Space Station W3

The Wheel was the most commonly used name for Space Station W3, also known as Station 3 and the Wheel in Space. It was a multi-purpose space station located in the solar system.

Function
The Wheel served a number of functions, the most significant of which included acting as a radio-visual relay for Earth, a halfway house for long-distance spacecraft, a station for space research and as a stellar early warning system for potentially dangerous space phenomena. It was armed with an x-ray laser which was used to destroy meteorites and had a force field to protect itself. (TV: The Wheel in Space)

History
The Wheel was in operation by 2000, (TV: The Mind Robber; AUDIO: Prison in Space) 2079 (AUDIO: The Dying Light) or later (PROSE: The Indestructible Man) and was located between 24,564,000 and 161,350,000 miles from Venus.

Cybermen invaded the station, intending to use it as a beacon for their invasion fleet. The Second Doctor freed the crew from the Cybermen's hypnotic control and destroyed their fleet. (TV: The Wheel in Space)

Zoe Heriot was returned by the Time Lords to Space Station W3 at a moment in time before she went away in the TARDIS with the Doctor and Jamie McCrimmon (thus erasing her memories of all bar her first adventure with them), where she was met by Tanya Lernov and for a moment had the feeling of having forgotten something important, which she quickly dismissed. (TV: The War Games)

She later had another adventure with the Doctor in his sixth incarnation, but because of the conditioning placed on her mind, she did not retain these memories when he brought her back to the space station. (AUDIO: Legend of the Cybermen).

Crew
The controller of the Wheel was Jarvis Bennett. His second-in-command was Dr Gemma Corwyn, (TV: The Wheel in Space) the medical officer and psychiatrist. (PROSE: The Wheel in Space) Following both of their deaths, Captain Leo Ryan, a communications officer, assumed command. (TV: The Wheel in Space)

Enrico Casali was, like Ryan, a communications officer. Technicians included Chang, Elton Laleham, Kemel Rudkin, Armand Vallance and Sean Flannigan, although the latter also served as a security guard. Tanya Lernov was an astrologer (PROSE: The Wheel in Space) or astrogator whilst Zoe Heriot worked in the Parapsychology Library in a capacity best described as a librarian whilst also serving as an astrometricist and a second opinion. (TV: The Wheel in Space)