1994

1992 1993 1994 1995 1996
20th Century

March

4: Astro 7, commanded by Lee Russell, launches successfully from Cape Kennedy for a journey to the Mars space station to relieve some of the crew there and to then proceed to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and then to Jupiter for a close reconnaissance of some of the Jovian moons.^[1](The Shane Johnson timeline lists the Astro 7 launch date as July 10, 1995)

13: External construction on Moonbase Alpha is completed; Launch Pad One and Space Exploration Division are put into full operation; above-ground area supports 100 people as underground work continues.^[1]
15: Disposal Area One is shut down as the larger Area Two begins operation.^[2]
29: The commlock becomes the standard communications device for Moonbase Alpha personnel; in addition to its function of providing person-to-person contact via black-and-white video signal, it serves as an electronic key, opening doors in the different sections of Moonbase; though most doors will open automatically when someone is detected approaching them, the commlock is still useful for times when automatic door opening does not happen, for when someone is a distance away from a door and wishes the door opened as soon as possible, or for Security guards or technicians to enter into Moonbase areas off-limits to most Alphans; commlocks can also be used as television screen remote-controls to terminate communication links at communication posts; an improved version of the commlock has color video capacity, meaning that it is able to transmit and to receive color images; the improved commlock also has a second, high-resolution, zoom-capable camera installed in the electronic pointer at its base; Commander of Moonbase Alpha carries the improved commlock as do specialists doing work for which color video communications are preferred or required.^[1]

23: Professor Victor Bergman discovers the planet Ultra,^[2] in an area of space relative to the outer Solar System, but off the plane of the ecliptic almost by 40 degrees; the planet, never having been seen before, is thought to have originated outside the Solar System, and this unprecedented phenomenon warrants serious consideration for a manned space probe, the most ambitious ever undertaken; however, Astro 7 is receiving full priority now with its mineralogical survey of asteroids and some of Jupiter's moons.^{[N 1]}

3: Moonbase Alpha launches its first space probe, the unmanned Spacefarer One, toward the Sun to study Solar flares.^[1]
30: Alan Carter signs onto the U.S.-Australian Space Cooperation Program.^[1]
31: The ultimate form of hand-held stun gun has been crafted and prototyped and is put into mass production; law-enforcement on Earth abandons all projectile weapons in favor of the stun gun; the stun gun will become the weapon assignment to personnel of Moonbase Alpha and all other W.S.C. operations; a point-blank, full-body stun will incapacitate a person for an hour or more, depending on exactly how close an individual is to the gun being fired, and on whether the individual's fall after the stun was or was not in any way injurious; a stun of the upper body only, from a distance of eight or more feet, will only cause unconsciousness for five to ten minutes; the stun gun can be modified to include an optional laser beam capable of blasting objects or cutting through metals, or of penetrating garments and doing fatal damage to bodily tissues and organs; when removed from a holster, a stun gun having a laser option, needs to be de-cocked from its safety setting by a pull back on the stun/kill selector, choice of beam then to be decided.^[1]

22: Spacefarer 2, another unmanned probe, is dispatched to Mercury's far side to relay two years' worth of readings on the harsh conditions.^[1]
24: John Koenig and Tony Cellini are assigned to the Reconnaissance Section on Moonbase Alpha.^[1]

11: Juliet Mackie comes to Alpha's Sciences Department on the request of her former teacher, Victor Bergman; in addition to being one of the foremost experts on Nuclear Physics and one of the architects of Alpha's radiation screening system, she is a skilled astronomer.^[1]

21: Contact is lost with Astro 7 as it moves into an orbit around Jupiter and high radiation levels and serious mechanical problems are reported; because no further transmissions are received, Lee Russell and his crew are presumed dead.^[1](The Shane Johnson Timeline lists the loss date for Astro 7 as Jan 15, 1996)
25: Helena Russell resigns from the Medical staff at the World Space Commission and withdraws into herself.^[1]

3: Spacefarer 3 departs Moonbase Alpha on its unmanned mission to study conditions on the Martian moon, Phobos.^[1]

↑ McCorry's timeline give the date of Ultra's discovery as August 8, 1994, as opposed to the June 23 date used by Shane Johnson and the Moonbase Alpha Technical notebook^[1]