Commander Koenig takes the reigns at Moonbase Alpha and is under orders to launch the manned mission to Meta, a newly discovered planet that may contain life.  When radiation sickness threatens the lives on Moonbase, he calls a halt to the mission.  What they find is that the nuclear disposal areas on the moon are becoming unstable and something must be done.  Unfortunately they act too late and the stockpiles go up acting like a rocket motor pushing the moon out of Earth's orbit.