Despite pounding rain and gale force wind, Allington Bridge, swaying back and forth, seems to be holding up in the face of a violent storm. When the storm finally dies down, work crews are dispatched to investigate any potential damage. All tests prove negative, but one cautious supervisor would like to run more.
His boss, however, feeling pressure to reopen the bridge, rejects the idea. In order to reach its launch site, a spacecraft bound for Mars must first cross the bridge, or risk having to wait four more years before another takeoff is possible.
Allington Bridge is indeed opened to the Martian space probe, but its crushing weight is too much and, one by one, its steel cables begin to snap and unravel. The probe, along with two astronauts aboard, plummets to the water below, where its buried beneath mangled girders and its automatic countdown is activated.
Luckily, Brains has traveled to England to observe the launch. He and Lady Penelope speed off to the scene of the accident, bu
