9:16 Greenwich
Someone must have talked over the fence because the newshounds were clamoring on the trail within an hour after it happened . The harassed Controller had lived in an aura of `` Restricteds , '' `` Classifieds '' and `` Top Secrets '' for so long it had become a mental conditioning and automatically hedged over information that had been public property for years via the popular technical mags ; but in time they pried from him an admittance that the Station Service Lift rocket A. J. `` Able Jake '' Four had indeed failed to rendezvous with Space Station One , due at 9:16 Greenwich that morning . The initial take-off and ascent had gone to flight plan and the pilot , in the routine check-back after entering free flight had reported no motor or control faults . At this point , unfortunately , a fault in the tracking radar transmitter had resulted in it losing contact with the target . The Controller did not , however , mention the defection of the hungover operator in fouling up the signal to the standby unit , or the consequent general confusion in the tracking network with no contact at all thereafter , and fervently hoped that gentlemen of the press were not too familiar with the organization of the tracking system .