>>11337954From 1960 until sometime after 1969, his program sought to accomplish the launching of a rocket that would send one girl, 17-year-old Matha Mwambwa, and two cats to the Moon. There were also plans for a trip to Mars. Nkoloso hoped to beat the United States and Soviet Union's respective space programs at the height of the Space Race.
To train the astronauts, Nkoloso set up a makeshift facility on an abandoned farm 11 km from Lusaka where the trainees would be rolled down a rough hill in a 200-litre (44 imp gal) oil drum. This, according to Nkoloso, would train the men in the feeling of weightlessness in both space travel and re-entry. In addition, they used a tire-swing to simulate weightlessness.
