Fireball XL5 (spacecraft)

Fireball XL5 was a spacecraft operated by the World Space Patrol. Its captain was Colonel Steve Zodiac, with the additional crew comprised of Doctor Venus, Professor Matic and Robert the Robot.

Features and capabilities
The leader of the Batmen opined that Fireball XL5 "must" have been "one of the most powerful [ships] in the Universe". (COMIC: The Batmen) This view was shared elsewhere, with TV Century 21 reporting that Steve Zodiac's surrendering of the craft to hostile aliens spawned "utmost concern for the safety of all space freighters and passenger flights throughout the Universe". Additionally, space flights were cancelled while "a usually reliable source" indicated that Space City's combat ships had been placed on Emergency Red. (PROSE: Fireball Surrenders!)

Fireball XL5 had a videoscope with which it could identify nearby spacecraft. The ship held at least three jetmobiles, used by its crew when exploring unfamiliar worlds.

It had a sickbay containing a sonic sounder, which helped to revive Steve Zodiac after he had been put into a "frozen sleep" by the Batmen's weaponary. (COMIC: The Batmen)

History
In January 2065, Fireball XL5 was ordered to investiate an automatic space mayday in Sector 4 of Sector 25. They found the signal to have originated from a seemingly adrift space freighter which was actually occupied by hostile Batmen. Fireball pursued the freighter to an asteroid in hyperspace. Steve Zodiac, Doctor Venus and Professor Matic were later captured by the Batmen, forcing Steve to temporarily surrender Fireball in order to save Venus's life. However, the situation was defused when Steve and Robert the Robot exposed the leader of the Batmen as a human impostor, though not before he had taken Fireball for a test-flight. Valeen, who wished to return to his people's peaceful ways, returned Fireball to Steve and asked that he take his former leader back to Earth, a proposition which Steve accepted. (COMIC: The Batmen) The news that Fireball had landed on an unknown asteroid in hyperspace made the front page of TV Century 21 on 30 January, with Commander Zero explaining that Fireball had made the discovery whilst hunting a space freighter. (PROSE: Stingray Attacked!) Steve's decision to surrender Fireball to the Batmen also graced the front page, on 13 February, accompanied by a photograph of the craft obtained via Neutrom Tele-Radar Satellite. (PROSE: Fireball Surrenders!)

In February 2065, TV21 published an encoded assignment for all Universal Secret Service special agents which requested that they tell Twenty One if they wanted a trip in Fireball XL5.

Owing to a technical fault in the Neutroni Radar Satellite, further pictures and reports on Fireball XL5 were relayed to TV21 via Laser-Accelerated Spectroview. (COMIC: Power Play)

The Fireball crew subsequently found themselves stranded in space, (COMIC: Power Play, PROSE: Superjet Shot Down) and fears for them grew after Space Station K17 reported the total destruction of the planet Saharis. (COMIC: Duel of the Daleks) On 24 April, a photograph of Steve, Venus and Robert in the cabin of Fireball accompanied a TV21 front page article about Steve's attempts to release the dangerous Omega-Minus device from the space liner W.S.W.193. (PROSE: Zodiac's Rescue Bid!)

Behind the scenes
Fireball XL5 was the titular vehicle in the television series Fireball XL5.