The flight of Yuri Gagarin, which the world learned about on April 12, 1961, had a powerful impact on all of humanity. Zambian Edward Makuka Nkoloso was also captured by the great dream of space flight.
How Zambia tried to conquer the Moon and Mars
The Afronaut was scheduled to fly on October 24, 1964. What prevented Zambia from becoming a space power?
The space race, which began in the mid-1950s, has drawn two superpowers into its orbit - the USSR and the United States. Other countries, due to their economic potential, had nothing to think about conquering interstellar space.
But Zambian Edward Nkoloso did not want to keep his imagination in the grip of sober calculation. He followed the path of Tsiolkovsky, who conquered space in his imagination before it was done in reality.
So in the African wilderness, a super-project was born, which took your breath away.
Promotional video:
Approaching a dream
There is no doubt that the name of Edward Festus Makuki Nkoloso would have become known without the space program. Painfully colorful and charismatic person, he was!
Judge for yourself: Born in the 1920s in Northern Rhodesia (as Zambia was then called), this indefatigable African was a sergeant in the British army during World War II. After the victory, Edward worked as a translator for the colonial administration. But soon he created a school in which he worked as a primary school teacher. However, the British administration closed it for some reason.
Then Nkoloso joined the anti-colonial movement, which was then gaining strength in Northern Rhodesia. The protest was not in vain: Edward was thrown into prison twice - in 1956 and 1957. True, the terms were short, but sufficient to ponder further life. Perhaps even then Nkoloso, like Kibalchich or Kondratyuk, first thought about flying into space.
However, the harsh reality did not leave time for the implementation of a big plan. Therefore, after leaving prison, Nkoloso became an employee of the security department of the United National Independence Party, the only legal party in the country to whose representatives Britain was preparing to transfer power. It was from her ranks that Kenneth Kaunda, the first president of Zambia, who ruled the country for 27 years, came out.
While politicians were deciding how to divide power, the USSR carried out several daring space projects. First, he launched a satellite into the sky, then sent Belka and Strelka into orbit!
And then Nkoloso finally understood what he wants most in life! He dreamed of seeing the foot of a citizen of Zambia treading on the surface of the moon. Better yet, Mars!
And Edward Nkoloso in 1960 announced the creation of the "National Space Agency of Zambia"!
The stars are calling
This historic decision of the former sergeant and teacher in Zambia itself was rather restrained. Although, judging by the fact that no one pulled Nkoloso, the country's leadership had vague hopes that Zambia would still fly into space. And indeed: Tsiolkovsky was considered crazy throughout his life, Korolev was not believed until his missiles pierced the firmament! Why not trust Nkoloso? Moreover, the initiator of the flight was not entirely unfounded - he set to work with zeal!
And quite soon he announced that the first Zambian cosmonaut would be a girl - 17-year-old Matu Mwambwa, specially brought for this purpose from a remote village, as well as two cats (the names of the cats remained unknown to science). In addition to them, the detachment included 10 more volunteers eager to leave their footprints on the "dusty paths of distant planets."
Serious preparations for the flight began. First of all, the director of the agency came up with the proud name "Afronaut" for his wards. And after that he found an abandoned farm near the capital of Lusaka, where he set up a training base.
At a time when the Americans and the Russians were teaching their star envoys on all sorts of sophisticated simulators, from a simulator of zero gravity to pressure chambers, the Zambian cosmonauts worked according to their own methods. More precisely, the instructions of Nkoloso. So, to simulate an overload, the director would put candidates in empty oil drums and roll them down a hill. To create the illusion of weightlessness, a bungee with a car tire tied to it was used. Shaking it well, the director cut the rope. Then the illusion of weightlessness became complete. A lot of time "Afronauts" spent learning to walk on their hands - Nkoloso believed that on the Moon and Mars it would be possible to move in this way.
The director of the national agency was a serious person and was well aware of what was happening at the facilities that Zambia was preparing to storm. So, in his opinion, Mars was inhabited - Nkoloso learned about this, looking at Mars through a telescope installed in the vicinity of Lusaka. The "Afronauts" not only had to contact the Martians - the purpose of the flight was to spread Christianity. Nkoloso believed that in this way Zambia would establish control over the "seventh heaven of interstellar space." At the same time, he forbade the members of his team to impose Christianity on the indigenous Martians by force! Only voluntarily, at a sudden desire.
In order to conquer space, you need rockets and powerful engines. And the wise director took care of this! Zambian missiles were to be two barrels made of aluminum and copper. And as an engine - a catapult, built from what came to hand!
Perhaps someone thinks that a barrel thrown by a catapult will not overcome gravity. Have you tried? Moreover, it is possible that the atmospheric pillar in the same Zambia is not as heavy as on other continents, and a catapult will be quite enough to overcome the earth's gravity!
And as a cosmodrome, Nkoloso wanted to use the local national Independence Stadium. The flight was planned to be carried out on October 24, 1964. In this Zambia gained independence. Nkoloso decided to combine the two holidays. When the rocket was launched, 30 thousand people and the entire leadership of the country, headed by President Kenneth Kaunda, had to be present!
As they say, try not to take off!
I agree to a medal
The irrepressible organizer provided for everything: time, place, setting. The rocket was named D Kalu-1 in honor of the first president. After completing all the preliminary stages, the director of the agency presented his program to UNESCO, asking for a mere trifle: 7 million Zambian pounds and about 2 billion dollars from private foreign sources! True, the Zambian government prudently refused to support this initiative, declaring it an initiative of a private person.
Unfortunately, no one gave the money to Nkoloso. But the flight did not take place for this reason. According to Nkoloso, the grand scheme was thwarted by spies. Either American or Soviet. Their insidious plan was not to steal technical drawings of the rocket, not to damage the engine or indiscriminately criticize preparation methods. No, the spies acted in the old fashioned way: one of them seduced the main applicant for the flight. And Mata Mwambwa just got pregnant. Nkoloso did not dare to send a pregnant girl into space. In addition, one of the enemies of the genius told her parents about her daughter's pregnancy. They arrived at the cosmonaut training center, and the director of the agency had to flee from them.
After that, the program was curtailed, the detachment was disbanded, the equipment was torn apart. Another great dream of mankind remained unfulfilled.
But Edward Nkoloso did not give up even after this failure. After moving to Lusaka, he ran for mayor of the capital. But the inhabitants of Lusaka were scared - what if he would send everyone in one fell swoop somewhere. As a result, the president extended a helping hand to Edward: he appointed him president of the Liberation Center. There, Nkoloso was promoting another global project. He sought to support quackery at the state level. It's a pity, but this project has failed.
But these grandiose plans were noticed by the progressive public. In 1983, Nkoloso received a. University of Zambia Law Degree. He was promoted to colonel, after which he headed the Association of former military personnel of Ndola.
Surprisingly, Nkoloso was also awarded the Soviet medal "Forty years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945."
Perhaps the USSR really felt responsible for the failure of the global project and thus compensated for its guilt …
Magazine: Mysteries of History №48. Author: Dmitry Savitsky