Icarus Program

The Icarus Program (2003-2007) was a short-lived commercial crew program, created and made possible by Sparky Wolf during his first few years as CEO of Animus Global Corporations. The original plans consisted of 10 full missions, which was limited to 4 due to complications with the first, second, and fourth missions.

Original Plans
In the original plans of the Icarus Program, there were to be 10 missions to the Von Braun station and back, with a crew of 3 each, all of them paying clients. If the missions go successfully, they were to start up Agility- a commercial crew program to Mars. Investors believed it was impossible before Sparky unveiled the plans, and it is rumored one fainted and another immediately invested. Animus caught global attention and funding from various space programs and governments around the world, which he used to begin work on the first Icarus crew vehicles.

Icarus I
On September 23rd, 2004, Icarus I was prepped for launch from the Neil Armstrong Launch Silo in an unknown desert, fueled up and ready to launch for the next day. However, technicians discovered a leak in a valve at T- 21:29:34, and the launch was scrubbed until they fixed it, and the launch was moved to the next week.

Icarus I launched successfully on top of an Atlas V on September 30th, carrying several experiments, sensors and items from various places worldwide, but had no crew members aboard, successfully achieving orbit and completing several experiments and tests on the spacecraft before attempting a de-orbit burn. However, the engine of the Crew Service Module did not function, and Icarus I was left stranded in orbit until it reentered Earth's atmosphere due to drag the next week. The mission was considered a "partial success", due to the valuable data received from Icarus I during its orbits around the Earth.

Icarus II
After a long investigation of Icarus I 's issue, Sparky made the decision to launch crew members to the Von Braun- an extremely risky mission after the previous mission. Millions watched as Icarus II launched from the Neil Armstrong Launch Silo aboard an Atlas V rocket, carrying a couple aboard to orbit and to the von Braun station. After successfully docking, the couple stayed on-board for 2 months, conducting "science" and usually staring at Earth. When they were due to enter the Earth's atmosphere, they stopped the rotation of Von Braun and got in Icarus II, detaching from the space station and burning to de-orbit the spacecraft. However, due to complications with the heatshield, the spacecraft disintegrated while entering the Earth's atmosphere.