Alex McColgan

And he was going to do it before the US or the Soviet Union.

We have been studying the planet through telescopes at our headquarters and are now certain Mars is populated by primitive natives, he says.

Specially trained space girl Marta Mwambwa, two cats, also specially trained, and a missionary will be launched in our first rocket.

But I have warned the missionary he must not force Christianity on the people of Mars if they do not want it.

If you're wondering about the cats, they were thrown in partly for companionship for Marta, partly as a survival testing device.

Marta was to throw one out onto the Martian surface on arrival, and if it survived, she'd know it was safe for her to emerge too.

In 1964, Nkoloso announced his mission was ready.

The first rocket was planned to launch on Zambia's Independence Day, October 24th, 1964.

Now, going up into space is never an easy task.

You've got to be in tip-top physical and mental shape to be an astronaut.

In the early days of the space age, some training exercises were gruelling or even downright dangerous.

In the 1960s, cosmonauts were undergoing all kinds of rigorous physical training and conditioning.

For instance, they were put in a centrifuge to recreate the intense g-forces of launch, which is incredibly dangerous as it puts a lot of strain on your heart and lungs.

Such training could lead to oxygen starvation and cause trainees to pass out.

It also limits the ability of your heart to pump blood upwards against gravity to your brain and other vital organs.

Long-term exposure to multiple g-forces can lead to complications like arrhythmias over time.

Cosmonauts also underwent parabolic flights for weightlessness training, named for the parabolic flight path the aircraft follows.

At the top of the curve, the acceleration of the aircraft cancels out the acceleration due to gravity, achieving a feeling of momentary weightlessness for the passengers.

It's kind of like when you're on a swing, and at the highest point of your swing, you feel weightless for just a moment, except in an aircraft with the right trajectory, you can feel that microgravity for up to 40 seconds.

While effective, these flights were risky due to the high potential for mechanical failure or pilot error, as only the most skilled pilots at the time could pull off the precise maneuvers needed.