The year is 2130. The major countries on Earth, despite their cultural and diplomatic differences, have managed to join forces to create a growing space program. The United States space program known as NASA has merged with the Russian, Chinese, Canadian, English, German, Japanese, and various Middle Eastern countries in a combined effort to explore our Solar System. Despite the enormous collaboration of sources, the name remained NASA. It might be due to the fact that the committee that voted on this had been headed by NASA.

  With the funding possibilities of over ten wealthy countries and the minds of so many experts, NASA found itself growing in size and technology much faster than in the past.

  A functional base was quickly erected on the moon named Gagarin, followed by the Effendi base on Mars. Each base could accommodate around five hundred people for up to one year. With supply ships, that time period could be extended indefinitely. New ores were discovered and experimented with. Rocket engines were replaced in the year 2030 with a Nuclear Drive. Though Cold Fusion and Super Magnetic engines were available, they needed further enhancements. With the Nuclear Drive, a voyage time of 4 months to Mars was reduced to 3 weeks. NASA then set up it's first orbiting station above Venus. Astronauts soon made it to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

  In the year 2041, the first military space ships and luxury space liners were put into full time construction.

  Then in the year 2045, Jupiter was reached and the first of three orbiting stations was built named Roman I. This was also the year that the first UFO sighting was confirmed to all the nations of Earth in a world wide announcement. Stating that Aliens are out there, but no contact of any kind has been made. It was then that a UFO sighting count chart was started. The chart listed the number of UFO sightings confirmed by NASA, their approximate size, design and estimated rate of speed. In the next decades to come, the number on the UFO Chart increased quite quickly, or as the military said "alarmingly into the hundreds". The thought of just one Alien race became outdated and the reality of many Alien races became evident. Yet no contact had been made. Whether the Aliens had yet to see us or were avoiding us, is yet to be discovered.

  Certain organizations of earth were sure that their governments were hiding information about the aliens and had many supporters that held peaceful demonstrations at capital's across the planet. Even some Senators from the United Sates as well as leaders of smaller nations were jumping on the bandwagon. They filled their campaigns with Alien rhetoric and the promise of a better space program. Some experts wondered just how a better space program would be achieved. Solar System and space travel was the main story of any daily news. Classes at the junior high level on space became a must with the high schools demanding up to 20 credits on space. In fact, one fifth of the world's work force revolved around the space industry.

  In the year 2050, the first Christian church missions and missionaries settled on the Moon and Mars bases. Other religions were soon to follow.

  Bases were added to Saturn, Uranus, Mercury(not without it's problems), Pluto and many of the moons in between. Several decades of exploration followed, but two things remained out of NASA's grasp. The first being that 845 UFO's had been added to the Chart and still no contact had been made. The second being that despite their technological breakthrough in propulsion and engine design, space travel was only fast enough for humans to fly around in this Solar System. The thought of going past Pluto seemed useless, knowing that it would take several life times to get beyond that point too any place of interest.

  The story starts in January, 2130. A ship known to only a few personnel as the UE-1 Concord is near completion. The ship comes with a new engine design called the Gravitational Nuclear Magnetic Collider Drive. This new engine would utilize the Solar System's gravitational pull of each planet and channel it through the Nuclear Magnetic Drive, thus using the energy of the Solar system to push and pull the ship through space. The first test had been promising. The Concord should be able to reach Pluto's orbit in under a month. One test is yet to be tried. What happens when the Concord leaves our Solar System? Some experts predict that the Drive will simply run out of steam, while some predict the Drive will implode. Still others think it might tap into the gravitation of other Solar Systems and thus intergalactic travel will be accomplished. Despite all the speculating, the only way to find out is to fly out of our Solar System and see what happens. Stay tuned for the continuing story.....