NationStates Jolt Archive

11/19/2003

Today the small nation of Zeran made it's first foray into planetary orbit when the Zeran National Space Administration (ZNSA) launched a 150-ton rocket carrying a television satellite designed to deliver up to 60 channels of high-quality programming to Zeran's 30 million citizens.
"It's actually quite exciting." said Prof. Dieter Manning, Minister of Orbital Sciences. "Every citizen now has access to news, weather, educational and entertainment programming... all for a nominal fee, of course."
The Minister then went on to outline plans for a reusable space vehicle, a project which he said was already "well under way".

-Zeran News Network-

11/20/2003

Tragedy struck during a pre-dawn launch attempt when a rocket carrying Zeran-1, the nation's reusable orbiter prototype, exploded on ignition. The death toll is currently at 16, including the 2 cosmonauts on board and 14 emergency standby crew. The mission was to be Zeran's first manned venture beyond our atmosphere, which was planned for launch only a day after the first Zeranti satellite was put into orbit.
"It appears we made a mistake by being too eager to impress the rest of the world. We will mourn the loss of those who died today, but we will also continue in our endeavor. They shall not have died in vain." said Zeran Prime Minister Josef Sherman in a press conference at the capitol. An intensive inquiry into the disaster is expected to begin within a few days.

-ZNN-

*Audioslavia's president picks up the newspaper, with the shocking news of the accident in Zeran*

P: hey, Jeff..

*Home Secretary Jeff Smith walks into the room*

J: yes boss?

P: didnt you take your kids to Zeran last week? to the Zeraneddy Space Centre?

J: yeah, they'd just finished building that rocket, it looked cool, except for the rubber bands my son kept flicking into the engines...

P: .....you did tell them they had lots of rubber in the engines didnt you?

J: well i cant speak zeronian.....

P: oh dear...