Fictional Entry—Tuesday, August 19, 1980
When the United States landed a man on the moon in 1969, many declared the space race over. The Soviet Union no longer seemed to be interested in attempting further exploration of space beyond what they had already accomplished.
Things remained that way until two pm Pacific on a day in March of 1973. Though reported as a hoax, the truth is a spacecraft carrying three upright, speaking chimpanzees did crash into the waters off Los Angeles. The ship and crew were swiftly whisked away, though the astronauts later died.
Dr. Otto Hasslein, a NASA scientist, was in charge of the project. He feared that the technology in the ship was too important to be in the hands of the public eye in NASA, but also did not want the military in charge. During closed hearings with the Senate, he warned of the possibility of the Soviet Union gaining access to the technology. His warnings were proved right in late April 1973, when information was obtained that the Kosmicheskaya programma SSR had begun development of a new space drive based on the stolen technology.
After this breach, the American National Space Administration (ANSA) was formed. It was headed by Dr. Hasslein until his death in the mid-fall of 1973. ANSA was designed as a secret program, independent of NASA. The main focus was to develop extra-solar ships from the crashed vessel.
By 1974, the first manned mission to Mars orbit was successful. It was followed by the Juno mission, a manned voyage to both Jupiter and Saturn was launched. Juno successfully placed a satellite into orbit at Jupiter, claiming the planet for the United States. However, when it reached Saturn, the crew discovered a satellite already in orbit. They inspected the vehicle and found the corpse of a monkey cosmonaut inside. The cosmonaut’s name was Gregori and he had successfully claimed Saturn for the Soviet Union.
Throughout the remained of the decade, ANSA continued it’s push to the nearest stars. The initial voyages were made by the five Liberty class experimental vessels. Two of these vessels were lost with all crew, including the first captained by George Taylor. Though the missions did not find any Earth-like planets, they did prove the capability of reaching the Alpha Centauri star system. The stars (Alpha Centauri A, Alpha Centaur B and Alpha Centauri C) had several planets with near-Earth gravity and deposits of rare metals and gems within easy mining distance.
Starting in 1978, ANSA began a regular cycle of ships to gather these supplies. One such mission, Probe Six, launched in early May of 1980. After the successful test flight of Probe Six, the vessel landed at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. The ship was attached to the Star Vessel Carrier Aircraft (SVCA). The SCVA were heavily modified Boeing 747s, similar to the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA). To prevent knowledge of the flights and ship, the aircraft flew only at night and returned Probe Six to Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Probe Six was moved to the Vehicle Assembly Building. There the ship was refurbished, refueled, and mated to a new launch rocket.
Just after sunset on August 18, 1980, astronauts Alan J. Virdon (captain), Peter Burke (pilot), and Edward “Jonesy” Jones (navigator) filed aboard Probe Six. The launch was held until after the moon set to minimize the chance of anyone, most importantly Soviet spies, getting good intelligence of the launch. At 2:58 AM EST on August 19, Probe Six was launched into space. Its primary mission was a routine mapping of the near space around Alpha Centauri. Records later declassified by ANSA indicate the mission also included the deployment of two DeepScan long-duration extra-solar tracking satellites. DeepScan was one of several programs used to track Soviet extra-solar flights.
The ship orbited Earth for several hours. Once all the required verifications were completed, the ship ignited the main chemical fuel engine and broke orbit. Once free of Earth’s gravity well, Probe Six energized the photon drive for trans-light velocity. However, shortly after the drive began accelerating the craft towards Alpha Centauri, the ship began to vacillate off course.
Astronaut Jones attempted to recalibrate the instruments, but they continued to show Probe Six veering farther and farther off-course. The variations in acceleration caused the crew to experience extreme g-forces. Virdon checked the instruments and determined the ship had entered a zone of radioactive turbulence. The cause of this turbulence is not known. Realizing there was a high chance of all the crew members passing out from the acceleration, Jones activated the ship’s Automatic Homing Device.
Activation of the device immediately turned the ship back toward Earth and dumped all navigational, scientific, communications, and trajectory data to ANSA mission control computers. This was the last communication from the ship and crew. Tracking stations on Earth and in orbit showed the ship slowly turning back toward Earth. Within minutes, the ship faded from all tracking systems. Subsequent attempts to regain communications or tracking failed. Two years later, the ship and crew were declared lost and assumed dead.
Planet of the Apes S01E01 Escape From Tomorrow
Television Series
20th Century Fox Television
1974
This Day in Science Fiction History examines notable events, real and fictional, concerning fantasy and science fiction in various media.
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