In 2003 the moon has been populated by several bases in conjunction with various countries.  They are Moonbase 1: America, 2: Russia, 3: Europe 4: China and 5: Brazil.  The director of Moonbase 3 is Tony Ransome (Michael Lees).  Ransome is scheduled to meet with the space commission on Earth.  His shuttle pilot is Astronaut Harry Sanders (Michael Wisher).  Moonbase 3’s psychologist, Dr. Helen Smith (Fiona Gaunt) has reservations about Sanders’ mental stability, but he’s passed all his psychological tests with flying colors.  Still, she talks to the deputy director Dr. Michel Lebrun (Ralph Bates) about her concerns and urges him to tell the director.  The director thinks that Smith is overreacting.

During the trip to Earth Sanders has a mental breakdown.  When a problem with the guidance system comes up, he decides to go outside the ship and fix it himself.  He inadvertently cuts his lifeline and floats off into space.  Director Ransome, not being a pilot, tries to turn the ship around and accidentally causes it to explode.  Now two men are dead.

The Director-General (Peter Bathurst) of the Moonbase 3 project assigns David Caulder (Donald Houston) to take over as the director of Moonbase 3.  After a quick tour of the facility, Caulder’s first order of business is to determine who is at fault for the accident that killed two people.  In addition to interviewing Smith and Lebrun he talks to the director of operations and maintenance, Tom Hill (Barry Lowe).  Other personnel are also questioned. 

Caulder determines that all three; Smith, Lebrun and Hill are responsible for the deaths.  Hill should have known what the Sanders was going through.  He realized that the pilot needed a rest but did nothing.  Dr. Smith’s intuition told her that there was something wrong with Sanders, but she passed the responsibility on to Lebrun.  Lebrun let Ransome go into space knowing that Smith had concerns.  He then tells the three of them that there will be an official tribunal on Earth. 

Caulder, Hill, Smith and Lebrun board a shuttle for Earth.  When the shuttle malfunctions they are forced to land back on the Moon; however, they are too far away from Moonbase 3 to be able to walk there.  Without enough air, their only hope is to reach an outpost, if it is there.   

“Moonbase 3” was released in 1963.  It is a British, six-episode television series that aired for one season on the BBC. It was co-produced with 20th Century Fox and the American ABC network.  The series was created by “Dr. Who” producer Barry Letts and script editor Terrance Dicks.  The series also features other Dr. Who alumni. 

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