces of his chaos magic whatsoever, for any being like Cosmos that might exist and be capable of sensing chaos magic (Dark forest hypothesis)
11889267
Those are excellent images!
Thank you for the fanart!
11889934
11889267
Thanks!
11889267
EDIT: Second concept cover based on https://mlp.fandom.com/wiki/Derpy/Gallery?file=Derpy_flying_through_the_hoop_S4E24.png
images2.imgbox.com/42/5c/CpkFfdPQ_o.png
And a meme version (Interstellar and The Martian were space rescues of characters portrayed by Matt Damon.)
images2.imgbox.com/54/d0/peerxaQ0_o.png
EDIT: additional concept cover fanart/meme with an edit to the above post, inspired by the cover of "The Martian", which had similar themes
images2.imgbox.com/7f/05/A4wT2KKg_o.png
Other concept fanart of potential covers, based on discussion several chapters ago when I was still speculating on the ending (same picture, with title and shifted pictures)
images2.imgbox.com/7e/f9/mmhJjsSC_o.png
Firefly: HEY! thats my line!
So in other words, Lightning Dust should just kill herself now and save herself the trouble?
Best and Brightest refers to several members of the team as a whole.
The thing that Derpy's the best at in this story is brought up in the first chapter, then explained in more detail later, current/former Wonderbolts were also in the space program, and the reasoning for the choice of pilot is explained in the story.
(aside: comments on the story page (about a quote in the story description) confusingly show up as comments on the most recent chapter at the time of posting)
11889267
All good plans.
Why didn’t you reply to my comment?
There was nothing to respond to. No question was asked. If you read through the comments section, you may also note I do not respond to every comment.
If you meant me by "you", I originally forgot to click the reply button, but then it felt like an unwanted notification if you didn't have plans to read the story, and redundant if you had already read the story. The original comment was an ambiguous rhetorical question (somewhat of a funny joke, but would confuse new readers about the story contents), and I didn't want to start a discussion unrelated to the story.
This made me grin. :D
I really enjoyed Spitfire's voice in this interview!
This was quite a wild ride! It took me a bit to recognize that the italics in some of the more narrative sections were Derpy narrating, but in general I enjoyed this story's structure: the switches between what was currently in progress, occasional flashbacks when they seemed appropriate, and the dossiers as supporting evidence, all felt like just fragments of a bigger story.
Honestly, the dossiers were some of my favorite parts of the fic -- you nailed the character voices there; each was very distinct, and it was always clear what was going on despite the fact that we were only seeing a little over half the conversation.
The parallels to the US/USSR space race felt a bit on the nose to me with how the GSCR was constructed and the role it played in the story, but I do appreciate how its existence and the pressures that ended up trapping Twilight into feeling like she had to rush into the space race to begin with tied into the finale where friendship -- or at least, an extended hoof that could perhaps be a start -- played a key role in Derpy's rescue.
11921919
Thank you for reading.
11921894
You are right that I was going for a feel that this was a sort of found/compiled historiography. 
Much appreciated. The Dossier chapters were a risk and an indulgence. They had integral meaning to the themes as a whole; however, chapters like these are not usually used in mainstream literature because they inherently take people out of the narrative flow--they make a story feel more like a scrapbook of memories--which thankfully is what I was going for here, so I hoped it was okay to break the 'rules'.
This story also was a risk in that an earlier version focused on a tight tale of only Lightning Dust and Derpy's viewpoints. However, I felt the story could cover a more expansive tapestry not just focusing on two people's experiences but on bigger themes. Since the contests it was published for permitted large enough word counts to handle the larger scope, it evolved into this more comprehensive version.
love how this gives a split-second background gag the weight of an implied history going back generations
oof, these parents really know how to give their child the expectation of needing to be the specialest and greatest!
and augh, what a way to set up the knife-twist. this chapter really does wonders in setting up the story’s vibe!
ooh, love the alternate astronomy
the onomatopoeic acronym really is perfect for a sci-fi device developed by ponies
ehehe she must’ve loved that! oh how the turntables
and love how these asides are used to fill out the roster of other characters in the program, great way to introduce them from Lightning Dust’s perspective.
augh, love the Burroughs-era view of Mars, also fitting for Equestria
ehehe great detail
i do appreciate the aside because otherwise LD might seem like a caricature of herself with this decision and now i think she is cool. also definitely raises questions about society if, indeed, almost all historically famous pegasi were Wonderbolts!
so true he does have hooves
aww such a Twilight thing to say. luckily the members of her government are more prone to national chauvinism and unkindness so that stories can happen
well that explains why said wife wasn’t on the mission instead. also we get it Doctor Hooves you have a wife!
yay she said it!
that is, uh, a specific thought to have
well i certainly didn’t account for such a thing, either!
always love geopolitical explanations for why Griffonstone is Like That, rather than the canon show’s unfortunate implication that griffons are inherently bad at existing
dang these guys are really bad at their job of killing Doctor Hooves
aww, love how Derpy is still Derpy in this
so true, love her appearance. tho the reason she appears isn’t a happy one, oof, what a way to give our protagonist a personal motivation
yeah! she said it!!!
we get it Doctor Hooves, you have a wife!
aww, love that they’re calling them that
and oof, this definitely sounds like regret for having risked her own life whenever she is narrating this
yeah, going through what Twilight herself has personally suffered from in part due to Derpy… her attitude towards her is understandable
aww, what an adorably hilarious historical atrocity that is part of the base of Equestria’s current geopolitical dominance!
oof
love everything about this. and yes it is a fun co-incidence that it is called “mare” in English
hehe, Dash’s line about creatures not changing is about herself! especially since given Dinky’s age, Rainbow must be at least 40 herself at this point
really makes you think
that is a very pegasus theology! does fill out the world a bit, along with the earlier asides into religion in this chapter
hehe, always great to see explanations of Derpy’s many, many canon names
this but unironically.
i must admit parts of this section were hard to read. i guess it is effective at getting across how the space program’s administration is cruel in the name of being effective and practical, but some of the reactions and the general flow around those parts did throw me off. i feel like the same biographical details could have been covered in a way that made this feel more realistic. but i guess i’ll also wait to see if what feels off about this is connected to larger themes later
ah, classic Moondancer! and classic move to push up her rimmed glasses that have nothing holding them to her face while saying htis
aww but “Horse Code” is so fun!
🤓
so true. dang, Equestria is kind of short on quality ponynaut candidates aren’t they
ehehe that is fun
aww, no horse pun for Icarus?
love how clumsy of a name “Pegasusitarod” is that just makes it even better
yay callback
so this does put the earlier interview more in context, and this one pulls it off better. i do believe in the chemistry between Spitfire and Harshwhinny here, it makes a lot of sense!
aww but she’ll be in a very enclosed space in that wide open space!
and oof, definitely sounds like something that will become a later regret!
hehe, i don’t know enough about horses to know if this is meant to just be horse-like behavior but that is what it feels like
though so many English speakers write “duck tape” that it is a synonym at this point anyway!
dang forget about all this space program nonsense, Doctor Hooves really changed ponykind for the better with just this invention!
aww she’s so mean!
also good callback to Spitfire insistently not swearing before
ooh that’s not good!
hehe, like the cone of silence except magic!
yeah, Twilight! don’t you appreciate the scientific method?
given the timeline it makes sense these mares are middle-aged, and interestingly still prime candidates for being ponynauts!
this convo reminds me of the one in the movie Armageddon about if it’s easier to train oil drillers as astronauts or vice versa
dang Rainbow Dash really dropping some well-earned wisdom in this story
though given the previous chapter, oof…
the mental image of Scootaloo visiting a morphined-out Rainbow Dash in the hospital really is something
ooh, deep cut!
love it! very perfectly on-the-nose
oh, so that’s what that means! i learned a word today, thank you!
calls to mind the invasive questions in Derpy’s interview being approved by some eggheads
ooh, suspense!
ooh, that injury in that one episode where Rainbow Dash substitutes for him?
hehe, “uncomplicated” would be how i would call Soarin’s depiction here and it is so fitting he would be cleared so easily
the presence of leather in Equestria always raises questions!
this and Spitfire’s comment about an energy drink earlier does give a fun picture of the Y7-friendly version of substance use in Equestria
oh hey that is a reference!
really raises questions about what Roseluck’s sisters are up to
oof
these anecdotes really are coming together to paint a very ad-hoc and reckless picture of how this space program started, wow! honestly a miracle Derpy is still alive
and oof, the foreshadowing with her belly injury in this chapter, nice
classic Rainbow
classic Rainbow
ooh, if it was Gilda then yeah, Harshwhinny will have a problem with it i’m sure
love her power pose that is the same as the famous one depicted in a Palace stained-glass window and on a trading card
lol
hehe, can feel Harshwhinny’s disdain from here
augh, poor Derpy here. wanting to make this loss mean something is also def understandable
and augh love this perspective on Derpy’s qualifications
the ponified (donkified?) Tao?
ooh love this take on Marathon. the same myths and metaphors having different details and thus associations in Equestria is a great touch
i don’t know what it is about this but it is hilarious. i guess the juxtaposition of the once-in-a-history circumstance being likened to “classic Wonderbot washout material”, lol
and yes, there is always the question of just what the local omnipotent chaos deity is doing that makes him unable to help out with whatever the problem du jour is!
glad Discord is keeping current with the pop-culture references!
sounds like the right way to go to be honest. fun interlude, though!
well given how ominous the flashback narration has been, probably by not?