In the 1960s, as Zambia celebrated its newly won independence from British colonial rule, an eccentric schoolteacher named Edward Mukuka Nkoloso made an astonishing declaration: his young African nation would join the Cold War space race and beat both the United States and the Soviet Union to the moon. Decades later, that incredible chapter of history is taking center stage at the Edinburgh Fringe festival in a dynamic performance by Circus Zambia and UK theatre company Wake the Beast.
The show, titled Afronauts, uses acrobatics, physical theatre, and storytelling to revive Nkoloso's bold mission. Following Zambia's independence in 1964, Nkoloso established the unofficial Zambia National Academy of Science, Space Research and Philosophy. While Western media mocked his ambition and dismissed his team as unrealistic dreamers, Nkoloso was undeterred. He set up a makeshift space academy on a farm outside the capital, Lusaka, training a group of 12 young men and women dubbed the "Afronauts."
Without access to million-dollar laboratories or advanced technology, Nkoloso devised creative methods to prepare his recruits for spaceflight. Trainees were rolled down rough hills inside oil barrels to simulate the extreme g-forces of a centrifuge, swung high on ropes before being cut free to experience zero-gravity freefalling, and dunked into local rivers to practice splashdown landings. "Some people think I'm crazy," Nkoloso told reporters at the time, "but I'll be laughing the day I plant Zambia's flag on the moon."
Although Nkoloso appealed to international organizations and foreign governments for funding, the money never arrived, and the ambitious project was eventually abandoned. Over the years, historians and Zambian leaders have suggested that Nkoloso's mission may have contained an element of sharp political satire. By launching a space program without resources, he exposed the absurdity of global superpowers spending vast fortunes on space exploration while critical social and economic challenges on Earth were ignored.
Regardless of whether the mission was a genuine scientific endeavor or a piece of provocative performance art, its spirit of optimism continues to resonate. The story has inspired filmmakers, dancers, and writers across the globe. Today, as Zambia advances its modern space ambitions—including opening its first satellite ground station in 2024—Circus Zambia's production at the Edinburgh Fringe honors a visionary dream that challenged how the world viewed a newly independent nation.