Nkoloso, Edward Makuka

During World War II he was a sergeant of British troops. After the war, he became a translator of the colonial administration of Northern Rhodesia . He was also a primary school teacher; the school he opened was allegedly closed by the British authorities. Then he joined the anti-colonial movement ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]} . For this activity he was arrested and imprisoned in 1956 and 1957 ^[1] . After his release, he became an employee of the security service of the United National Independence Party ^{[1] [5]} , under the leadership of Kenneth Kaunda, who was seeking the country's sovereignty and building the socialist system of “Zambian humanism” in it. In 1960, he founded the National Academy of Sciences, Space Research and Philosophy of Zambia ^{[1] [4] [5] [6] [7]} . In 1964, he participated in the Constitutional Convention (Constituent Assembly), preparing the constitution of independent Zambia ^[3]

In the early 1960s, Edward Makuka Nkoloso decided to assemble the first African crew to go into space. Moreover, at the height of the space race between the Soviet Union and the United States, the Zambian National Space Agency, under his leadership, planned to overtake both superpowers, being the first to visit the Moon and even Mars. It was planned, having built a rocket of aluminum and copper, to send into space the 17-year-old girl Matu Mwambwa and two cats. Edward Nkoloso called the participants in this program the term “afronaut” coined by him.

Nkoloso spent the preparation of a group of volunteers for a space flight on an abandoned farm 7 miles from Lusaka. The training program included a descent from a hill in an oil tank, which, according to the initiator, should have simulated overloads - so he prepared his charges for a feeling of weightlessness during flight and entry into the atmosphere ^{[4] [6] [7]} (as well as swinging on a swing followed by cutting the rope). In addition, walking on hands was developed to apply this skill on the moon.

According to Nkoloso, while researching Mars using a telescope in his secret laboratory outside Lusaka, he discovered that Mars is inhabited. Therefore, missionaries should be sent there to preach Christianity, and thus Zambia will establish control over the "seventh heaven of interstellar space." At the same time, he forbade members of his mission to force Christianity on the indigenous Martians ^[8] .

Installation for space flight was supposed to take off using a catapult system. The first "rocket" was called "D Kalu-1" - in honor of the first president of Zambia, Kenneth David Kaunda . Journalists were presented with a barrel measuring 10 x 6 feet - according to the assurances of Nkoloso, ready for space flight. He also said that the launch was scheduled for October 24, 1964 - Independence Day - and was supposed to be carried out from the Independence Stadium ^[6] , but the “afronauts” were allegedly denied it due to inappropriateness ^[1]

For the implementation of his ambitious plans, the ideologist of the Zambian cosmonautics requested UNESCO a grant of 7 million Zambian pounds , and another $ 1.9 billion from “private foreign sources” ^[1] . The Ministry of Energy, Transport and Communications of Zambia has confirmed that these requests were made on behalf of a private individual, not the state ^{[7] [9]} .

And without waiting for funding, the "space program" was curtailed. The state has long distanced itself from this venture, which attracted the attention of foreign media, which openly ridiculed the space ambitions of the African republic. It was officially stated that the program was closed due to the pregnancy of an afronaut who was taken by her parents to her native village. Obsessed with espionage, Nkoloso saw behind this the machinations of American and Soviet spies who sought to steal his secrets and destroy the "missiles."

Nkoloso unsuccessfully ran for mayor of the capital Lusaka , emphasizing the importance of scientific progress in his program. He was appointed by President Kaunda to the Liberation Center, in which he somehow defended the idea of ​​state support for the quackery . He resigned in 1972 ^[5] .

In 1983, he received a law degree from the University of Zambia. He was awarded the Soviet jubilee medal “Forty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945” ^[1] . He also headed the Association of Former Ndola Soldiers and received the honorary rank of Army Colonel ^[2] . He died on March 4, 1989 and was buried with presidential honors.

Almost 50 years later, in 2012, photographer Cristina de Middel created the Afronauts photo project in memory of the unrealized Zambian space program, publishing a separate book based on the latest artistic photographs ^[10] . None of these photographs were taken in Zambia - they were shot in Spain, Italy, the USA and Palestine. She managed to collect just a few documents about this initiative - an article in the Lusaka Times authored by Edward Makuki Nkoloso himself and an interview with him for British television. Afronauts independent short documentary directed by Francis Bodomo was presented at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival ^[11] .

In 2014, the film “Afronaut Nkoloso”, nominated at the 2014 Uganda Film Festival ^[12], was dedicated to the failed Zambian space program.

• Association of Autonomous Astronauts

• Zambian space program - Mykosmos.ru
• Mission to Mars: How a school teacher from Zambia assembled the first African space crew - FURFUR
• How Zambians flew to the Moon and Mars - Computra