Thunderbirds Are Go is a 1966 British science fiction puppet film based on Thunderbirds, a Supermarionation television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. Written by the Andersons and directed by David Lane, the film follows the spacecraft Zero-X as it carries the first human mission to Mars. When Zero-X suffers a malfunction during re-entry, it is up to life-saving organisation International Rescue, with the help of its technologically advanced Thunderbird machines, to activate the trapped crew's escape pod before the spacecraft hits the ground.