First Manned Space Mission in 25 Years Ends in Tragedy
VANKAT TOWNSHIP, Olara Province– Tavaris’ first manned spacecraft launch this century ended in heartbreaking tragedy on Tuesday afternoon, just seconds after launch, after an explosion destroyed the spacecraft and killed both astronauts aboard. Tabra Nanštobi, 44, and Beštara Tovrož Vólócaš, 39, were both veterans of the Royal Tavari Air Force who had spent the better part of the past year training for the mission, which was to entail the deployment of a navigation satellite, two space walks, and a number of zero-gravity scientific experiments. The launch has had the country abuzz for months, and was aired live on television and streamed across the world—leaving the global public to stare in shock as the rocket exploded over the Strait of Vaklori, leaving behind a foreboding cloud of smoke in the sky, debris scattered on the Urth below, and countless broken hearts and dreams.
Emperor Otan IV announced the news in a nationally televised address, saying “My fellow Tavari, I have the heartbreaking duty today to report to you that today’s launch of Tavari Agency for Space Exploration and Research Mission KR-201 ended in tragedy due to an explosion, resulting in the loss of both astronauts aboard. While we do not yet know the cause of the explosion, I want to assure you all that the investigation has already begun and we will not stop until we have answers. The heroes on board that vessel knew very well that they might not return, but that is a poor comfort for their families, their loved ones, and all of us who had gathered together as a nation, a Union, and a family to watch this historic event. We mourn their loss, but we stand steadfast in our dedication to the cause of furthering space research and exploring the stars, so that we can all advance together.”
Prime Minister Žarís Nevran Alandar, standing alongside the Director of the Tavari Agency for Space Exploration and Research (TASER), was visibly emotional at a press conference held at the launch site, where both officials had gathered to watch what was supposed to be a historic launch. “This is a risk that we take every time we send people into space. Everyone involved knew that risk was there, and they bravely strapped into that rocket this morning anyway, knowing there was a chance they might never come home again, because they were dedicated to the cause of advancing scientific knowledge. That is the mark of true heroism,” the Prime Minister said with a red face streaked with tears.
Matron Vana Dandreal was also present at the launch but did not appear at the press conference; according to the Prime Minister, the Matron was leading an “impromptu ceremony of remembrance and prayer” for the fallen astronauts and their families. The mission was to be the first in Tavari history crewed entirely by Akronists, and as a dual Acronian-Tavari citizen, astronaut Tovrož Vólócaš was wearing both flags as patches on her spacesuit. The Matron herself has spoken in the past about her love of outer space and space travel, and has even said that the moon—with which the goddess Akrona is said to have a mysterious but special connection—is a spiritual place that Akronists should aspire to someday reach and walk upon.
Mission KR-201, known by the patriotic nickname of “Rising Macaw,” was to be the Tavari space program’s triumphant return after two decades of stagnation. Tavari of a certain age will remember the space program’s vaunted heyday in from the 1970s through the 1990s, which saw dozens of Tavari astronauts walk in space, the launches of dozens of scientific satellites and two long-distance space probes sent to study the Sun and the inner planets. Prime Ministers of various parties supported the space program in those years—Tavari capacity to operate in space was, in part, seen as vital to national defense after the 1975 Kevatuul incident saw the weaponization of outer space—but by the turn of the 21st century, politicians began to decry the program’s immense costs and perceived low return. Liberal Prime Minister Kola Vidas Nakrodat, elected in 1999, was a particular opponent of the space program and cut its budget by well over half during his time in office, and austerity-happy governments under the DNP’s Sir Endra Tivriš Žovradai were all too happy to follow the Liberal lead. The program’s last manned launch was in 1999, in which Tavari astronauts performed orbital repairs of the Reletend radio telescope, one of Tavaris’ most successful spaceborne instruments—repairs that were botched, leading Mr. Vidas Nakrodat to scuttle further spacewalks out of a feeling that they cost too much and gained too little.
Rising Macaw was only the first of several missions TASER had planned, culminating in a manned mission to the Olunar surface by 2049, but these future plans are now suspended and in doubt as the agency will have to shift to investigating the cause of this disaster and taking action to ensure it never happens again. TASER is likely to face severe scrutiny and criticism over the failure, having faced the ire of Cabinets and Diets for years due to cost overruns, delays, and other administrative failures. The space program has moved homes several times in recent years; it was originally housed under the Royal Tavari Air Force until 2000, when Kola Vidas Nakrodat controversially moved it to the Royal Tavari Marshalls as part of the same division as the Border Guard (“the Tavari border is three-dimensional,” he famously quipped), only to be moved again in 2011 to the newly created independent civilian agency, TASER. Under TASER, literally none of the agency’s planned launches have occurred on time or within their original budget, even despite the relatively bare bones schedule compared to the peak in the 90s. Concerns that safety has taken a backseat to budgetary and time constraints are already swirling, and TASER’s administrator acknowledged as much.
“We will be looking at every factor, no stone will be left unturned, in our investigation into this terrible tragedy. We will not hide from the truth. If orcish factors are at the cause of this tragedy, the public will know it and those who are responsible will be held accountable, including even myself,” said TASER Director Memta Rundra Toveníl. “Safety and engineering quality control should and must be at the forefront of everything this agency does. I and this entire agency have always been firmly committed to safety, but we will follow the trail of the investigation no matter where it takes us. Our fallen heroes deserve nothing less.”
While everyone asked took pains to caution that a complete picture of the events leading up to the disaster are still unknown and thus that no final conclusions can be drawn until more information is gathered, several sources indicated that some sort of technical system failure is the primary suspect for causing the explosion. The final transmission from the spacecraft was from mission captain Tabra Nanštobi, who reported “all the screens just rebooted and everything is in Norgsveltian” less than a second before the explosion. This transmission was heard over the public television broadcast, which TASER sources indicated was unusual—the channel to mission control for emergency communications was separate from the audio feed for the broadcast. “Either Tabra made a mistake in pressing the wrong button to send the transmission, or something was seriously wrong from a software standpoint,” said one source, whose identity the News is withholding so they can speak candidly. “A lot of the systems TASER uses are foreign-made—Norgsveltian, Morst, Vistari, Alkari, and more—and making sure the systems can all talk to each other has always been a major obstacle.”
Another possible factor is the site of the launch—since 2021 the Tavari space program has primarily focused on a newly constructed facility built in southern Ayaupia at a facility leased by the Tavari government in relation to the bilateral defense agreement between the two countries, but the launch site for Operation Rising Macaw was switched back to the much older facility on the Tavari eastern seaboard at the last possible moment, less than two months prior to the launch. TASER Director Rundra Toveníl declined to go into specifics about why the change was made, but said “Rising Macaw had been designed from the very start to be launch site agnostic, meaning it could launch from either site. If the choice of launchpad influenced the disaster, we will learn that in our investigation.”
If the explosion was indeed caused by a technical failure, that would represent just one more tragedy caused by the Tavari economy’s well-noted shortcomings in electronics and other high-tech engineering fields, something with which the Tavari financial and manufacturing sectors have been raising alarm bells about for years. Earlier this year, then-Defence Minister Sir Endra Tivriš Žovradai was killed by a freak accident involving a failure of a pneumatic message delivery system when in just about any other country that communication would have been sent electronically. However, a technical failure is not the only possibility—the notion of a foreign attack cannot be ruled out, and such an attack would then give rise to yet more criticism over the much-maligned Tavari intelligence gathering apparatus that is still mired in slow-going reforms. In any case, the disaster has laid bare the failings of the Tavari state and is sure to cause years of headaches and consternation in the halls of Tavari government.
The Emperor, however, took time at the end of his somber address to be optimistic. “The last thing that these brave heroes would want us to do is abandon space travel and space research. We know that we have to stop to investigate and refocus ourselves, but it is imperative that once we are ready, we get right back up again and back out there. We will grieve, we will investigate, we will change and grow, and then we will begin again. The Tavari have been following the heavens for more than two thousand years. We won’t be stopped now.”