Sunday, August 7, 2011

NASA: Planet of the Apes 4

Closing out the Planet of the Apes Weekend, we document the NASA spaceship Cassiopeia.
The Cassiopeia was launched in 2125. It was the first long-duration space mission. It held four crew in suspended animation: Ulysses, the commander; Romulus, an African-American male; Sophie; and Martinez, another female. It was descended from the design of the National AeroSpace Plane, also known as the X-30 or the Orient Express.

The Cassiopeia appeared in the Ubisoft videogame for the PC "Planet of the Apes", released in 2001 as a companion to the Tim Burton film. It is part of the timeline designated Planet of the Apes 4.

USAF: Planet of the Apes 3

Continuing Planet of the Apes Weekend!

The United States Air Force maintains a space station named Oberon. It has a live animal research facility on board. We are currently seeking visual data of the Oberon but have not located any as of this time.

In the year 2029, the station is under the command of Lt. General Karl Vasich.

One member of his crew is Captain Leo Davidson.

He works closely with primates, training them for space missions, including a chimpanzee named Pericles and another ape named Semos. Other human personnel include Lt. Colonel Grace Alexander, Major Maria Cooper, Major Frank Santos, and Specialist Hansen.

The Oberon and its crew are from Tim Burton's "Planet of the Apes" and are designated as part of the timeline Planet of the Apes 3.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

NASA: Planet of the Apes 2


On August 6, 1976, NASA's Venturer space capsule is on a mission in deep space. The Venturer resembles an Apollo capsule, but is substantially larger, with more supplies and equipment for a crew of three.

Commander Bill Hudson is the mission commander, seen using the microphone here. Apparently, he is from the US Navy. The other astronauts are pilot Judy Franklin (who apparently has previous experience with propeller-driven craft, as later seen) and Jeff Allen, an African-American. Under their spacesuits, Bill wears a white t-shirt, Judy wears a blue t-shirt, and Jeff wears a red t-shirt with a turtleneck. Judy wore a diamond ring on the mission.

Reference is made to Dr. Stanton's Theory of Time Thrust, which seems to indicate that the Venturer crew is testing a new time-travel drive, or faster-than-light drive. Since the ship lands without a parachute, that would seem to indicate it has a gravity landing drive as well. We do see that the ship contains at least one set of scuba gear, a high-powered hand-held laser drill, and a self-destruct charge. It appears that the ship's crew was expecting to land on Earth or a different planet, or in a different time, hence the highly unusual equipment.

The Venturer launched from Cape Kennedy. Later, Cape Kennedy was turned into a museum facility and NASA launched vehicles from a new launch facility in the middle of the Mojave desert.

On August 6, 2109, Colonel Roland 'Ronald' Brent launched from NASA's Mojave facility with a new, large vessel. Very little is known about it, but it appears to be as large as a 747 airplane, if not larger. Apparently, he was the only crew. Brent was born on May 2 (or May 5, sources vary), 2079.

The Venturer, astronauts Hudson, Allen, Franklin, and Brent, NASA's Cape Kennedy facility museum, and NASA's Mojave Launch Facility are all part of the Return to the Planet of the Apes animated television series. As such, they are part of Planet of the Apes Timeline-2.

Friday, August 5, 2011

ANSA and the Planet of the Apes

ANSA: The American National Space Administration

This space program has been very busy. Under Chairman Dr. Otto Hasslein, ANSA reached many major milestones:



1. The first manned spacecraft to orbit the Earth
2. Landing men on the Moon--Project Apollo
3. Landing men on Mars--Project Juno
4. Successful suspended animation and revival of astronauts for long-duration missions
5. Near light-speed travel
6. Faster-than-light travel
7. Travel to the Alpha Centauri system


On January 14, 1972, ANSA launched Liberty 1, a near-light-speed voyage to Alpha Centauri with astronauts in suspended animation. The expected return time was in the early 1980s. The mission was led by Colonel George Taylor. He graduated from the US Military Academy at West Point in 1941 and served in World War II and the Korean War, where he became an ace fighter pilot in both conflicts. Later, he became the first ANSA astronaut candidate. Lieutenant John Landon was the navigator; he had previously flown on a Juno mission to Mars, also as the navigator. Lieutenant Thomas Dodge was the science officer, who hoped to find intelligent life. The 35-year-old African-American is a professor of organic chemistry at the US Naval Academy at Annapolis. Rounding out the crew is 33-year-old Lieutenant Maryann Stewart, a career astronaut serving as the pilot, who flew in the both the Apollo and Juno programs.

After communication with Liberty 1 was lost, a rescue mission was hastily drawn up. Two of the new Liberty faster-than-light variants, with room for three crew each, were launched in June of 1972 along the same flight path as Liberty 1. One was flown by Colonel Donovan Maddox, 38, and head of the combined rescue mission; the other was flown by Lieutenant John Brent, 34. Communications were also lost with the rescue vehicles. After the apparent failure of this mission, Hasslein resigned from ANSA and became the President's Science Advisor. Brent's vessel eventually returned in April of 1973, rescued off the coast of California, with three strange passengers, intelligent chimpanzees who could speak English, apparently from the far future, nearly 2000 years later.


Shaking off these problems, work continued on the new FTL Liberty variants. A crew was launched to Alpha Centauri in March of 1981. Led by Colonel Alan Virdon, the other crew were Major Peter J. Burke and 'Jonesy' Jones. Contact was lost with the vessel after it reached Alpha Centauri. Another mission was launched, but information is not available about it.

These missions are part of the Planet of the Apes Timeline 1, comprising the five original films and live-action television series.