| Director | Lesley Selander |
|---|
The first expedition to Mars, led by physicist Dr. Lane, includes Professor Jackson, engineer and spaceship designer Jim Barker and his assistant Carol Stafford, who earned her degree in spaceship engineering in only three years. Journalist Steve Abbott, a decorated war correspondent, is also aboard to cover the historic mission.
They lose contact with Earth when a meteor storm disables their landing gear and radio. The crew are forced to decide whether to land on Mars or turn back for Earth. They proceed with the mission, knowing that they may never return.
After they safely land, the crew are met by five Martians at one of their above-ground structures. In human form and able to communicate in English, Ikron, the president of their planetary council, explains that they learned Earth languages from broadcasts. Their own efforts to transmit messages to Earth have only resulted in the receipt of faint, unintelligible signals.
The Earth crew are taken to a vast underground city that is being sustained by life-support systems fueled by a mineral called corium, from which the Martians extract water and air and generate energy. While there, the crew meet Tillamar, a past president and now a trusted council advisor. Terris, a young female Martian, shows them to their room and serves them automated meals. The expedition members are amazed at the high level of Martian technology and ask the council for help with repairing their spaceship.
Ikron discreetly reveals that their corium supply is nearly depleted. He recommends that the men's spaceship, once repaired, be reproduced, thereby creating a fleet that can evacuate the Martians to Earth and saving the Martian species, but also enslaving the Terran species. The council votes to adopt Ikron's plan while also holding the men captive during the repair process. Alita, a leading Martian scientist, is placed in charge of the spaceship. Ikron uses Terris as a spy to keep himself informed of the progress.
Jim begins to suspect the Martians' motives and, with Alita's help, fakes an explosion aboard, slowing the repairs. When Jim later announces that their blastoff for Earth is set for the next day, he surprises everyone with the news that Tillamar and Alita will be joining them, with Alita to become his wife. Terris reports their suspicious behavior to Ikron, and Alita and Tillamar are then held, but Jim foils Ikron's plan to seize the repaired ship after freeing them. After a brief confrontation with Martian guards at the spaceship's gangway, they reach the ship safely and the expedition departs for Earth.