A mission to Mars is sabotaged, and it will be four years until the Space Agency can try again. However, they fear that the saboteur will strike again and they contact International Rescue, who grudgingly accept to help get this rocket off the ground and into space.

Lady Penelope and Parker give all the astronauts tracking devices hidden inside St. Christopher charms, in order to determine whether the saboteur is impersonating one of them, whilst the Tracys set up an escort. Thunderbird Two will go as far as she can, and then Thunderbird Three will take over.

Lady Penelope's hunch is correct, and Scott is quickly able to unmask the saboteur, the Hood, whilst security guards find the real astronaut and return him to the craft.

When the Hood flees, Lady P and Parker give chase whilst the boys continue with their escort. This time, the Zero-X takes off without a hitch and travels to Mars.

Lady P takes Scott, Virgil and Gordon out to a night club. When Alan finds out, he is jealous, and asks TinTin out to the mainland. Jeff tells him that the base cannot be left unmanned, so he can't go. In a tantrum, he storms to his room, and promptly falls asleep, dreaming about going to the 'Shooting Star' with Lady P, which is much more special than the place she took the other brothers; especially since it's in space. However, the evening ends badly when Alan is recalled by his father because the other boys are out having fun, 'as usual' and Alan is the only one that Jeff can rely on. Alan ends up falling back to Earth because Lady P teases him about being afraid of heights (although I think I probably would be too, after 'Move - And You're Dead'!).

Meanwhile, the Zero-X Martian Exploration Vehicle (MEV) lands on Mars and begins to collect samples. When the geologist spies some unusual rock formations, he asks for a sample to be broken up, and he goes to collect it. Unfortunately, the 'rock formation' happens to be a Martian life form, and others begin to attack the MEV. They are forced to take off early, and expend a lot of fuel reaching the mother ship.

Fairly unscathed, they return to Earth. Everything seems to be going smoothly until one of the wings to allow a safe landing fails to attach properly, and the spacecraft begins to plummet to Earth. They cannot activate the escape module, because the circuits have burned out. International Rescue step in once again and Alan repairs the circuits in the nick of time. The astronauts eject to safety and Alan also jumps, assisted by what looks like a pogo stick with a rocket booster in the spring.

He lands safely on the ground, and is picked up by Lady P, who takes him to the real 'Shooting Star', where they have a meal, with Alan wearing a ridiculous moustache as a disguise. However, he is not alone with her, as he thought, because on the next table are the rest of the family, all equally disguised!

Points of interest for Captain Scarlet fans.
1. This is supposedly the first Zero-X mission to Mars. It bears the same name as in 'The Mysterons'/'Mars 2068'.
2. The Martian rock-snakes are not mentioned at all in CS, even though the use of the 'Zero-X' suggests that the two are linked.

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