An amateur astronomer discovers a new object in the sky over the South Pole. NASA determines that the space rock is very unusual; it is very cold and it is very magnetic. NASA finally determines that the object will approach Earth and enter a stable orbit. Russian scientists believe that the rock will strike Earth. The Russians launch a missile to destroy the space rock but they fail and cause the object to come to Earth in Antarctica. Because of its unusual nature, the space rock makes a soft landing and, because it is so cold, when it passes through Earth's atmosphere, it creates an ice tunnel from space to the surface of Earth. But there is a breach in the ice tunnel near sea level that is allowing the Earth's atmosphere to be sucked into space. It is only a matter of time until the air on Earth becomes so thin that it will threaten all living things with extinction. The ice tunnel cannot be immediately destroyed because it is enormously explosive due to the makeup of the surface of the space rock. So the hole must be plugged as soon as possible. Plugging the hole will require exceptional resources and precision. If the mission fails, Earth will run out of air.