Written by: Anmol Baral - 21137, Grade XI
Posted on: 16 February, 2020
Zambia, yes Zambia. A nation situated in southern Africa is a landlocked country of rugged terrain having a total area of 752,618 square kilometers which has a total population of 17,351,708 as of 2018 and total a GDP(PPP) of $76.52 billion as of 2019. (So to sum up GDP-Nominal is the total size of the economy, GDP-PPP is the total size of the economy normalized for local price variations, and GDP-PPP Per Capita is how efficient the economy is.) This status sounds as if it is possible for Zambia to be able to afford space-traveling right?
However, the title has a twist. Zambia, which was a former self-governing British colony, and was renamed Zambia at independence in 1964. You see, here the nation was free from British rule in 1964. In the midst of the celebration for the newly gained freedom from colonialism, an ambitious college professor develops a great project for his country: he wants to create a space program and send the first African astronaut to the moon, possibly before the US and the USSR manage to do so. For a fact, the US and the USSR were the only two superpowers of the world at that time.
Let's view it this way, "It's the 60s: the world is divided by the Cold War, and the USA is in the midst of the Space Race against Russia. While the international public observes the two powers, plans for the conquest of the universe, in remote and forgotten parts of the world there are still big dreamers."
Now, heading straight back to the title, this is the story of Edward Makuka Nkoloso, who founded (independently and without any kind of government support), the National Academy of Science, Space Research and Philosophy, Zambia's first and only space program. A 17 years old girl, "Matha '' and two cats are chosen as the "Afronauts" to be sent on the Moon, and later, even on Mars, board a copper and aluminum rocket. A training camp was set a few miles from Lusaka, the capital of the nation and to have the astronauts accustomed to the lack of gravity, a series of physical exercises were developed (for example, the self-proclaimed director would launch the aspiring astronauts down from steep hills inside huge oil barrels).
Seriously? Partially visionary, probably detached from reality, Nkoloso was extremely serious about the project, and as himself claimed "We 're Going to Mars! With a Spacegirl, Two Cats and a Missionary." He even made a request for 7 million pounds to UNESCO. The complex program also included the establishment of a Ministry of Christianity on Mars, although there was no intention of imposing their religion with violence on the inhabitants of the planet. Unfortunately, the lack of funding, the hostility of the government and the fact that Matha became pregnant during the training time (in an official letter Nkoloso himself complained about the constant, physical, distractions of his young students), forced the man's dreams to collapse, and the program was left to die.
References:
https://tch7336.tch.www.quora.com/What-is-a-more-useful-measure-to-judge-a-nations-economy-GDP-nominal-or-GDP-PPP-and-why
http://www.goodshortfilms.it/en/articles/afronauts-il-programma-spaziale-dello-zambia
