[See Part 1 of this series for a Space:1999 video game]

You can finally fulfill your dream of flying an Eagle over Moonbase Alpha! Just follow these steps and you’ll be ready for lift-off in no time.

STEP 1: Download Orbiter
Orbiter is a free space flight simulator that can be downloaded at http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/. It’s a no-install app, so all you have to do is unzip the downloaded file and you’re done!

STEP 2: Go to OrbitHanger to download Space:1999 add-ons

OrbitHanger is located at http://www.orbithangar.com/ and is a source of all kinds of add-ons for the Orbiter space simulator, including the Thunderbirds add-ons – remember that awesome 60s TV show?

All you need to get started is the Moonbase Alpha add-on, which can be found here http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=2858. This version (V5a) includes the necessary New Eagle add-on.

Note that there are plenty of other Eagle packs available at this site for you to experiment with as well.

STEP 3: Unzip the Moobase Alpha V5a add-on into your Orbiter directory

After you unzip the add-on, click on orbiter.exe.

In the Orbiter Launchpad, you’ll see Moonbase Alpha; select it and choose an Eagle to fly!

STEP 4: Eagle 1 Ready for Launch!

If you’re an experienced flight sim flyer, then you’re probably ready to go. As for me, I needed some basic training first because I couldn’t get my Eagle off the ground . If you’re like me, then I recommend you go through some of the documentation on the Orbiter website at http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/manual.html to help you get oriented. Good luck Commander!

In Part 3 of this series, I’ll show you how to build your own Eagle, as well as other models from Space:1999!

I’m a huge fan of the 1970’s TV show Space: 1999: a massive nuclear explosion on the moon knocks it out of Earth’s orbit and sends it out on a journey into space along with the personnel of Moonbase Alpha (and all their cool spaceships called Eagles). I know, I know, the premise is not very scientific, but it was the 70s and it had great actors (Martin Landau, Barbara Bain, Barry Morse), a funky opening song (in Season 1 anyway), awesome special effects, thoughtful writing and did I mention the cool Eagles?

I’m currently re-watching this series and wish I had some Space:1999-based video games to play and another Eagle model to build like the one I had in the 70s. Here’s a 4 part series on what I’ve found to date.

The first game is a simple vertical scrolling game for Windows that’s small and portable. As one of the few Space:1999 games out there, this one is definitely going in my collection. Download it here.

In Part 2, I’ll show you how to fly your own Eagle on Moonbase Alpha…and it’s a portable solution so you can fly your Eagles anytime, anywhere!

Fish Fillets is a puzzle game having the objective of helping 2 fish to find their way out of each of the 70 level screens. This is done by having them push things out of the way and working together to help each other out.

The fish are secret agents (Mission Impossible-style) and have several cases to solve (you’ll learn about them in the second level via the self-destructing message. With 70 levels, the game should keep you entertained for some time!

Fish Fillets is available for Linux, Windows and Mac!

Ok, here’s a strange looking portable game that is a cross between Space Invaders and Match 3…hmmm how can these two completely different games work together, you might ask?

Enter Planet of the Jellies. Instead of shooting at our space invaders, we click on them so that they drop down, stacking identical aliens on top of each other. Once you stack 3 in a row – they disappear!

The music is fun, the graphics are cute and the game can be addictive! Here’s a screenshot:

Textwedge is a portable text file splitter. Text splitters have various uses, but they are invaluable if you have an iPod and love to read ebooks due to the 4 KB file size limitations it imposes.

How to Split eBooks for your iPod

Step 1: Open up Textwedge and select Dialogs from the main menu.

Step 2: In the Dialogs menu, select Configure Standard Splitting.

Step 3: In the dialog box, enter 4000 bytes in the Maximum chunk sizes text box.

Step 4: Now you’re ready to load and split a file. To do that, select Load & Split from the File menu.

Xmoto is a challenging 2D motocross game that’s lots of fun. It’s available for Windows, Mac and Linux platforms and it’s portable!

You can also download a level editor to try your hand at making your own levels (scroll down to the bottom of their home page to download it). There are also tons of user contributed levels that you can download here.