The Old Countries, mainly the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United States of America, stood with weapons poised; the seemingly eternal Cold War steadily growing hotter. Moon Base was American, and the Space Stations were Russian; a parity of weapons had been reached and jingoists cried for war.
History does not record the exact date of Jan Carvel's departure from the Earth-Moon System. It is known that he was an American, a qualified Moon pilot, and a fanatic on the subject of planetary exploration. It is also known that he boarded an experimental long range rocket-bomber without authorization and vanished from the arsenal in Tycho. Some have suggested that he did not steal the craft and that he was actually ordered on his epoch-making flight, presumably in search of militarily useful information. This is unlikely. Having reached the Moon and turned it into fortress, the United States lost interest in space travel. Carvel chafed under the restraints placed upon him and the Bureau of Security; it is therefore more than just probable that he took it upon himself to press the cause of exploration without authority or sanction.
The result of this irresponsible course of action was predestined. Carvel lost his ship and his life. But he left a legacy that was to shake the world.
On the evening of January 17, 1971, some six years after Carvel's disappearance from Moon Base, the Pacific Radar Watch detected an approaching missile. It was tracked for routine interception, and one Ground to Air Missile was actually launched at it before its erratic course identified the unknown rocket as a space-craft in distress. Fortunately, the GTA Missile was caught and neutralized before interception occurred, and the approaching space-craft was allowed to crash in the middle of California's Central Valley near what was then the city of Fresno.
Jan Carvel's ship crashed and burned when he came back....
Search crews found the wreckage and it was immediately established as the experimental rocket-bomber stolen six years before by Jan Carvel. It was badly smashed by the crash, and in addition seemed to have sustained a considerable amount of battle damage.