MARTIAN NEWS - DATE 11957.1004
All the News around the Solar System from a Martian Viewpoint

EARTH INHABITANTS MAKE FIRST FORAY INTO SPACE

The first object ever seen to leave the Earth's atmosphere was spotted orbiting our neighbour planet today by Martian astronomers.

Earth is currently on the opposite side of the Sun, however since the Earth conflagration of 11945 we have installed several widely-spaced observation posts in far Earth orbit in order to observe their behaviour more closely.

Since the sightings of two nuclear explosions on the surface of the planet at that time it seems to have been relatively quiet there, giving rise to speculation that the explosions were in fact a sign of the end of the years-long war that has been raging on the surface. (There have been several more large-scale explosions in the last few years which were possibly nuclear in origin, but on closer inspection these appear to be "test firings" - which of course is a worrying prospect in itself.)

The Earth craft that was sighted today only reached a height of approximately 500 miles above the surface after which it settled into a stable orbit, confirming speculation that it was indeed a planned event by the Earthlings and not an act of Nature.

"This is an exciting event" said the Martian President when told of the news. "It shows that our neighbours in space are at last working together in attempting to break free of their planetary cradle. On the other hand it is worrying, as we already know of their violent nature, so we have started making plans to hide our presence here if it becomes necessary. We don't want them crawling around on our world just yet."

Translated from original Martian by Elwood Herring
See Earth Web version of this story here

© P. Williams 2004

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