"I have some good news and some bad news. I have been selected to go on a very important mission, and for security reasons I probably shouldn't say more. What I will say is that the research from this project will nullify many accepted theories about our existence in the universe, leveling the foundations of science, philosophy and religion. Your grandchildren will read about this mission in history books, though you will probably not. Which brings me to the bad news."
-- Lieutenant Colonel Nimrod T. Ashby, a letter courtesy of his widow Marsha Ashby, mailed from Greenbelt, Maryland, February 1973

NASA Experiments
The VITRIOL spacecraft was one of NASA's early hopes for deep space exploration. Inspired by the films "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "Solaris," the craft used real scientific innovation to make science-fiction-style, deep space endeavors possible. The VITRIOL's large funnel (see image above, based on an artist's rendition from NASA prototype sketches) sought hyrdrogen-rich fields in space and processed it through a reactor to propel the craft; therefore, eliminating the need for fuel storage. But the project was considered too expensive and was shelved in 1968. In early 1972, however, not long after Travis and Mabel Mountjoy assumed the leadership position at NASA's CHETO branch, the VITRIOL prototype craft was removed, without explanantion, from its hangar at Goddard's Space Facility. It was never mentioned in subsequent budget reports and all inquiries were forwarded to the NASA administrator. It was around this time that the Goddard Infirmary filed a complaint after several astronauts were injured during extreme training. And while there have been an untold number of government agents who have disappeared or whose identities have been erased since 1950, one man's widow -- Marsha Ashby (see quote above) -- went against code and filed a missing person's report for her husband, Air Force Colonel Nimrod T. Ashby, who disappeared after training at Goddard in the spring of 1974.

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