Why didn't Zambia make it to Mars? (Short Animated Documentary)

Ever since the first humans looked up to the stars, people have dreamed of spaceflight. It wasn't until the Cold War, however, that this dream became a reality... although not for everyone. If the USA and USSR could make it to space, what went wrong for Zambia's Afronauts led by the visionary Edward Makuka Nkoloso?

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TRANSCRIPT - Why didn’t Zambia make it to Mars?

When we think of the space race, we tend to think of the two Cold War superpowers of the USA and the USSR. But while the Soyuz programme was under way and Apollo was turning it up to 11, other nations were also making a bid for their place in extraterrestrial history.

Now, while people may think of France with its comic-book name satellite, Asterix; Britain’s Black Arrow, which bore a striking resemblance to a rocket powered lipstick; or even China’s Long March to the upper atmosphere; one nation that doesn’t immediately spring to mind when considering potential spacefaring nations is Zambia.

Zambia is a landlocked, southern-central African nation, neighbouring Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Following independence from the United Kingdom in 1964, the new Zambian government contained many people who were nothing if not ambitious.

One such man was Edward Makuka Nkoloso.

Makuka had been a translator for the Northern Rhodesian government before being imprisoned for his involvement in the Zambian resistance. After his release, he turned his attention to science and in 1960 founded the Zambia National Academy of Science, Space Research and Philosophy. His ambition: beat the US and the USSR to the Moon.

This would be achieved, Makuka claimed by launching a rocket carrying a 17 year old space girl and two specially trained space cats on Zambia's own lunar mission.

This would be followed by a yet more ambitious mission to Mars with the aim of establishing a Christian mission on the planet, although the missionaries on the mission were told not to convert the Martians without their permission.

Once the moon had been colonised and the primitive Martians had adopted Christianity, Zambia would have earned the rightful title of 'controllers of the Seventh Heaven of Interstellar space'.

However, whilst the US astronauts and the Soviet Cosmonauts had state of the art training and equipment, facilities for Makuka's Afronauts were altogether more basic.

Trainees were subjected to a rigorous programme of jumping up and down, as well as using tyre swings and being rolled down hills inside oil drums to simulate weightlessness.

The rocket itself was little better, consisting of a 3 by 2 meter barrel made from aluminium and copper.

Despite a lack of money for fuel, the capsule was tested by launching it from a catapult and was initially scheduled to be launched from Independence Stadium on Zambian Independence Day, the 24th October 1964… until the suggestion was rejected by organisers.

Unfortunately for Makuka, his funding application for 7,000,000 Zambian pounds from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization was also rejected. To make matters worse the Zambian Ministry of Power, Transport and Communication would later admit that it never took the project seriously and as a result the Zambian Government offered no official backing to the programme.

It wasn’t only the Zambian government who had other things than space travel on their minds. A final blow to the programme came when Martha Mwambwa, the chosen space girl, got pregnant and was taken away by her parents.

So in summary, Zambia never made it to Mars because the project was massively underfunded, lacked relevant expertise and the government never took the idea of sending cats, missionaries or pregnant space girls to other planets seriously in the first place.

I hope you enjoyed this video and you can listen to The Despot’s Bookshelf podcast by clicking the link in the description. Don’t forget to like and subscribe for more despotic history from The Despot’s Bookshelf.

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