Chakotay explores an old Mars mission.
Voyager meets a graviton ellipse, a huge energy body that leaves subspace for short periods, and the crew recognise it as the phenomenon that swallowed the Ares IV, an Earth mission to Mars in 2032, along with its pilot, John Kelly. Chakotay, who studied the early space programme, is thrilled at the chance to recover the module, but Seven of Nine sees little value in a relic.
Chakotay, Tom Paris and Seven take the Delta Flyer into the calm centre of the ellipse and find the Ares IV. When Chakotay is badly hurt, Seven boards the module alone and reads Kelly's logs, which show he kept recording data until he died. Moved, she brings his body and records back, and the crew hold a memorial service at which she praises his spirit of exploration. The sixth-season episode is a tribute to the real space programme and marks a shift in Seven's view of human history.