Space Racers

When the racers pick up a mysterious musical frequency from space, all the cadets and teachers in Stardust Bay find that they can't stop whistling or singing the catchy tune. What is it and where is it coming from? To try to solve the mystery, Eagle, Robyn and Hawk head into space.

The cadets are on assignment to dig for Helium-3 (the source of their rocket fuel) under the watchful eye of Loon, the eccentric, beloved senior Chief Engineer of Stardust Bay's Lunar Campus. Now about 250, he's been working up there since the school first created its Moon base. When Eagle makes a careless mistake, an angry Vulture blames the elder rocket and demands his retirement.

During a race across Saturn's moon Titan, a cryovolcano blast strips Hawk of his colors. Eager to look like himself again, he goes in for a paint job, but a robotic error causes the cadet to emerge with a new, shockingly colorful body.

After Headmaster Crane and Sandpiper head off on vacation together, Vulture is up to his old tricks. He mounts a case before the school board to oust Crane... and replace him with Dodo. The Board agrees, and Vulture has his puppet in place. Once Dodo is in charge, however, he believes he's REALLY in charge, and makes foolhardy decisions.

Observing a rousing Orb-O match, AVA wonders how much fun it might be to actually play the game herself. This gives the racers an idea, and with Coot's help they prepare a surprise for their loyal computer guidance system: her very own robotic body! Now she can fly, race around, and eat in the cafeteria with Eagle and friends.

Told in song. Stardust Bay is abuzz about the Winter Solstice. Every year they gather to watch the Sun set on the shortest day, and then celebrate all night - the longest night of the year. But Vulture finds this disturbing: the festivities cause Stardust Bay to lose productivity.

When Rooster Rockets endorse a new energy-boosting fuel drink called Orange Outrage, Eagle can't wait to get his wings on it. But Coach Pigeon bans it from the cafeteria: that junk is bad for growing rockets! To Eagle's delight and Coach's chagrin, they soon find the drink everywhere after Vulture strikes an exclusive deal to offer it at the academy.

On a routine mission to collect rock samples from Mars, the cadets cause an uproar when Hawk brings back a stone that contains living bacteria. Coot is overjoyed: the kids have discovered life on Mars!! As a reward, they're given the honor of being first to study the new life form in Coot's laboratory.

When a physically disabled new cadet arrives one day, the racers are afraid to ask about his short wing. But fearless little Starling approaches Merlin, learns that he was born that way, and that he's perfectly okay with it.

Scanning space through a telescope, Robyn spots a new asteroid but can't determine its size. Observing from a distance can play tricks with the truth: faraway objects may look small but can approach us quickly, and objects closer to Earth can seem larger but might still take a while to reach us.

The cadets and teachers journey to far-off Deep Space Station Gagarin for a closer viewing of the vast Kuiper Belt, hosted by their old friend, Russian rocket scientist Trogon. When Eagle and Raven sneak away for a game of space tag - zipping through the tubes and corridors of the station - they unwittingly tear a hole in the main fuel storage tank... causing fuel to leak out into zero gravity.

When Vulture fires Dodo, the forlorn assistant doesn't know what he'll do or where he'll go. Wanting to help, the kids suggest that he enlist in Stardust Space Academy. Dodo's intrigued: he can actually do that? Headmaster Crane agrees to give him a chance, so the cadets welcome the newest Space Racer to their team: Cadet Dodo!

The cadets learn that every 50 years, on Halloween, a haunted asteroid passes really close to Earth during its orbit around the Sun - and that years ago, four daring young racers supposedly went to explore the mysterious asteroid... but never came back!

While Hawk searches for them during a game of Hide & Seek, Starling and Dinky hide inside a box - which turns out to be a crate that's sealed and shipped into space by warehouse robots. The clueless pair has no idea what's going on, but play tic-tac-toe inside the crate to pass the time.

Eagle, Robyn and Hawk are sent to retrieve three old rovers from Mars, for reassignment to new jobs on Earth. Robyn locates Curiosity and finds that she relates to the no-nonsense robot. Hawk finds Opportunity, and is immediately fond of the chatty rover. Meanwhile, Eagle locates Spirit buried in a sand pile and unexpectedly finds himself assisted by a small rover mutt.

Starling has a crucial flight test to pass before she can move on with her training. The older cadets have been helping her practice, but the day before the big test she's nervous. To calm her, Robyn mentions that a comet should be visible as it passes Earth that night - and it's good luck to make a wish on it.

A faint radio signal is picked up in Stardust Bay... coming from the direction of the Sun. Flying off to investigate, Eagle, Robyn and Raven trace the signal to Mercury instead. It seems to be coming from MESSENGER, a spacecraft that was sent to explore Mercury ages ago - but everyone had long presumed the probe to be destroyed. Is it still functioning?

At the big Earth Day Fair, the cadets volunteer for assignments to help improve the environment. Leading a cleanup of low-orbit space junk, Robyn recruits her friends, including a reluctant Eagle - who secretly wants to stay home and watch Orb-O on TV.

When Raven and Hawk are assigned to help Coot with repairs up at Fuel Station Alpha, Starling laments that she's never picked to do anything. Feeling her pain, Headmaster Crane assigns her an important task: to study space through the Observatory telescope and report any unusual activity.

Filming of a live-action movie version of the Captain Cosmos show is announced. Even more thrilling, they're coming to Stardust Bay to shoot the movie - and they plan to cast a cadet as actor Peacock J. Thunderbird's sidekick, Buzzard Boy. All the Cosmos fans get competitive but it's Eagle who lands the coveted role!

The cadets find an old book called Counter-Earth in Coot's workshop, and are astonished to read about Earth's identical twin planet on the other side of the Sun. Why has no one told them about this before?! Determined to be first to discover it, Eagle, Robyn and Hawk set off the next morning.

While trying to retrieve some papers that Dodo dropped under his desk, Vulture BONKS his head - which completely reboots his sour personality. Suddenly the school board chairman exudes love and joy! Rolling brightly around campus, he compliments one and all, assists cadets in need, joins Starling and her dollies for a tea party, sings and dances and generally tries to help everyone.

When Starling is excluded from another space mission, she sings wistfully of longing to be part of the team in that great big out there. As the older cadets blast off, their exhaust blows her back, spinning, clutching her doll Mr. Rocket Baby. Everything is a blur... until the haze clears and Starling finds herself in a colorfully wonky, fantastic Mars setting.

Assigned to visit a unique feature of our solar system, Eagle, Hawk, and Robyn eventually reach the Oort Cloud, a vast field dotted with icy objects orbiting a great distance from the Sun. But when their engines are disabled by a Proton storm, they find themselves helplessly hurtling forward.

Gosling's parents are both freighters, and he's destined to continue in the family business. But the young rocket harbors a keen interest in science and secretly yearns to be a Stardust Space Academy cadet. When Coot catches him listening in on a class, he invites Gosling to join them. Raven is dismissive: what does a freighter know about science and space?