The President (Lew Ayres) of the United States announces that the three men and their ship will be the nucleus of a new nation, and asks Americans to turn their lights on that night to show support for the project.

The astronauts take photos of the Earth's surface as they orbit, to be processed later to determine the level of public support for the idea within the conterminous 48 states.

After some of the citizens, including Russian emigre Ilyana Kovalefskii (Inga Swenson) make their statements (the logic of which is noted on-screen by a computer), the vote is to act.

The tug operator rescues the technician, discards his tool caddies, secures the bomb and brings both back to Earth II.

Meanwhile, Lisa Karger (Hartley) doesn't want the bomb aboard, and is alarmed at Frank's intent to initiate a D&D on Earth II maintaining its own nuclear weapons.

The city is still rotating enough to bring the Sun into view through the opening and the temperature is rising, threatening to melt safeties and detonate the bomb.

Frank Karger relents and is no longer intent to go ahead with the D&D on Earth II's nuclear weapons status, and the bomb is properly launched toward the Sun for disposal.

In a 1998 interview with Sci-Fi Channel Magazine promoting the 30th anniversary of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Gary Lockwood stated that he hated working on the Earth II production, due to its complexity.