The Selenite IV was a shuttle which was going to the moon in the New Edwardian Era but crashed there with all passengers aboard. Kipling Rand had a secret mission there, to pull out one of the bodies and its luggage of information and plans. He succeeded, but had he failed, even by a few minutes, the Morlocks on Mars would have learned that one of their asteroids was not a loyal Eloi colony. ("The British Empire: Psychic Battalions Against The Morlocks")