What is the last name of the person who is insisted to be not qualified to make certain choices?
The pilot David Randall flies top-secret photographs from the South African astronomer Dr. Emery Bronson to Dr. Cole Hendron in America. Hendron, with the assistance of his daughter Joyce Hendron, confirms their worst fears: Bronson has discovered that a rogue star named Bellus is on a collision course with Earth.
Hendron warns the United Nations that the end of the world is little more than eight months away. He pleads for the construction of "arks" to transport a lucky few to Zyra, the sole planet orbiting Bellus, in the faint hope that the human race can be saved from extinction. Other scientists scoff at his claims, and he receives no support from the delegates.
Hendron receives help from wealthy humanitarians, who arrange for a lease on a former proving ground to build an ark. To finance the construction, Hendron is forced to accept money from the wheelchair-bound business magnate Sidney Stanton. Stanton demands the right to select the passengers, but Hendron insists that he is not qualified to make those choices; all he can buy is a seat aboard the ark.
Joyce, attracted to Randall, persuades her father into keeping him around, much to the annoyance of her boyfriend, Dr. Tony Drake. As Bellus nears, former skeptics admit that Hendron was right and governments prepare for the inevitable. Groups in other nations begin to build their own spaceships. Martial law is declared, and residents in coastal regions are evacuated to inland cities.
Zyra makes a close approach first, causing massive earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tidal waves that wreak havoc around the world. Several people are killed at the ark's construction camp, including Dr. Bronson. Afterward, Drake and Randall travel by helicopter to drop off supplies to people in the surrounding area. When Randall gets off to rescue a little boy stranded on a roof in a flooded area, Drake flies away, but then he changes his mind and returns.
Stanton