In part one of this series, I briefly outlined the over-arching political influences that eventually lead to the Great War and then the Fallout universe as we know it. Part two then focused on how the military developed and used weaponry and robots that the main character encounters through their journey of the Wasteland. This time, the focal point of our Fallout history lesson is space.
As I stated in part one, The Fallout wiki and the Fallout Bible are thorough resources for all who seek a more comprehensive explanation than what I am about to outline. In preparation for Fallout 4 this November, I present the shortened history of Fallout, Chapter three: SPACE.
Aliens and abductions
In the previous two parts, we began roughly around 1942. This time, and actually the very first notch on the Fallout timeline as a whole, is 1600 – when Toshiro Kago, a samurai, is abducted by Mothership Zeta (making him the oldest living man in the Fallout universe). 97 years later, Andrew Endicott, from Salem Village, is also abducted. This is followed by Morrison Rand in 2041 and the Lone Wanderer in 2277.
It is believed that Mothership Zeta orbited the earth from the time that it abducted Toshiro Kago until the 2280s, when Fallout 4 takes place. It is believed that Zeta sent out recon crafts for unknown missions, thus explaining the crashed UFOs in several of the games.
In Fallout 1, while wandering through the wastes, the Vault-Dweller is stopped to check out random strange happenings. One of the more famous “stops” is the crashed UFO. Although, the crashed UFO is not on the official timeline, the UFO reads, “Property of Area 41, please return if found.” So we can estimate that the military acquired the UFO and then aliens took it back sometime before 2161.
Space travel and exploration
Moving along, Carl Bell becomes the first human in space for 12 minutes before crashing down to earth and dying. This is disputed by both China and the Soviets. In 1969, Virgo II lands on the moon – the Fallout world equivalent to Apollo 11. The capsule is the placed in the Museum of Technology found in Fallout 3. Virgo III and Valiant II land on the moon again later that year.
Virgo II in the Technology Museum
Space travel is stagnant until 2020, when the U.S.S.A (Fallout’s NASA equivalent) commissions the last manned rocket to the moon, Delta IX. The rocket eventually launches in 2054.
Delta IX
This launch influenced the creation of the highly successful REPCONN. The original purpose of REPCONN was to manufacture space fuel with fission energy; however, plasma energy was found to do the job. Both Poseidon Energy and RobCo tried to buy REPCONN out and RobCo eventually succeded.
Poseidon Energy still pulled some strings through corporate espionage between Carl Rook (the head of REPCONN) and his sources inside Poseidon.
REPCONN stole schematics from Poseidon to create the Q-35 matter modulator – a plasma rifle. The military funded its development to replace old plasma rifles that were reaching the end of their lifespan. This Q-35 is the plasma rifle found through the wastes that we know and love.
Anyway, the military repurposed the Delta IX rocket as a weapon and loaded it down with nukes, although they were never used.
Yeah, okay REPCONN.
There you have it. Thanks for checking it out! Next time, we’ll look at a quick history of the weird and insidious corporation: Vault-Tec!
