Original subtitles

They never told us much.

Just that Robert,

my brother,

had got this grant,

to do some kind of work out there.

That's the last we heard.

It's not knowing, that's the worst.

MISSING since Nov. 9th 1975

If I were to say,

I'd noticed anything unusual, it would

really only be in in hindsight.

There were nothing strange about her behavior.

She...

simply, disappeared...

MISSING since Dec. 30th 1976

Makes no sense...!

I mean, how come people just vanish off of the face of the Earth in this day and age?

We have a right to know what's going on...!

MISSING since Mar. 22nd 1974

Those people who've you just seen,

have all lost someone close to them.

A relative. A colleague. A friend.

Lost in mysterious circumstances,

sudden, and inexplicable disappearance,

without trace.

If you are wondering, what this sort of story,

important, and even tragic though it may be,

has to do with Science Report...

Well, we have to go back in time some 18 months.

when we began work on another film,

which examined the scientific "brain drain" from Britain.

That film was never completed,

because our inquiries let us into some strange and unexpected byways.

And they in their turn, led uniformly to a blank wall.

A blank wall, below where I am standing now,

at the car park, of Terminal 3,

of London's Heathrow Airport.

We begin this special report, with part of that uncompleted film.

From our reporter, Colin Benson.

Dr. Ann Clarke, who works in this building,

is one of Britain's younger generation of research scientists.

Her speciality is solar energy.

[Dr. ANNE CLARKE] Like many others in her position,

[Solar Energy Specialist] Ann Clarke is contemplating

[Solar Energy Specialist] joining the brain drain, and leaving the country.

Well it's enquierly... it is entirely a question of facilities.

I... I mean, look. Look at the mess I am supposed to work out of.

Look at this building...!

If I and people like me,

are going to do the job we've been trained to do, and are capable of doing,

then we must be given the means of doing it.

It's uh,

- beaten farther to the ray. - Thank you.

Shortly after this film was taken,

Ann Clarke made a decision.

It was not however, a decision she felt able to talk about.

Ann.

They won't let us into the building, they say they have orders not to.

- Yes, I know, I'm sorry. - Well can you tell us exactly what's going on?

No, I... I'm sorry, I can't go on with this film, I'm going away.

- What exactly is happening? - I... I can't say anything...!

That is the last piece of film we have of Dr. Ann Clarke.

What was going on, brought Ann Clarke here,

for the car park of number 3 Terminal, Heathrow Airport?

She told friends, she was going to New York.

British Airway to New York, Flight 501. Passengers should go through passport...

And yet there's no record of Ann Clarke leaving this airport, on that, or any other day.

The only evidence she was here at all, is her abandoned car.

Beyond that...

Nothing.

Well... I've done everything I can,

to... to try to get some kind of answer.

But there is nothing...!

And they just say:

"We're sorry...

but we don't know anything about your brother."

Robert Patterson is, or rather was,

a senior lecturer in mathematics, at St. Andrews University.

These photos were taken by his sister,

wherein he and his wife Eileen and two children,

left this house, on the morning of November the 9th, 1975,

and set out by car, to London's Heathrow Airport.

What happened after that, we don't know.

On leaving the Royal Airforce, where he worked in Special Projects,

Brian Pendlebury had told his parents, that he was going to work for an electronics firm,

in Sydney, Australia.

He sent photographs of his life out there.

And for a time, kept in touch by letter.

And there's this friend of his', going out there, and,

we said, "why don't you look about Ron, give him a surprise?"

Well he,

he got there, the...

the address we've given him...

They never heard of Brian...

Despite the letters and photographs, which remain unexplained,

there's no further evidence about Brian Pendlebury,

other than the fact that his name appears to have been checked in, at London's Heathrow Airport,

for a flight to Sydney.

That, so far as we can discover,

is the last anyone ever saw of him.

Ann Clarke.

Robert Patterson.

And Brian Pendlebury.

Just 3 of the 400 names,

compiled for our projected Science Report:

"Brain Drain from Britain".

From this office,

our researchers began checking through every one of them.

We were looking for patterns:

Who were the people leaving this country?

What were their reasons?

And what were their feelings about it afterwards?

But out of those 400 names,

it became apparent that 24, had disappeared without trace.

Some alone, others with their families.

Where did they go? And why?

And indeed: How?

What, if anything, was the common factor?

Jodrell Bank Radio Telescope.

Where although no one realized it at the time,

the second part of our complex story was beginning to unfold.

Sir William Ballentine, distinguished radio astronomer,

was setting out on a journey he was never to complete.

Ballentine was a worried man.

That much we know from a phone call he made from this isolated box,

not far from the main London motorway.

He called an old friend, news agency manager and editor, John Hendry.

And how did he seem to you?

He sounded aggitated, which was unusual.

He was a very calm, self-possessed man normally.

He said he was driving up to London and wanted to see me later - I said "Fine".

And he also asked if I'd received a packet, which he'd posted the day before.

I said "I had".

It contained this roll of tape,

which he told me to keep under lock and key 'til he arrived.

And I waited.

And of course...

Next morning I heard about the accident.

These photographs of the crash were taken by an agency camera man.

Despite considerable news-coverage,

only one photo was made available to the national press, and television.

Our own independent experts examined those photographs,

and the site of the accident itself, where I am standing now.

The drew no firm conclusions.

Except to say that the cause of the accident remained,

to them at least,

'peculiarly unclear'.

But what of the video tape?

Which Ballentine had been so anxious to get safely to his friend, John Hendry.

Apparently nothing. No picture. Just the ceaseless noise of space.

No different from countless other tapes in the archives of radio astronomy.

There was, we were assured,

no solution here to the mysteriously violent death of Sir William Ballentine.

But, what if met...

What was the piece of vital information,

Sir William Ballentine had deciphered,

from this apparent random cacoffany?

That was something we'd had to wait much longer to find out.

In the meantime however,

something happened, which at least at first,

seemed to offer us, some sort of a clue.

An outside telephone call, was put through to the Science Report office.

I found myself talking to a man with an American accent,

who refused to give his name, or any other details of himself over the phone.

He told me only that he had met, Sir William Ballentine,

on a visit the British astronomer had made, shortly before his death,

to NASA space headquarters in Houston, Texas.

We arranged to met not far from here, in 1 hour's time.

Okay. I'm ready.

What you're about to see, may be considered by many of you, unethical.

However, we believe that in the light of subsequent developments,

our action was justified.

Benson was equipped with a miniaturized transmitter,

so that we could record the conversation between them.

And a hidden camera was positioned near the market, where the meeting had been arranged.

- Colin Benson? - Yes, hello.

- Can we get clear, or do you have to get back to... - No, no, no, we're alright here.

- Listen, there's something I have to know: How far are you willing to go on this thing, I mean all the way?

- That's what I'm here for. Can you help? - Look, I don't know... I can help.

- But we do this thing my way, okay? - Okay, fine.

- Let's uh, let's walk on a little bit, okay.

I'm sorry if I seem a little bit nervous.

- It's mainly because I am. - Nervous? Of what?

Contracting a 'fatal case of measles', you know what I mean?

- Like Ballentine. - You... You know what happened to him?

I know why it happened...

And I gotta get it on record before they find out I'm over here.

- 'They'? Who are they? - Listen...

Let's just stick to me telling you what I have to tell you, okay?

- Okay, go on. - This address, tomorrow morning, 10:30,

Bring everything you've got; cameras, tape machines, witnesses.

That's the kind of protection I need.

I'll have everything for you there.

Colin Benson arrived at the address he was given,

shortly before 10:30 the next day. - That's it.

Together, with a full camera crew.

Okay, go ahead Ben.

Close enough.

You get sound?

Yep. Got it.

Eventually, the door was opened.

We show you the next part of the film, uncut, and exactly as we shot it on that day.

...33, take 1.

- Who is it? - Anglia Television.

- "Science Report" - Who?

- This in number 88, isn't it? - Yeah, 88.

We're here with a television crew to see a mister...

- Is there an American... - You mean Harry?

- That's it. - It's...

Can we come in, please?

- You really are the telly... - Thank you.

Look, I know what this is all about, but you're not get much out of Harry right now.

Come on, lads.

Hey.

What is this?

- They said you knew them. - Yesterday, do you remember?

Hey.

Oh...

Leave me alone.

- What's the matter with him? - Get them away from me!

You better go.

Look, is he on acid or something?

- Oh, just get out of here will you?! - Answer our questions...!

No, Harry!

Don't be an idiot, please!

- Tell them to go away! - Alright! Alright!

Please, don't!

Leave...!

Alright! We're going! We're going! We're going, okay? Okay?

It was the last we saw, of the mysterious young American.

Despite returning with the police barely half an hour later,

who kept watch on this house for several days,

we found no one.

Elsewhere however,

more pieces of this strange pattern, continue to fit into place.

The great world drought of that summer,

was unequaled in recorded history.

Europe's normally green dairy-country,

was reduced to a dust bowl.

Cattle, finding their moisture in the grass,

had to be provided with increasingly scarse water,

and fed next winter's fodder.

In Britain, it was the same story of parched fields, and poor crops.

In France, forest fires out of control, devastated huge areas of woodland.

Vast reservoirs dried up,

and standpipes were brought in to the worst hit areas,

some of which had barely 20 days supply of water left.

The River Thames,

was reduced to it's lowest level in living memory.

There was no panic,

only a growing sense of unease,

that what we were experiencing was,

'unnatural',

and that the Earth's climate,

was moving towards a radical change.

Melbourne, Australia,

where the Yerra River was reduced to a polluted trickle,

in which fish and water life were almost completely destroyed.

Before water restrictions tightened,

desperate efforts were made

to save the rare and valuable trees in Melbourne's famous botanical gardens.

Northern India was in the grip of the worst heat wave for over 50 years.

In Bihar, the temperature reached 48 degrees Centigrade.

120 degrees Fahrenheit. [118.4 °F)]

Thousands died,

and the hardship to animals and crops was unimaginable.

The African Desert continued it's encroachment on fertile land,

destroying all in it's wake.

Meanwhile, in China and the Middle East,

unparalleled earthquakes killed millions.

Far more than might have been expected from a nuclear attack.

On the far side of the Pacific,

the whole of the Carribean seemed on the point of eruption.

Volcanoes thought to be extinct for thousands of years,

were suddenly erupted into dreadful rife.

Pressures from shifting landmasses in Central Europe,

destroyed centuries of history.

In parts of Italy and Yugoslavia,

many ancient towns were reduced to rubble.

International rescue teams evacuated thousands from the threatened area.

But many others were too broken by the experience to leave.

Scientists began to suspect,

that the balance of the Earth's ecology,

was far more delicately poised, than they'd yet realized.

At the hight of the drought, we interviewed at Cambridge University,

someone prepared to offer the beginnings of an answer.

Dr. CARL GERSTEIN Lecturer in Applied Physics

You hear them?

Not something you'd expect in this country...

Heat, of course.

Gerstein's theories,

when he first put them forward over 20 years ago,

had been almost universally, dismissed.

He was called an "alarmist" and a "pessimist".

Events proved him on the contrary,

to be something of an optimist.

By the late '60s, the Earth was already so trapped,

within an envelope of it's own pollution,

that heat from the Sun,

and the Earth's industrial processes,

was having increasing difficulty in escaping.

Ten years earlier than Gerstein's prediction,

the notorious 'Greenhouse Effect',

a thickening of the outer atmosphere,

due to the 8-fold increase in carbondioxide levels,

had become a reality.

As the atmosphere became more dense,

extreme variations of temperature were experienced,

from intense heat, to equally unpresidented cold.

North America suffered the worst winter on record.

Rivers froze solid,

and even the Great Niagara Falls was halted.

In many areas a state of emergency was ordered, by the newly elected President Carter.

But the most frightening discovery which scientists made,

was that last year's unmelted snow line,

is the next step to a future, and unavoidable Ice Age.

At the Huntsville, Alabama Conference of 1957,

my ideas were at last,

being taken seriously by

a small group of senior physicists,

and government advisors.

But, by then of course, it was too late.

Always is with those people...

Can you tell me what happened at Huntsville?

The usual thing: The politicians come running to us,

if though we can reverse the course of Nature.

When we tell them we can't,

they say: "Why didn't we do something earlier?"

When we tell them they prevented us,

they start squabbling their own selves.

Oh, rabble...

Was anything achieved by the conference?

There was some discussion.

Seekers.

Can you tell me anything about that?

It was all... all very theoretical...

- But... look, I can understand you're reluct... - Look.

All I'm prepared to say,

is there were three alternatives for discussion.

First two were crazy. Forget about them.

The third alternative...

Maybe not so crazy...

But I don't know whether anything was ever done about it.

Can you tell me what it was?

At the time that interview was filmed,

Carl Gerstein refused to say anything further about

'Alternative 3'.

In the second part of this special program,

we shall show you how we uncovered that information for ourselves.

We'll also be bringing you, a remarkable interview with former astronaut, Bob Grodin.

Filmed in secret, at his hideaway in New England.

Stay with us then.

This is astronaut, Bob Grodin, before his first moonwalk.

More than one of the men who were part of that first Apollo program,

find it difficult to readjust to life back on Earth,

but no one more so, than this man.

Here he is, as he is today.

5 years on.

There were psychological factors it seemed.

Which on the surface, could explain away the

changes in personality.

The instability.

The breakdown of former relationships.

But what exactly were those psychological factors?

Hey, Houston, you hear this constant wind we have here now?

Affirmative. We heard it.

Uh, what is it? You have some explanation for that?

We have not. Don't worry. Continue your program.

Oh boy, it's a...

It's... It is really something similar [...] you hear, you couldn't have imagined this.

Roger. We know about that.

Could you go the other way? Go back the other way!

Well, it's kinda rich and a...

Pretty spectacular.

My God...!

What is that there?

- [Unintelligble] - What is that?!

- Go! Tango! Tango! - Now there's kind of light there now.

Roger, we got it. We've market it.

Lose communication!

Bravo-Tango! Bravo-Tango!

Select Jezebel. Jezebel.

Yeah, uh...

But this is unbelievable!

Recorder off. Bravo-Tango. Bravo-Tango.

"Bravo-Tango".

"Jezebel".

A form of code.

But meaning what?

Certainly nothing to the 600 million people listening on Earth below.

From Boston, Massachusetts,

we arranged for ex-astronaut, Bob Grodin to talk to us.

The interview was filmed, to be edited later.

Can you hear me alright?

- Can you hear me in Boston? - Yeah.

Yeah. Go ahead.

Grodin showed no reluctance to discuss the breakdown he'd suffered,

after his return from space.

But nothing remarkable seemed likely to come from the interview,

until I asked, this question:

It's been suggested,

among others, by some very responsible people,

that you, all of you on the Apollo program,

- Mhm. - that you saw far more out there,

than you've been allowed to admit publically.

Would you like to comment on that suggestion?

Look, what the hell are you trying to do to me...

Hm?

Can I ask ya? What the hell are you trying to do with me?

- What... I was only trying to... - You tryin' to screw me?!

Is that what you're trying to do, you trying to screw me?

Like that... Like that dumb...

bastard Ballentine, is that what you tryin' to do?

But why me?!

I'm up there to do a job, man, that's all I ever got there to do.

- I don't have to answer question... - Oh, hell...

- What's the matter with this thing now... - Sorry, Tim, but it's not this end,

somebody's pulled a switch somewhere...

That 'somewhere', so far as we could discover, was neither in London, nor in Boston.

But in a satellite connecting the two.

The incident has never been explained.

Nevertheless, that one word "Ballentine",

was enough to send Colin Benson and a camera operator,

with some very innocent-looking home movie equipment,

across the Atlantic, posing as tourists.

This is what they brought back,

on 8mm film.

I would never have found Bob Grodin,

unless he had been willing that I should.

But starting with the few leads I had,

I was brought eventually to the remote bungalow where he now lives.

- Okay. - Mmm.

- You want a beer? - Mhm. Sure.

Let's go on. Outta the way.

Annie?!

Annie, can we have a couple of cold beers?

Hmm.

Well? What you wanna do, you wanna do it out here, or in there?

Couldn't make any difference.

I don't think we're gonna have a private conversation.

There.

Oh.

Thank you, baby. Meet the professor.

- Hi. - Thank you.

You ever reveal all?

Well, that's Annie.

And she's not my daughter, alright?

You put that on the record?

Alright?

You got it, Bob.

She's a great kid.

Well better, I...

I'm pretty lucky...

We talked for an hour before Grodin became willing to discuss our previous and abortive satellite interview.

Uhm...

You try that.

Yeah, cheers. Thanks.

What exactly can you tell us about Ballentine?

Oh...

Well, whatever, I mean Ballentine, he showed up at uh,

at NASA, in some uh, with some tape he made.

And he got pretty damned excited when they put it back in that jukebox.

Jukebox?

Oh, the decoder.

I mean, you can pick up a signal if you got the equipment, but you can't uh,

you can't unscramble that.

Without NASA's equipment?

That's right.

And uh,

Some young guy...

couldn't do it.

Should've known better than that.

Was it...

this man?

Yeah, could be.

Yeah, it looks like him.

- Look, are you sure you don't want Bourbon? - No, no, no, no, beer is fine.

What you're saying is that,

Ballentine was killed?

Because of what he discovered on that tape?

I'm saying nothin', uhm...

I just saw the way that they...

That those guys looked at him, and

I know those looks, 'cause they looked at me the same way.

'Those guys'?

Look, come on, get a real drink, will ya?

Come on.

Okay, Bob...

What did happen out there?

The moonlanding.

Well, we had kind of a...

big disappointment.

And we didn't get there first.

What do you mean?

Those later Apollos?

They're just a smokescreen...!

To cover up what's really goin' on out there...!

And the bastards...

- They didn't even tell us! Nothin'! - But what is going on?

Well, how the hell should I know...

You ask Pentagon. You phone the Kremlin?

After all, they were who started this race.

I mean, you're not gonna just...

Give up?!

Do you?

Give up??

I need another drink.

- You want a drink? - No, I'm really dizzy.

Bob, you... are you gonna tell me? Wh... Wh...

What is going on? I mean...

What did you see?

Well, we came down the wrong place...

And it was crawlin'...

[...]

Is it you're talking about men from Earth?

What do you think?

That they need all that crap?!

Down in Florida, to get two guys...

up there on...

on a bicycle...!

The hell they do! You know...

Look... You know why we're there...?

To give them a good PR story for all the hardware they shootin' on into space.

I mean, we're nothin, man... We...

Christ, we're nothin'!

You know why we're there?

To keep you bums happy...

To stop you from askin' questions about what... what the hell is really goin' on.

Out there.

Look, that's it. That...

That's it.

End of story.

I should finish.

Annie?

Fear. Suspicion.

Unanswered questions.

Possibly murder.

What were we dealing with?

Back in London, we did what we could to investigate the claims made by ex-astronaut Bob Grodin.

Katherine White reports:

Institute of International Political Studies is a non-government organization based in London St. James'.

It was Grodin's linking of the Pentagon with the Kremlin,

and the implications behind it,

that brought me here, to talk to Professor G. Gordon Broadbent,

author of a major study of US-Soviet diplomacy since the 1950's.

The short answer is,

that I know nothing of...

US-Soviet relations,

beyond what has already been made public.

We had the

celebrated docking in space some time ago.

This was presented as an isolated exercise, and as far as I know was exactly that.

Maybe paving the way for more to come.

Okay, everything's nice and steady in here.

Okay, can you pull the door open a little bit more?

- Hello, André! - Hello, Bob!

Though on the broad issues of Soviet-US cooperation,

there is an element of mystery which puzzles many people in my field.

To put it at it's simplest,

none of us can understand

how it is, that the peace has been maintained for the past 25 years.

You mean the experts are baffled?

But also, for once,

in agreement.

And yet the popular myth that it's been proved for the balance of nuclear power doesn't,

frankly, hold up entirely.

And the more you look at it, the less sense it makes, there are too many imbalances.

Especially when you put it in the perspective of history.

So what is your explanation?

Essentially what we are suggesting is,

that at the very highest level of

East-West diplomacy,

ther is operating a factor,

of which we know nothing.

Now. It could just be,

could, that this unknow factor,

is a massive, but covered operation in space.

As for the reason behind it, well...

We're not in the business of speculation.

T-minus whose guidance is internal:

Ignition sequence start.

... Zero. All engine running.

Lift-off! We have a lift-off!

32 minutes past the hour.

Tower cleared.

This, is the colossal power

needed to pull clear from the Earth's gravitational field.

And put, in Grodin's words:

"Two men on a bicycle, on the surface of the Moon."

I'm going to step off the LEM now.

It's one small step for man...

one giant leap for mankind.

But suppose such immense power,

did not have to be chiefly consumed in merely getting into space,

but could start from space.

What kind of travel would that bring, within our grasp?

Obviosly, we could go further with less power.

Or, send a much larger craft.

In fact, the only way we're gonna see space travel on any scale, is...

by this kind of extra-terrestrial launching.

Uh, for instance from a

a space platform orbiting the Earth.

Or the moon?

Oh, sure, yeah

if we could get the material there, to build the craft, then it'll make real good sense.

Could we transport the materials there?

It'd take one hell of a shuttle, but... yeah.

We have the machines now.

In theory we could do it.

Uh, 'specially if we had some sort of... international cooperation.

International cooperation? In space?

A space shuttle.

But shuttling what, to where?

We also hear talk of Russian and American sky-labs,

and the men who live and work in them, for several months at a time.

But what are they all doing, up there in space?

We tend to think of the 'arms race' and the 'space race' as practically the same thing...

Visits by one side to the other

here, Soviet technicians and astronauts are greeted by their American counterparts,

have been dismissed as diplomatic courtecies.

We work together in procedures. We have a working relationship,

that's quite good, with the Soviet Union I am sure is going to continue.

But the Russians were the first in space,

with their Sputnik in 1957.

And later the same year, the first with a living creature: Laika, the dog.

Then they made, 3 years later,

the gigantic step with the first man in space: Yuri Gagarin.

And later on, the first woman: Valentina.

The drive to make the first man on the Moon an American was launched by President Kennedy.

... the first waves of modern invention,

and the first wave of nuclear power,

and this generation does not intend

to founder in the backwash,

of the coming age of space.

We mean to be a part of it.

We mean to lead it.

By the late '60s, the Russians it seemed,

had simply dropped out, and stopped trying.

An yet today, Cape Canaveral, is virtually abandoned.

A desert of reinforced concrete and steel.

The most ambitious project in the history of mankind, seemed to be over.

Are we to believe that this is where it all ends?

Of the estimated 2,000 launchings from Earth to space,

at least 60% have been by the Russians.

The near side of the Moon's surface,

the side visible to us here on Earth.

The flags indicate acknowledged landings of American and Soviet craft.

Among the space ships the Russians sent up, was the Vostok.

Supposedly, not intended to reach the Moon's surface.

But in 1972,

this sighting was recorded.

More detail, please.

Can you give more detail of what you are seeing?

Uh, it's somethin' flashin'.

It's all so far.

There's a light going on around by the edge of the crater.

Can you give a coordinate?

Well, it's something there...

Uhm, come in a little further down.

It couldn't be a Vostok, would it?

Uh, I can't be sure, uh...

It's possible.

The Russian Vostok flights, took place in the early '60s.

They were, as we've said,

Earth-orbiting space ships, not designed to reach the Moon.

So what are we to make of this 'casual' suggestion by Houston Mission Control,

and then equally casual acceptance by the Lunar Module pilot,

that in 1972, an obsolete Russian space ship,

is orbiting the Moon, flashing it's lights?

The Russians were the first on the moon,

with a unmanned rocket, which landed here,

in 1959.

Here, exactly 10 years later,

Neil Armstrong landed.

But our researchers,

show another pattern of landings.

On the far side of the Moon.

The Dark Side.

The side hidden from us, here on Earth.

Are we to assume, that this,

remarkable grouping of American and Soviet landings,

is mere coincidence?

When we returned to Cambridge,

and presented Dr. Carl Gerstein with the information we'd so far aquired,

he finally agreed to speak, on record,

about 'Alternative 3'.

We had agreed at the Huntsville conference,

that there was nothing we could do,

to cut either world population,

or the consumption of resources,

essential for survival on Earth.

Alternative 3,

was a much more limited option.

It was an attempt to ensure,

that at least some of the human race survived the consequences.

We were the theorists.

Not technicians.

But we realized we were talking about a kind of space travel,

which had had only appeared in scientific fiction so far.

What, you mean, go to some other planet?

I mean get the hell of this one whilst there's still time.

Dr. Carl Gerstein,

then went on to discuss the kind of cross-section they would like to see get away.

A balance of the sciences, and the arts.

In fact, all aspects as far as possible, of human culture.

He said the list would never be complete,

but it would be better than nothing.

These are the cards you saw earlier.

All of them, people who've disappeared without trace or explanation,

during the last 18 months.

In other countries, they have similar lists.

All people,

forming that same kind of cross-section that Carl Gerstein described.

All, were in good health,

and all under the age: 55.

But where have they gone?

Here is a picture, of a supposedly dead planet,

the nearest one to Earth.

Mars would appear to offer little prospect of survival,

if these photographs from Viking 2 are to be believed.

But are they?

Charles Welbourne himself,

seemed surprised that the Americans,

after spending so much money in putting the probe on the surface of Mars,

should then equip it with a camera,

that only focused up to 100m. [328 feet]

Or as Colin Benson suggested:

"The average size of a large film studio."

What's your answer?

Well, you gotta remember that

all these pictures that we get come in through NASA, and...

then they're given to the rest of us.

They say it's Mars, we have to believe'em.

It's the same thing with audio.

I mean, we don't hear everything that's said,

between Mission Control and the space craft, there's a second channel.

They call it 'The Biological Channel'.

Officially it's just for reporting on medical details.

In effect, it's the one they switch to,

when they have something to say they don't want the whole world to listen in on.

I mean... Sure.

That could be a studio in Burbank.

But I mean...

For God's sake...

Mariner 4 passed close enough to Mars,

to send the best photographs of it's surface we'd had so far.

But, was it all, just like this?

Mariners has always been a source of fascination to mankind.

And a misfit.

In the early days of astronomy,

Mars was believed to have, artificially constructed canals,

which was taken as evidence of intelligent life on the planet.

But later this theory was discredited.

In it's place,

we had a picture of

barren, inhospitable planet.

[...], to the survival of any form of life.

Then [...]

an interesting idea was put forward.

Suppose, life had existed on Mars.

As the climate, and other conditions worsened,

any surviving life,

would have formed into a state of hibernation.

Awaiting the return,

of more favorable conditions.

It was even suggested,

that the atmosphere, which had sustained life,

may have become entrapped,

in the surface soil of the planet.

There was in the cards, several years ago,

which made this theory,

very persuasive.

Mars has always had a covering of cloud,

varying in density at different times.

Until a time of which Dr. Gerstein spoke,

when the cloud thickened, to a degree never previously observed.

This happened,

and was scientifically recorded, in 1961.

It was obvious, that storms of colossal proportions were taking place on Mars.

When the clouds eventually cleared,

some remarkable changes were seen.

The polar ice caps had substancially decreased in size.

And around the equatorial regions,

a broad band of darker colouring had appeared.

This, it has been suggested,

was vegetation.

Carl Gerstein's theory,

was that these storms,

could have been caused by a nuclear explosion, delivered from Earth.

The same year

the Russians had a great space disaster.

Only the various factors were recorded, the rest was kept secret.

A rocket blew up at launching.

Numbers of people were killed.

Large area devastated.

What were the Russians trying to launch? And did they succeed?

Was the rocket carrying a nuclear device?

Which would account for the devastation caused.

A nuclear device,

which at the second attempt

was delivered to the surface of Mars?

Causing the dynamic changes recorded in 1961?

48hrs ago,

Katherine White was at her desk in the production office.

As a matter of cause by now, all incoming phone calls were recorded.

Hello, Science Report.

Can I speak to Tim Brinton or, uhm, Colin Benson?

I'm afraid they're not here just now.

Who is it, please?

Uh, c... uhm... can you get a message to them?

Yes, I can.

Just tell'em, 'the girl who was with Harry'.

Tell'em I'm back at the house, and to get here fast.

And bring cameras.

I'm not talking except on record, okay?

What happened to Harry?

I don't know...

- They promised me that if I turn you off the chat... - Who are 'they'?

Eh, listen. Uhm...

Harry wanted you to have this.

I... I have no idea what it is.

- Please, you got to get me somewhere to hide... - Don't worry, we will do that.

I have no idea what it... I don't know what it does...

It's a printed circuit.

He said you have to fit it to...

a...

'an IC'...

- something '40'. - Yes.

and you get a 'jukebox',

- does that mean anything to you? - We've heard of it.

And he said you got to uhm...

'play back Ballentine's tape.'

That's all.

We connected up the printed circuit,

and played once again the video tape that Sir William Ballentine, before his death,

had sent to his friend, John Hendry.

This time, we obtained an acceptable picture,

which you are now about to see,

as we saw it.

Roger, do you read? Circuit breakers' in?

A big fat flair.

Comrads? Can you hear me okay?

- Yeah I heard. The [...] are on the TV. - Yes, we hear you loud and clear.

We're getting a good picture here,

and can make a fair amount of detail.

- How is it with you? - Fine here, Houston. Roger.

Stand by for scans.

Start remote control sequence camera for scanning.

Look at this place you wish of somethin'...

Okay, and Mode 1 scanning.

- Stand by to move on. - Standing by.

Roger, standing by.

Hey, is that a narrow, lower river bed?

Can you verify that to your account?

Roger, Houston, we saw that.

Eh, stand by for readings, Houston.

Standing by [...]

Temperature: 4 °C. [39.2 °F]

Wind speed: 21 km/h from SW. [13 mph]

Atmosphere pressure: 707.7 mbar

Stand by for landing [...]

- Hallelujah - We did it!

My God! What is that?

Something moving! Something moved there!

What the hell is that?

Boy, when cover take the wrap off this thing, this is gonna be the biggest day in history!

22. May, 1962.

We're on the planet Mars, and we have life!

We believe that, to be an authentic record of the first, and secret,

landing on Mars by an unmanned space probe from Earth.

We also believe the date given,

May the 22nd, 1962,

to be accurate.

Clearly, the blanket of total security,

by which this information has been covered,

could only have been maintained by the active cooperation of governments at very high level.

Equally clearly,

there must have been powerful reasons why the true conditions on Mars,

suitable as they appear to be for human habitat,

have been kept secret.

Indeed, the effort which has gone into persuading the rest of the world,

that the opposite is true,

argues that,

some operation of supreme importance has been going on,

beneath the security cover.

We believe, that that operation,

is Dr. Carl Gerstein's

'Alternative 3'.

Whether a human survival colony has already been established on Mars,

or whether plans are still in preparation, for it's transportation,

from the Moon, to Mars,

we don't know.

But we've put out this program tonight,

as a challenge to those who do know:

to tell us the truth.

We regret if the implications of what you've seen,

are less than optimistic for the future of life on this planet.

It has been our task however,

to present the facts, as we understand them.

And, to await the response.

Good night.