/the background story/
In the near future, the earths resources are rapidly running out and mankind desperatly needs to find a new home.
The United Nations funded project, Dawnstar, (totally unrelated to the April fools prank), is rushed through development as the way of finding a new planet to settle.
Project Dawnstar is a Long Range, Faster Than Light, Scout/Survey/Settle spaceship with a crew complement of 100 souls. A Dawnstar will carry accomplished explorers with enough materials to start a colony while the (not so necessary) people will follow on the Noon Arks.
The project