They wanted to be a long distance away before the ship even got into deep water.
Running hard, the ship could probably get there in a few months.
So there would be no word from or about Joe until his ship got back.
Better to leave well enough alone, to wait until the ship got home.
When our ship gets close enough we blow the drive.
This ship, I am told, gets there in a standard month or less.
Far more important was getting this ship ready to travel.
The ship we came in can get us started, but it's not enough.
"It would also explain why the ship was so late getting here."
Once this ship gets back she'll probably never go into space again.