We use direct path transmissions to control spacecraft all the time – even when they are far outside the orbit of Pluto.

On the cell phone thing: transmission (radio, TV, cell phone) across “long” distances generally has the message bouncing off the atmosphere, then off the ground, then back off the atmosphere, and so on untill it finds a retransmission tower which starts the cycle over before the message gets too weak. In space, there is nothing for it to bounce off of, so unless you are using a satellite phone, you probably won’t have reception.
For the funny explanation of why you shouldn’t use cell phones in space, see http://www.webcomicsnation.com/shaenongarrity/narbonic/series.php?view=archive&chapter=10009

Lastly, it took me a while to get that the shadows in your picture of the Grand Canyon were the turbine and the window of the airplane. At first I thought you were flying a private helicopter or something and the black thing to the left was the control pannel. In either case, I envy you.

And, wow! What a turnaround! They’re actually referring to Nogg by name? It would be funny if their “highly advanced headache medicine” turned out to be plain old Tylenol (Paracetamol for non-panamareican readers, acetaminophen for people in the Americas but not in the United States; Ok, my joke just got too complicated)

It also makes me wonder how much does Nogg know about human psychology: all the people he picked, agreed with him (albeit with conditions). The one person he didn’t pick is the only one defecting.

Lastly, what’s the thermostat of that ship set for? Everybody seems dressed for warm weather (Emily: the Mojave desert; Martina, Pierrot, and Dustin: basically the tropics; Dimitri and Yuri: I’m guessing northern hemisphere’s summer) but it’s still kind of wierd that Dimitri won’t put a shirt on (even though it’s not out of character)

For Pierrot, shouldn’t that be the G.S.P.C.A.?