Designed for space rescue - Thunderbird 3 is go! In the third of this five-part series, Fred McNamara argues the case for why each Thunderbird machine is the greatest of the International Rescue craft - continuing with Thunderbird 3! Chiefly piloted by Alan Tracy, Thunderbird 3's role as International Rescue's space rocket enables the organisation to ensure that the starry heavens are as rescue-ready as back down on Earth. But just how vital is Thunderbird 3, given its surprisingly few onscreen appearances? Investigations are go!

Stand By for Blast Off

Many of International Rescue's craft may be able to tackle a wide variety of Earth-based scenarios; however, the outfit's capabilities to perform space-based rescue operations is severely limited by comparison, making the impressive functionality of the lesser-seen Thunderbird 3 all the more vital as one of the outfit's core vehicles. Thunderbird 3 is International Rescue's single-stage-to-orbit space rocket. As a rescue vehicle, it can tackle recovery operations of other spacecraft and stray astronauts in deep-space; as a reconnaissance shuttle, it provides a necessary link between Tracy Island and Thunderbird 5, I.R.'s space monitor.

Thunderbird 3's spectacularly inventive design is centred around its single-unit purpose as a rocket, ready to blast off into the heavens at a moment's notice. Unlike Thunderbirds 1 and 2, Thunderbird 3 requires a far greater level of thrust power to pierce through the Earth's atmosphere. As such, Thunderbird 3's ground-breaking motor power is captured in its symmetrically pleasing, three-pronged rocket boosters that also act as landing gear. From a production perspective, Thunderbird 3 was one of the most ambitiously large filming models built.  

With such an impressive construction, it's surprising then that out of Thunderbirds' 32 episodes, only three are explicitly space-based rescue episodes for Thunderbird 3. In Sun Probe, the craft is launched to rescue the stricken Sun Probe craft from crashing into the Sun. In The Imposters, International Rescue is forced to break its cover from the US military to rescue satellite worker who becomes helplessly adrift in space. In Ricochet, Thunderbird 3 rescues the damaged pirate radio station KLA from burning up in Earth's atmosphere. 

Throughout these episodes, Thunderbird 3 proves it's just as capable of matching the dramatic disaster jeopardy as other International Rescue vehicles that makes Thunderbirds such a compellingly adventurous watch. Whether it's the heroic cover-breaking in The Imposters or the drawn-out tension of whether or not Alan and Scott can reach the Sun Probe before solar carnage strikes, Thunderbird 3 has little difficulty eliciting the life-saving action that Thunderbirds reliably blasts off into for each and every episode.

Despite its modest onscreen appearances, the craft nevertheless works wonders in expanding the world-building functionality of International Rescue, which in turn tickles the imagination. Thunderbird 3 is the Thunderbird craft which we se the largest number of Tracy brothers at the controls of. Alan and John are most frequently seen piloting the craft, but during the events of Sun Probe and The Uninvited, Scott acts as co-pilot. Not only that, but we briefly see Virgil piloting Thunderbird 2 during the events of Ricochet. Within Thunderbirds' world, it makes sense to consider that each of the Tracy brothers has a rudimentary understanding of how each I.R. vehicle operates, which is satisfyingly confirmed by the variable line-up of TB3's pilots.

Elsewhere, Thunderbird 3 signals a breakaway from the conventional Thunderbirds disaster set-up demanding the deployment of Thunderbirds 1 and 2. What would a rescue scenario look like that justified both space and Earth-based vehicles? Admittedly, we never see such an adventure on-screen, but Jeff Tracy's acknowledgement that these missions do occasionally occur lets our imaginations run riot. In Atlantic Inferno, Jeff states that in rare occasions, Thunderbirds 1 and 3 are used in the same mission. Sometimes, the most thrilling adventures may be what we don't see. 

Destination Sun

If there were any constraints felt by AP Films in regularly showcasing Thunderbird 3 on the small screen, thankfully, that wasn't fed into Thunderbirds' sprawling spin-off media. Through comics, novels, annuals and beyond, Thunderbirds' extended canon regularly showcased creative avenues of rescue operations rarely exploited in the TV series. In TV Century 21, the newspaper of the future made similarly brief inclusions for Thunderbird 3, but throughout the paper's near-five year run, Thunderbird 3's appearances are memorably adventurous examples of outer space rescuing - or not, as the case may be!

Solar Danger depicts Thunderbird 3 as humanity's last hope in Alan and Brains' efforts to launch a nuclear strike into the Sun itself to quell its rage when fierce climactic disasters threaten the Earth. A similar premise occurs in 1969 with The Mini Moon from TV21 & Joe 90, while the space rescue rocket launches Thunderbirds' 1970s comic adventures in the pages of Countdown with the strip's debut storyline The New System. Brains is Dead and Chain Reaction feature more visually dazzling depictions of Thunderbird 3 in action, highlighting how, even in a supporting role, Thunderbird 3 commands the page.

A more brilliantly unexpected usage of Thunderbird 3 occurs in the City of Doom and The Zoo Ship when the rocket proves the only suitable vehicle left in International Rescue's arsenal to tackle two wildly separate scenarios; one involves breaking into the scientific metropolis to prevent radioactive fallout, the other involving rescuing a boatload of exotic animals. In both instances, Thunderbird 3 is deployed not in space, but on Earth, and almost in capacity as a back-up equivalent of Thunderbird 2 - it is I.R.'s second heavy-duty vehicle, after all. The rocket is revealed to boast a storage compartment where secondary rescue equipment can be stored, an idea that would be revisited in ITV's and Pukeko Picture's Thunderbirds Are Go. 

Whenever there's some cosmic disaster about to strike, Thunderbird 3 has regularly proved to be the only hope International Rescue has. Whether the mission consists of the tracing and safe return of a solitary spacewalker or the fate of the entire Earth itself is risked from climate destruction, no jeopardy is too small or too large for Thunderbird 3.

Take home the visual majesty of International Rescue's space rescue vehicle with our Thunderbird 3 Die-cast Collectable, available now to pre-order! A superb range of Thunderbird 3 collectables is also available from the Gerry Anderson Store, from Anniversary Editions to model kits to Corgi die-casts. Blast off into outer space rescue adventure now!

Be sure to keep up with these celebratory vehicle retrospectives with our other arguments for why Thunderbird 1 and Thunderbird 2 are also contenders for being the greatest International Rescue vehicle!

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