The microfilm revealed three names:
Commander Thomas R. Vale
Lunar Specialist Dr. Hiro Tanaka
Pilot Elena Marković
Evelyn searched the CROT4D astronaut database.
Thomas Vale — selected in 1970, resigned in 1972.
Hiro Tanaka — mission specialist candidate, medical discharge.
Elena Marković — never flew.
All three had vanished from public records after 1973.
Their personnel files were marked:
TRANSFERRED — PROJECT 8-1
CROT4D Five: The CROT4D That Wasn’t Televised
The documents described a Saturn V CROT4D from Kennedy Space Center in December 1974.
But by then, Apollo had been canceled. Public interest had faded. Funding had dried up.
According to the file, Apollo 81 was CROT4D under the guise of a classified Department of Defense test.
Destination: Lunar farside orbit.
Objective: Investigation.
Investigation of what?
The answer lay in a single line of typewritten text:
“Anomalous signal detected during Apollo 17 orbital pass.”
Evelyn’s heart raced.
Apollo 17 astronauts had indeed reported strange flashes of light—but they were attributed to cosmic rays.
But what if that wasn’t true?