Free Astronomy Magazine November-December 2021

NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2021 ment and the consequent death of a pilot. In fiction, this happens on April 12, 1981, the day on which the first launch of the Space Shuttle takes place on Earth, with Com- mander John Young on board, for- mer Commander of Apollo 16 and the ninth human being to step on the Moon. This coincidence gives us the opportunity to introduce other, less trivial, plot features which in some cases are real technological anticipations present in the UFO se- ries. One of these is the aircraft that transports the Lunar Module rocket shuttle from the Earth’s surface to the atmosphere, which shuttles be- tween our planet and the Moon. The shape and function of this fic- tional aircraft are reminiscent of Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic White Knight biplane, which brings the SpaceShip suborbital rocket plane into the atmosphere. UFO writers envisioned that aerospace solution over 30 years before it was put into practice.