‘It’s a Pan-African story’: the artists telling the amazing true tale of Zambia’s mission to reach space

The nation’s audacious 1960s rocket programme was met with ridicule. Now, more than 60 years on, this curious episode is inspiring film-makers, playwrights and a circus show at the fringe Explore the rest of our Edinburgh festival 2026 coverage In February 1960, Harold Macmillan, the UK’s Conservative prime minister, gave his seminal “wind of change” address to the Parliament of South Africa in Cape Town, announcing the end of the age of colonial rule on the African continent. He had given ...

By JN Benjamin