It left London on its first overseas voyage on 4 October 1930, bound for Karachi in India. Unbeknownst to nearly all aboard, its real mission was to rendezvous with the aliens, the Triskele. The rendezvous was set for the skies above northern France in the early morning of 5 October. As the designated hour approached, the R101 was ordered by its commanders to be taken to 5000 feet, three times as high as it was designed to fly. There, it was intercepted by a Triskele flying saucer and taken aboard the craft.