Groovy Spaceships of Yesteryear #1

The Space 1999 Eagle Transporter

By any terms, except perhaps design and theme music, Space 1999 was a pretty shitty television series. The concept of the Moon getting blasted out of its' orbit by a nuclear meltdown in a waste dump isn't as silly as midichlorians or Darth Vader starting life as an annoying Mummy's boy, but it's definitely up there on the Think Again Scriptwriter! List.

But leaving that aside, the space-craft they used was a terrific piece of late Space Age design. It's easy to imagine some alternate-history NASA using something like this to ferry people to and from our biggest satellite. It looked like it could work, what with the big boosters at the back end, the thrusters under the fuselage, the replaceable service pods and the maneuvering retro rockets on the housings above the landing pads. I don't think there's been a more practical looking design in a tv series since Space 1999 breathed its' last in 1977.

The only bit that remains unconvincing in the design is the nose cone. How stable would an Eagle Transporter be when entering a planetary atmosphere? (If anyone with a supercomputer wants to model this, please do so and email me the results.) These suckers were and remain cool.

Here, crabbed from wikipedia are the types of Eagles seen in the tv series.

* Passenger - The standard passenger module, it is usually unarmed and used solely to transport Moonbase personnel. Passenger Eagles have a transport module which provides maximum seating space. These Eagles were first seen in the episode Breakaway.

* Recon - Sometimes known as Survey Eagles, this type typically has a computer bank on the starboard side of the ship. Recon Eagles are used to explore alien planets and regions of space; the sophisticated computer bank is used to obtain, store, and analyse data gathered from the planet being studied including contents of atmosphere, valuable minerals or resources and life signs.

* VIP Eagle - Seen only in the episode Breakaway, the orange VIP Eagle was used by Lunar Commissioner Gerald Simmonds; it is primarily a passenger Eagle used to transport high-ranking officials.

* Rescue Eagles - These Eagles are recognisable by their vertical red stripes. Rescue Eagles are equipped with a variety of rescue and life-saving equipment which can be used in emergencies.

* Transport/Supply Eagles - These Eagles are used to transport supplies and equipment rather than passengers. Their transport modules are designed to carry equipment and have limited seating space for passengers.

* Docking Eagle - Usually a standard Eagle fitted with an extendable airlock to enable docking with another craft in space. This was seen in the episode Collision Course when John Koenig had to dock with Alan Carter's damaged Eagle.

* Freighter Eagle - These specialized Eagles are used to transport dangerous nuclear waste to Nuclear Disposal Areas 1 & 2; unlike supply or transport Eagles they are heavily shielded to protect their crews from radiation. The waste canisters are carried in a 'pallet' type pod which links to a conveyor belt at the disposal areas. These Eagles were seen in the episode Breakaway.

* Laboratory Eagles - A specialized Eagle which carries equipment of a more scientific nature than the Recon Eagle, they are usually fitted with additional airlocks for decontamination purposes, and appear to have small but well-equipped laboratories on board. These Eagles appear throughout the series, but make their first prominent appearance in the second season premiere The Metamorph

* Winch - Winch Pods can be attached to Eagles and used for a variety of purposes. Most notably they were used to attempt to disperse the nuclear waste containers in Disposal Area 2 in Breakaway. They are not to be confused with Freighter Eagles. Winch pods can be either in the form of a grab, as seen in Collision Course when Nuclear charges were planted on an asteroid, or a magnetic winch, used for other purposes like removing the Command module of a crashed Eagle in Missing Link.

* Fighters - Although Eagles are not primarily designed for combat, they can be equipped with laser cannon and missiles for defensive purposes. When Moonbase Alpha broke away from Earth, several Eagles were equipped with weapons and used to defend Moonbase from potential alien attacks. Specialised Eagles were designated as 'Combat Eagles' in The Metamorph.

The Eagles were designed by Brian Johnson and his team, most of whom later worked on movies like the original Alien, Flash Gordon and Outland. I'm very tempted to see if they have any of these suckers for sale on e-bay... but I must resist...