We have received enough questions about Zambia’s former space program that we must comment on it. Here are the highlights of what we know (all from Wikipedia):
- Following imprisonment by what we’re assuming were British authorities, Edward Festus Mukuka Nkoloso became a (the?) security official in the political party that would rule Zambia from 1964 to 1991. Almost immediately upon receiving this appointment, he founded the Zambia National Academy of Science, Space Research and Philosophy (the normalization of the Oxford comma would’ve helped us here in knowing whether we were talking Space Philosophy or just Philosophy—now, we’ll never know).
- The ZNASSRP (as we’re calling it) had the stated goals of sending a 17-year-old girl (a specific one, not just any 17-year-old girl they could get to agree to it, though maybe it started that way and then they found her and now here we are) and two cats to the moon. Also, they wanted to establish a Christian presence on Mars ministering to “primitive” Martians (though instructions, it should be noted, were given to the missionary to not force Christianity on the indigenous Martians).
- Astronauts in the ZNASSRP trained by, among other things (we’d imagine), rolling down a hill in a big oil drum to simulate weightlessness. They used a tire swing for this too.
- Eventually, the program failed, and Nkoloso’s political career moved on to, among other things (we’d imagine), advocating for government support for witch doctors to counteract Christianity’s impact on Africa’s medical skills (a purported negative impact). He did make clear that he didn’t practice witchcraft himself.
If you want to read the whole Wikipedia article, the link’s above. This was our best distillation. Godspeed, and best of luck with your Space Philosophy.
