The Andromeda Strain

The United States government is given a warning by the preeminent biophysicists in the country: current sterilization procedures applied to returning space probes may be inadequate to guarantee uncontaminated re-entry to the atmosphere.

In 1967, an extraterrestrial microbe designated the Andromeda Strain came crashing down to Earth and nearly ended the human race. A team of top scientists assigned to Project Wildfire worked valiantly to save the world from an epidemic of unimaginable proportions. In the ensuing decades, research on the micro particle continued. And the world thought it was safe. Deep inside Fairchild Air Force Base, Project Eternal Vigilance has continued to watch and wait for the Andromeda Strain to reappear. For years, the project has registered no activity until now.

Half a century ago, a military satellite was knocked out of orbit and fell to Earth in northern Arizona, bringing with it a hostile microbe that nearly wiped out an entire town. The two survivors and the fallen satellite were taken to an underground laboratory headed by the most elite scientists, who quickly isolated an extraterrestrial organism they dubbed the Andromeda Strain. In the ensuing decades, a group assigned to track the microbe has seen no sign of Andromeda. But when a bizarre anomaly appears, the team discovers the tell-tale chemical signature of the deadly microparticle.