The original Macross takes place in the distant future of 2009. In the year 1999, an alien space ship crash landed on Earth. The epiphany that humanity wasn't alone in the cosmos lead to a World War that saw the Earth unite under the UN banner so that if aliens ever came knocking later, they'd be more ready. Earth studied the alien ship and fast forwarded through the tech tree by hundreds of years in under a decade. 10 years after the ship crashed, the UN repaired and repurposed that ship to become mankind's first interstellar space craft, dubbed the "Macross". And when they turn it on, it attracts nearby aliens to see what's up and a grand space opera ensues.