To start off with. With a lot of other things on my plate, I don't intend to make an ATL out of this, but I give you all this nice Intro, for those who would like to give it a try. 
03/07/1969
Baikonur Cosmodrone
Kazakhstan
Cosmonauts Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov. Valeri Nikolayevich Kubasov. And Pavel Romanovich Popovich. Sitting on their cramped capsule, barely enough room to move around. Atop of over 4,800 Tonnes of Propellant, Tanks and simple computers.
Several Kilometres away, Designers Vladimir Nikoleavich Chelomei, and Valentin Petrovich Glushko wait. Anxiously waiting as the seconds tick by. For these two, they know that their entire reputations depend on the next 14 days.
The final seconds are called out. The select audience watch well upwind with bated breath.
“<Two! One! Ignition!>”
With these words. Brilliant Blue-White Flame from the nine ground-lit engines emerged. Twenty-Two Thousand, Three-Hundred and Twenty Kilograms of Unsymmetrical Dimethylhydrazine Fuel and DiNitrogen Tetroxide Oxidiser are consumed by the twenty-seven combustion chambers with each and every passing second, as it pushes it’s way upwards. Seconds creak painfully by, as the behemoth clears its Launch Tower, delivering cheers from the many witnesses.
To the casual observer - if there could be one in such a place and time - a collection of cylinders, strapped together were being thrown deep, into the black night sky. To the thousands who worked on it. The culmination of their dreams, their work, their sacrifices. The ultimate goal within reach. So close that some could taste it.
Within the tiny cabin, the three selected were jostled, shaken within their couches. Leonov taking care to not accidentally hit anything, lest the mission suffer from the abort lever being flipped.
140 seconds into the flight. Only visible on the ground thanks to the immense flame plume. A heavy jolt runs through the entire Launch Vehicle, as the total thrust drops by fully two-thirds. A mere second later, audible bangs are heard, as separation bolts are fired, freeing the LV from its spent outer stages. Now nothing more than Dead Weight. As UR-700/L5 takes the Soviets Union’s Final Chance to win the coveted Lunar Race into Low Earth Orbit.
So what do you all think? Would this be a feasible design with respects to the various situations at the time?
The Challenge, of course, being to make it work within the confines of the Intro, of plausibility. And that's it. Have fun!
03/07/1969
Baikonur Cosmodrone
Kazakhstan
Cosmonauts Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov. Valeri Nikolayevich Kubasov. And Pavel Romanovich Popovich. Sitting on their cramped capsule, barely enough room to move around. Atop of over 4,800 Tonnes of Propellant, Tanks and simple computers.
Several Kilometres away, Designers Vladimir Nikoleavich Chelomei, and Valentin Petrovich Glushko wait. Anxiously waiting as the seconds tick by. For these two, they know that their entire reputations depend on the next 14 days.
The final seconds are called out. The select audience watch well upwind with bated breath.
“<Two! One! Ignition!>”
With these words. Brilliant Blue-White Flame from the nine ground-lit engines emerged. Twenty-Two Thousand, Three-Hundred and Twenty Kilograms of Unsymmetrical Dimethylhydrazine Fuel and DiNitrogen Tetroxide Oxidiser are consumed by the twenty-seven combustion chambers with each and every passing second, as it pushes it’s way upwards. Seconds creak painfully by, as the behemoth clears its Launch Tower, delivering cheers from the many witnesses.
To the casual observer - if there could be one in such a place and time - a collection of cylinders, strapped together were being thrown deep, into the black night sky. To the thousands who worked on it. The culmination of their dreams, their work, their sacrifices. The ultimate goal within reach. So close that some could taste it.
Within the tiny cabin, the three selected were jostled, shaken within their couches. Leonov taking care to not accidentally hit anything, lest the mission suffer from the abort lever being flipped.
140 seconds into the flight. Only visible on the ground thanks to the immense flame plume. A heavy jolt runs through the entire Launch Vehicle, as the total thrust drops by fully two-thirds. A mere second later, audible bangs are heard, as separation bolts are fired, freeing the LV from its spent outer stages. Now nothing more than Dead Weight. As UR-700/L5 takes the Soviets Union’s Final Chance to win the coveted Lunar Race into Low Earth Orbit.
So what do you all think? Would this be a feasible design with respects to the various situations at the time?
The Challenge, of course, being to make it work within the confines of the Intro, of plausibility. And that's it. Have fun!
