In the annals of space exploration, one unlikely contender emerged in the 1960s: Zambia. While the United States and the Soviet Union were locked in a fierce race to the moon, this newly independent African nation, led by the charismatic Edward Mukuka Nkoloso, dared to dream of reaching for the stars.
Zambia is a landlocked country in Southern Africa.
The Visionary: Edward Mukuka Nkoloso
Edward Festus Mukuka Nkoloso (1919-1989) was a member of the Zambian resistance movement and the founder of the Zambia National Academy of Science, Space Research and Philosophy. In 1960, four years before Zambia won its full independence, Nkoloso, a veteran freedom fighter and high school science teacher, established Zambia’s National Academy for Science, Space Research, and Philosophy.
Nkoloso's background was as diverse as his ambitions. He was drafted into the Northern Rhodesia Regiment in World War II, ultimately serving as a sergeant in the signal corp. After the war, he became a translator for the Northern Rhodesian government. He was also a grade school teacher and opened a new school, which was purportedly shut down by British authorities.
The Zambian Space Program: A Bold Endeavor
From 1960 until sometime after 1969, Nkoloso's "space program" sought to accomplish the launching of a rocket that would send 17-year-old Matha Mwambwa and two cats to the Moon. Nkoloso stated that the goals of the program were to establish a Christian ministry to "primitive" Martians and the hope of Zambia becoming the "controllers of the seventh heaven of interstellar space".
Read also: Mukuni Village Experience
The rocket, named D-Kalu 1 after President Kenneth Kaunda, was a 3-metre by 2-metre (10x6 ft) drum-shaped vessel. Nkoloso claimed that it was made of "space-worthy" aluminium and copper. It is said that he then asked UNESCO for a grant of £7,000,000 in Zambian pounds to support his space program. It is also said he requested $1.9 billion from "private foreign sources".
In 1964, he announced that he was ready. He wanted to schedule the first launch for midnight on October 24th, 1964, the date of the official celebration of Zambia’s independence, when the British flag would be lowered as the Zambian flag was simultaneously hoisted in its place.
“Specially trained spacegirl Matha Mwamba, two cats (also specially trained) and a missionary will be launched in our first rocket.” Nkoloso wrote in an op-ed. “But I have warned the missionary he must not force Christianity on the people if they do not want it.”
Despite Nkoloso’s indifference as to which side of the Cold War would fund his space program, he insisted on keeping its details secret. “You cannot trust anyone in a project of this magnitude,” he said.
The Time When Zambia Tried To Go To Mars
Training the Afronauts
Nkoloso recruited twelve astronauts he referred to as “Afronauts,“ and put them through his own series of physical and mental tests. To simulate weightlessness, they were put in an oil drum, spun around, and rolled down hills. Because he believed it was the only way to walk on the moon, Nkoloso's space cadets learned to walk on their hands. They were also required to climb and swing on a rope before it being cut to get them adjusted to the feeling of free-falling.
Read also: History of Zambia's Air Force
His official garb was a combat helmet and a velvet cape draped over a standard military uniform. His “afronauts” - a term he coined - trained by doing jumping jacks, launching themselves from swings, and rolling around in metal barrels without passing out.
Nkoloso was also happy to demonstrate his D.I.Y. space technology and training. He rolled his cadets down a hill in a forty-gallon oil drum to simulate the weightless conditions of the moon. “I also make them swing from the end of a long rope,” he told a reporter. “When they reach the highest point, I cut the rope. This produces the feeling of freefall.”
Zambian astronauts during training.
The Crew
The first to attempt the lunar voyage was a sixteen-year-old girl named Matha Mwamba. Nkoloso claimed that by the end of 1964, her along with two cats and Christian missionary would make the journey to the Moon and then on to Mars. Additionally, Nkoloso's dog Cyclops was to be flown into space to mimic the Soviet Union's Laika.
Hoppe asked Nkoloso what Matha’s twelve cats were for:
Read also: Zambia Travel Guide
“Yes, please,” he said, nodding. “Partly, they are to provide her with companionship on the long journey. But primarily they are technological accessories.”
Technological accessories?
“Yes, please. When she arrives on Mars she will open the door of the rocket and drop the cats on the ground. If they survive, she will then see that Mars is fit for human habitation.”
The Demise of a Dream
Interviewed in 2016, President Kenneth Kaunda said of the space program that "It wasn't a real thing ... Nkoloso stated the program failed due to lack of funds, the pregnancy of astronaut Matha Mwambwa and her subsequently leaving the program to return to her parents, and problems with morale due to media attention. The rocket was claimed to have been sabotaged "by foreign elements".
As you may have guessed, the Zambian Space Program never got off the ground. “My spacemen thought they were film stars. They demanded payment,” Nkoloso told the A.P. in August, 1965. “Two of my best men went on a drinking spree a month ago and haven’t been seen since . . . Another of my astronauts has joined a local tribal song and dance group.” Even in the early days, Nkoloso had complained that “they won’t concentrate on space flight-there’s too much love making when they should be studying the moon.” Matha Mwamba eventually got pregnant and dropped out. The program suffered from a lack of funds, for which Nkoloso blamed “those imperialist neocolonialists” who were, he insisted, “scared of Zambia’s space knowledge.”
Not only was there an obvious lack of funds but also a lack of discipline- the astronauts constantly went out drinking and partying and Matha became pregnant. With Zambia now out of the race, Nkoloso moved into politics.
Here is a table summarizing the key aspects of the Zambian Space Program:
| Aspect | Details |
|---|---|
| Founder | Edward Mukuka Nkoloso |
| Official Name | Zambia National Academy of Science, Space Research and Philosophy |
| Goal | To send a Zambian to the Moon and Mars before the US or Soviet Union |
| Astronaut Training | Rolling in oil drums, swinging from ropes, hand walking |
| Key Personnel | Matha Mwamba (astronaut), Godfrey Mwango (astronaut) |
| Reasons for Failure | Lack of funds, astronaut indiscipline, Matha Mwamba's pregnancy |
Legacy and Interpretation
Nkoloso unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Lusaka, Zambia, emphasising scientific advancement. He was appointed by President Kaunda to the Liberation Center, a movement for regional freedom. He championed government support for witch doctors on at least one occasion.
Many Western reporters wondered aloud whether Nkoloso was crazy. Their interviews with Nkoloso did little to clarify whether his space program was serious, silly, or a sendup. “Some people think I’m crazy,” Nkoloso told a reporter for the Associated Press. “But I’ll be laughing the day I plant Zambia’s flag on the moon.”
In his 1965 book “The New Unhappy Lords,” the British conservative A. K. Chesterton used Nkoloso as evidence of the folly of granting independence to African nations. Over the years, Nkoloso has been called “an amiable lunatic,” “a court jester,” and “Zambia’s village idiot.” His name still crops up in compilations like “Never in a Million Years: A History of Hopeless Predictions” and “Dumb History: The Stupidest Mistakes Ever Made.”
Perhaps the question is not whether the Zambian Space Program was satirical but why so few have imagined that it could be. Zambian irony is very subtle. “We don’t have a yes and a no,” a painter observed to me on a visit to Zambia last year for an artists’ workshop. “We have two yeses, and one of them means no.”
The Zambian Space Program in Art and Culture
I first encountered Nkoloso in a work of art that tries to imagine a different outcome. My friend sent me a link to Frances Bodomo’s short film “Afronauts” (2014). In the film, set on the night of the Apollo 11 moon launch, in 1969, “a group of exiles in the Zambian desert are rushing to launch their rocket first.”
In 2012, Cristina de Middel made a series of surreal photographic re-creations of Nkoloso’s space program. In the photos, models in raffia skirts and Afro-patterned space suits meander across a desert fitted with rusted machinery and impassive elephants.
Projects like this present Nkoloso as an eccentric visionary-an early pioneer of Afrofuturism, a term Mark Dery coined in 1992 to describe the nexus of black art and technoculture. Dreamy and speculative, they are a little flexible with facts. (There are no deserts in Zambia.)
Popular articles:
tags: #Zambia
