Across the high frontier: a Big Gemini space TL

Pop culture (2) - 2001 a space odyssey

Archibald

Banned
alternate pop culture, part 2



... the Smithsonian's connection to flight began with the birth of the Institution, first headed by Joseph Henry, a physicist, balloon enthusiast, and sky-watcher. In 1861, Henry made a pivotal contribution to American aviation when he invited Thaddeus Sobieski Constantine Lowe to inflate his hot air balloon on the Smithsonian grounds. This demonstration eventually led to the birth of American aerial reconnaissance during the Civil War.

It is no wonder then, that the Smithsonian's aeronautical collection began well before 1976, when the National Air and Space Museum was constructed on the Mall in Washington, DC. One hundred years before, in 1876, a group of 20 beautiful kites was acquired from the Chinese Imperial Commission, seeding what would later become the largest collection of aviation and space artifacts in the world.

Built in 1918, the Aircraft Building housed most of the Museum's aviation collection for decades. The collections of the Museum were first housed in the Arts and Industries (A&I) Building, then after World War I, expanded to a Quonset hut erected by the War Department behind the Smithsonian Castle. Affectionately known as the "Tin Shed," the new building opened to the public in 1920, and would remain in use for the next 55 years.

In 1946, President Harry Truman signed a bill establishing the Smithsonian's National Air Museum to memorialize the development of aviation; collect, preserve, and display aeronautical equipment; and provide educational material for the study of aviation. The legislation didn't provide for the construction of a new building; however, and the collection soon outgrew the Museum's exhibition space. Since there was no room left in the Arts and Industries Building or the "Tin Shed," WWII aircraft and other items such as engines and missiles were stored at an abandoned aircraft factory in Park Ridge, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. The U.S. Navy had a similar collection in storage for the Smithsonian at Norfolk, Va.

In 1951 as a result of the Korean War emergency, the Museum had to vacate the Park Ridge premises. In response to the immediate need for space, Paul Garber, the National Air Museum's first curator, located 21 acres in Silver Hill, Md., a suburb of Washington, D.C. With the addition of several prefabricated buildings the site became the storage area for the National Air Museum. Garber had managed to save the collection.

Well before spaceflight became a reality, the Smithsonian took a leading role in funding one of America's most important rocket pioneers. In 1916, Robert Goddard wrote to Secretary Charles Greeley Abbot requesting a grant to support his research. The Smithsonian awarded him $5,000 to conduct his first practical experiments in rocketry, and eventually published his classic treatise, A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes.

Over the next fifty years, as the technology continued to advance, and as the collection expanded to include artifacts related to rocketry and spaceflight, it became clear that the Museum was entering a new phase.

In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson signed a law that changed the name of the National Air Museum to the National Air and Space Museum to memorialize the development of both aviation and spaceflight. The Museum's collection on display expanded to include missiles and rockets, some of which were located outdoors near the Arts and Industries Building in an area that was known as "Rocket Row."

Funding to construct a new building was approved in 1971, and with the location determined: it would be on the National Mall between Fourth and Seventh Streets S.W., the Smithsonian Secretary, C. Dillon Ripley, hired former Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins as the National Air and Space Museum's director.

Collins would guide the Museum through its construction, hire a team of top-notch professionals, oversee the creation of first-rate exhibits, and launch the Museum's Center for Earth and Planetary Studies. This new division was devoted to active research in analysis of lunar and planetary spacecraft data and the lead center for Earth observations and photography from the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. Groundbreaking took place on November 20, 1972 with the goal of opening during America's bicentennial year in 1976.

As ground breaking took place the NASM was given a tresure trove: spaceship studio models from Kubrick 2001, a space odyssey.

The museum welcomed five iconic models, some of them just amazingly huge, all extremely detailed. First was the filming model of the Aries 1-B lunar shuttle. This artefact stood approximately 90 cm tall and was 76 cm in diameter. The studio model for the Orion III had a similar size, about 91 cm long. Then was Space Station V model, a whopping seven feet wide and stuffed with tiny lights behind the windows.


Most impressive models, however, where those of the Discovery Jupiter-bound, manned ship. Two models were used to show this ship, and both were huge. A 16 m long model with a 1.8 m command sphere was used for detail shots, while a smaller 4 m - prop was used for long shots.

Question arose about the models fate over the last five years since 2001 filming ended. As with just about anything to do with the making of 2001, the fate of all the models is complicated.

It's true that Kubrick was a fanatic about security and the releasing of imagery. As for the sets - the British had a common practice of stripping down any useful parts and reusing them as stock set pieces and then burning the rest on the backlot to get rid of them.

During the production of the movie, Stanley Kubrick agreed to sell many of the props, costumes, artwork, miniatures, and even some set pieces to a group of people that were trying to establish an International Space Museum & Gallery in Washington, DC. The idea was that these artifacts would form the cornerstone of the museum and would eventually include 'real' artifacts that had flown in space. At the time, there was no dedicated gallery at the Smithsonian for these types of artifacts. Any/all aviation and space related items were displayed in the main Smithsonian Castle building till the new Air & Space building was constructed.

Incredibly Chesley Bonestell donated some of his artwork for the facility as well. A lot of the costumes and almost all of the models were tagged for this exhibit and were crated up and stored till the movie was finished. According to Kubrick advisor Frederic Ordway most of those models were boxed up in the summer of 1967.

Kubrick insisted that the items sold to the Smithsonian future gallery would not be used in other films, as the props from Forbidden Planet had been reused over the years (Invisible Boy, episodes of Twilight Zone, etc). And they agreed to this stipulation. In addition, there were to be many tie-ins with other companies that had supplied information on their plans for the future. All of those were to feature some of the props from 2001 as part of a marketing strategy.

Yet it seems that Kubrick himself had no control over the models fates – they belonged to the MGM and were stored in London. In the early 70's the MGM was in trouble and could no longer afford storage costs. At some point the models were very nearly scrapped or dumped; but, all of sudden, someone come their rescue. It makes for an interesting story.

In 1973 Moonraker was a success at the box office and marked a turn in Gerry Anderson career.

The year after Sir Lew Grade, head of ITC Entertainment, proposed financing a second series of the Century 21 production UFO. Two years after the 26 episodes were completed, the series was syndicated on American television and the ratings were initially promising enough to prompt ITC to commission a second season of UFO.

As the Moon-based episodes appeared to have proven more popular than the Earth-based stories, ITC insisted that in the new season, the action would take place entirely on the Moon.

Gerry Anderson proposed a format in which SHADO Moonbase had been greatly enlarged to become the organisation's main headquarters, and pre-production on UFO 2 began with extensive research and design for the new Moonbase. The Andersons and their team quickly revamped the production, flashing ahead nearly twenty years for UFO: 1999 with Commander Ed Straker and the forces of SHADO fighting their alien foes from a large new Moonbase facility.

UFO: 1999 drew a great deal of visual inspiration and technical expertise from the 1968 Stanley Kubrick film 2001: A Space Odyssey. In fact the programme's special effects director Brian Johnson had previously worked on both Thunderbirds(as Brian Johncock) - and Kubrick's 2001

In order to save money, Brian Johnson wanted to reuse 2001 props, sets and models – and thus he had an inquiry, seeking the models.

Johnson was interested in the Aries 1B lunar shuttle, although he ultimately went with an entirely different design that become the Eagle transporter.

He went to Kubrick, he went to MGM, and finally learned they had been stored in England.

In the half-hour opening episode "Zero-G" Commander Steven Maddox controlled the forces of WANDER, Earth's premier defence organisation, from Moon City, a twenty-mile wide installation on the Moon. Maddox would view all aspects of Earth defence from Central Control, a facility at the hub of the base and accessible only by Moon Hopper craft, which would require the correct pass-code to traverse Control's defensive laser barrier. The Commander would also have access to a personal computer called "Com-Com" (Commander's Computer), which would act as a personal advisor, having been programmed with the Commander's personality and moral sense.

Earth's deep space probes have discovered an advanced extraterrestrial civilisation. Maddox is kidnapped for an interview with the aliens. Angered by humanity's innate hostility and WANDER's defensive posture, they travel to Earth with the intent of isolating mankind within the boundary of Earth's atmosphere. Having judged Maddox a noble example of mankind, they return him unharmed.

The Eagle Transporter was extremely popular with UFO 1999 spectators. The Eagles serve as the primary spacecraft of Moonbase Alpha, which has a fleet of them, and are often used to explore alien planets, defend Moonbase Alpha from attack, and to transport supplies and other items to and from the Moon. The Eagle was designed by Brian Johnson who had worked with Gerry Anderson on Thunderbirds in the mid-1960s and had produced the spacecraft for the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey. The Eagle spacecraft influenced the spaceship designs of Star Wars and other science fiction films and television series.

Although no 2001 models were used for the series, Brian Johnson wadged a successful campaign against MGM to have the models preserved. He learned of Kubrick initial deal with the Smithsonian and decided he would stood as a mediator between MGM / Kubrick and the museum.

Late 1973 the MGM had a couple of trucks (and aircrafts !) loaded with the 2001 models; they were then send to Washington, DC where the Smithsonian awaited them.

Waiting for the NASM new building within four years, the models will be protected under a large tent - near missiles and rockets located outdoors near the Arts and Industries Building, in an area that is known as Rocket Row. So in some way, real rockets will meet sci-fi spacecrafts. After the opening in 1976 a dedicated 2001 gallery will open, centered around the immense Discovery model.
 
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Archibald

Banned
I'd like, too, living in this ATL world. :D

OTL fate of the 2001 models was heart breaking - with the exception of the Aries 1B model that recently miraculously apeared out of nowhere.
 
I'd like, too, living in this ATL world. :D

OTL fate of the 2001 models was heart breaking - with the exception of the Aries 1B model that recently miraculously apeared out of nowhere.

ss4.jpg

The fact are sad
after the Movie was finish in 1967, MGM stored the props at Shepperton Studios, while sets were demolish to make place for new production.
but in 1969/70 MGM pull out of Britain the studio was Sold, Gerry Anderson production of UFO had to stop and move to another studio.
Most the props of 2001 were trow out by new owner on field next to studios left to rot
props ende up at BBC and ITV production as props like UFO and Doctor WHO
from time to time, a miracle happen like Aries 1B lunar shuttle model show on public sale

Irony, the equipment Kubrick used for Filming the Huge Discovery model at Shepperton Studios remain there for other to use
Like Ridley Scott who use the those rod assembly to put the Nostromo and it's refinery on it for movie ALIEN.
By the way Scott show his crew the Kubrick Movie "Dr. Strangelove" to give look and feel for Nostromo...
 
Ooooh Yes
that would be great with those...

the 19 ft model hanging in air near Star Trek USS Enterprise
5741279287_0d334197d5.jpg


One of Spacesuits
kubrick30rv6.JPG


one EVA Pod displayed in black room
2a06509d79c9aa39c8f3f03a4bd8fa65.jpg
 

Archibald

Banned
more sci-fi

This will only come in ATL 1977 but I've also reworked Star Trek, the Motion picture according to various pilots and drafts Roddenberry did in the 1973-1976 era, none of which were Star Trek (and none of which were successful).
There were four or five atempts at TV series, and all of them are carrying similar themes, mostly post-Watergate malaise and pessimism.
:cool:
 
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Big Gemini (1)

Archibald

Banned
April 12, 1973

After launch by a modified Titan II missile, Gemini-B1 flew a ballistic suborbital arc over the Atlantic Ocean reaching a maximum altitude of 171.km. The spacecraft was run by an onboard automatic sequencer. At 6 minutes 54 seconds after launch, retrorockets were fired. The spacecraft landed 1848 nautical miles downrange from the launch pad. The flight lasted 18 minutes 16 seconds. The landing was 83 km from the recovery aircraft carrier, the USS Iwo Jima.

The spacecraft was build from the hull of a Gemini B – a modified variant of the basic NASA Gemini build for the canceled Air Force Manned Orbiting Laboratory.

Gemini-B1 carried a host of subsystems developed for the forthcoming Big Gemini, to be flown unmanned in 1975.


The package consisted of two micrometeoroid detection payloads, a transmitter beacon, a cell growth experiment, a prototype hydrogen fuel cell, a thermal control experiment, a propellent transfer and monitoring system to investigate fluid dynamics in zero gravity, a prototype attitude control system, an experiment to investigate the reflection of light in space, and an experiment into heat transfer.

The spacecraft was painted to allow it to be used as a target for an optical tracking and observation experiment from the ground.

Another similar spaceship, Gemini-B2, may be flown next year.

 
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LIVING AND WORKING IN SPACE: A HISTORY OF SKYLAB

Archibald

Banned
14 May 1973

Saturn V SA-513 launched the Skylab Orbital Workshop (OWS) space station into a 435-kilometer-high orbit about the Earth. It was America first space station, and it was marred by a host of technical glitches.

On the eve of the launch all kind of “filler” plans were discussed – by filler, read, Apollo or Skylab missions to bridge the gap between the last Skylab flight in February 1974 and the planned first flight of Helios in spring 1976.

There are talks of launching Skylab B and cross it with the ASTP mission in July 1975.

Skylab B could also be used to bridge the “space station gap” that starts with the last Skylab mission and ends with the launch of Liberty core module in 1979.

While Helios will fly in spring 1976, its capabilities will be limited. Adding the second Skylab would make for a spectacular bicentennial mission.

...

The official NASA story of Skylab is SP-4208 LIVING AND WORKING IN SPACE: A HISTORY OF SKYLAB,by Compton, W. David, and Charles D. Benson published in 1983.

CONTENTS

PREFACE

PART I. FROM CONCEPT THROUGH DECISION, 1962 - 1969

PART II. DEVELOPMENT AND PREPARATIONS TO FLY, 1969 - 1973.

PART III. THE MISSIONS AND RESULTS, 1973 - 1979


14. SAVING SKYLAB.


15. THE FIRST MISSION.


16. THE SECOND MISSION.


17. THE LAST MISSION.


18. RESULTS.


19. WHAT GOES UP - SKYLAB SECOND LIFE

- Background: the space shuttle cancellation, a new manned program: Liberty, Helios, Agena

- Skylab revival mission: a docking with a Big Gemini ?

- A target for the Agena space tug

- The Skylab revival mission

- The Cosmos 954 crisis, January 1978

- The Skylab desorbit mission - Europe and Canada enter the play

- The end of an era

- Skylab B: cancelled plans - a ground-based trainer for the next space station

APPENDIXES

SOURCE NOTES.

INDEX.


THE AUTHORS.


 
Soviets in space (9)

Archibald

Banned
July 15 1973

The OKB-1 design bureau, near Moscow


Dmitryi Ustinov literally ran into Mishin, noting the surprise, if not terror, in the man eyes.

Hardly surprising: he didn't even knew I was to visit him.


Ustinov visit had been the result of some big dissension amid Mishin deputies: no less than four of them, all top-ranking, had written a letter to the upper echelons of the Party asking for Mishin removal. It was very much a de facto coup d'état; but the deputies griefs against their boss were too big to be concealed any longer.

How can Mishin top deputies betray him like this ?

Ustinov already knew the answer. The alliance with Chelomey was only the tip of the iceberg; the true reasons of the coup d'état reached much farther in time. Back to 1969. It all started that year. And I'm mostly responsible for the current revolution.

Not that Ustinov felt any remorse !

1969 had been the year when the soviets were desperately seeking a new direction for their space program - after Apollo 8 and before Apollo 11. Aelita was too big of an endeavour for the country; the moon was lost, and that left space stations. Similarly, NASA was planning Skylab at the time.

So the Soviet Union needed a space station in a hurry.

What happened was that Chelomey actually had a space station in his shop, dubbed Almaz; a military platform akin, not to Skylab, rather to the Manned Orbiting Laboratory that had just been cancelled. That Almaz was a military platform did not really mattered - after all the soviet space program was essentially run by the military.

What really mattered was that Ustinov just hated Chelomey, so there was no way Almaz become the first soviet space station to reach orbit - even if it was the only option in hand to beat Skylab !

What Ustinov did was to literally steal Almaz empty hulls from Chelomey and give that to Mishin bureau, which was supposed to fill the hulls with Soyuz life support systems.

Yet Mishin had not been happy with the offer, because he just did not cared about Almaz or Salyut: he was first and foremost deep into Korolev old lunar program, and if he ever was to build a space station, he would build the immense MKBS complex. But it was way too far in the future to beat Skylab.

So Mishin refused to take-over Almaz from Chelomey, not by charity, but because he had no interest in it. Since his deputies disagreed, Ustinov simply bypassed Mishin to reach them, and Salyut was created by Bushuyev, Chertok, Feoktistov and Raushenbakh.

Needless to say, Mishin was furious, and that left a big scar among the once united Korolev bureau. It was that scar that bled again three years later.

Even Mishin remaining supporters - Semenov and Okhapkin - recognized their boss was a little too obsessed with Korolev lunar program, and that he somewhat neglected Salyut. The problem was since the fall of 1969, both Breznhev and Keldysh had declared future belonged to space stations and not moon landings.

Mishin did not cared about that fact. And he actively plotted with Chelomey to give him back the Salyut he had no interest in. In April 1972 the two chief designers had an informal pact.

Chelomey taking back Salyut meant Mishin could concentrate on what mattered more to him: the MKBS of course, and, above all, fulfilling Korolev dream of landing a man on the Moon. IF - and that was a big if - he could ever make the fucking N-1 lunar rocket work someday.

A fifth atempt was planned somewhere in the near future. Let's hope we won't rebuild the launch pad this time Ustinov thought warily.

When in April 1972 Ustinov learned of the Mishin - Chelomey pact he was all rage. He actually had to destroy the nascent alliance, and fortunately Mishin rebelling deputies were helping.

Korolev old bureau was literally on the brink of a civil war, and Ustinov really wanted to play both sides against each others for his own benefit and that of his lifelong friend Glushko, with its immense ambitions...

But first, he had to find a reason to sack Mishin. The rebelling deputies had found him such a reason; it was too good to be tru
 
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Soviets in space (10)

Archibald

Banned
July 31, 1973

More reasons to sack Mishin. It was all a matter of failing space stations. So far USSR totaled four atempts - three Salyut, one Almaz - with extremely mixed record.

Two years before the first Salyut actually worked, but the crew had died while returning from a record-duration flight.

A year later the second Salyut did not even reached orbit and burned miserably in the atmosphere.

Last but not least, that spring 1973 both third Salyut and first Almaz failed to beat Skylab. The former stupidly fired its orbital engines and exhausted its fuel supply; while the Almaz had literally been shot down by its launcher third stage !

The space station program had an apalling rate of failures, at a time when NASA had saved a crippled Skylab and planned an even larger station.

May marked the third failure in a row for Salyut, and Ustinov had already started a discrete campaign aimed at gathering support to find Mishin a successor. He had first assured backing from the deputies; then, from defence apparatchiks Grechko and Afanasyev, the latter making clear that, if Mishin and the lunar program were to go, the N-1 had to be kept.

Ustinov also had support from Glushko - although predictible, it was not exactly a good news, if only because the N-1 was to survive. He had scanned the list of Mishin deputies to try and find a successor among them. He was ready to act. A meeting of the VPK would happen the next month. Mishin days were counted.




***


August 14, 1973

Top ranking officials and engineers and scientists had gathered near Moscow. There were Afanasyev and Grechko, Ustinov, Glushko, Mishin - with Chelomei a marked absent, but who cared? There were matematician Keldysh and Mishin deputies Bushuyev, Chertok, Feoktistov, Okhapkin, and Semenov. Mishin evidently knew the sentence was on the wall - but so far he had defended himself bravely. He will not give up his lunar dreams nor the head of his design bureau, not like this.

And indeed, Mishin was fighting back

"Last year you all approved my L3M lunar project. Even you, Valentin." he pointed his finger toward Glushko. "Listen. If we put all our energy on the L3M, we can start building a Moonbase as early as 1980. The N-1F will fly in exactly a year; it could adapt to both the MKBS and L3M programs. I have had excellent reviews for both. You can't dismiss me."

"But those are paper projects. Your record so far with real world projects - Salyut - is not as good. Three stations lost, one crew dead, repeated docking failures. How could you build the MKBS then ?" Ustinov voice was glacial.

Okhapkin and Semenov in turn defended their boss. Okhapkin had been the faithful deputy, Semenov had totally different reasons - his father-in-law was no less than the second most powerful man in USSR, Andrei Kirilenko. Mishin knew that better than anybody – in fact it was the very reason why he had hired Semenov in the first place. Daddy political clout was more important than his son engineering talents. Didn't Chelomei started that trend two decades before - hiring Krushchev son Serguey ?

Soon Okhapkin and Semenov were overwhelmed, and silenced. It was Feoktistov that gave the final blow to Mishin.

"What about Salyut second docking port ?" he asked innocently. "Weren't you asked repeatedly to place a second docking port on Salyut, so that crew rotations would be much easier ?"
The argument was dishonest. Noone really knew how things had really happened, with Mishin sustaining that it was Ustinov that had forbidden to place the second docking port of all four first Salyuts; Ustinov saying the exact contrary; and Chelomei joyfully noting they were both wrong since he had build Almaz with two holes from the very beginning !

All in all it was the usual mix of political infighting and old hatred reaching decades away. The two-docking port controversy soon bogged down into technical details that led nowhere, until the debate died of exhaustion.

When the conversation started again Mishin and his supporters had essentially been blown away, and the debate turned to the space program future. It was Glushko that oriented the meeting in that direction.

"Shall we keep the N-1 ? I think no, and for a decade I insisted over this program utter failure. We should drop that booster, right now. I have designed a great family of rockets, the RLA - Rocket Launch Aparatus - made of building blocks clustered together for a wide range of payloads..."

Afanasyev reacted strongly. He was called the Great Hammer for obvious reasons.

"What do you suggest ? that we start another heavy lifter, from a clean sheet of paper ? And of course, you would design it. I have no doubts it might be a better vehicle than the N-1; but it would taken a decade and billion of rubbles and lot of energia... errh, energy, to make it real. We know what the situation is in our country. We need to restructure ourselves toward assembly in orbit and achieve a very high degree of reliability in docking. This will be a lot less expensive than producing another super-heavy launch vehicle.
Glushko is assuring us that the N-1 launch facilities can be used for the new series. No one has verified this in detail. Barmin maintains that this is impossible. This needs to be carefully examined. There was no Soviet man on the Moon. This is the fault of OKB-1 and our fault in general. A lunar base—in my opinion this is not a priority mission. It needs to be transferred to research work. I understand Glushko arguments against the N-1, but we can't drop it now, because the Americans have a handful of Saturn V in mothball for their future space station. We should not forgot this."

Keldysh nodded.

Glushko tried again.
"I've tentatively defined a whole family of modular, high performance rockets, the RLAs. There would be very powerful engines with four combustion chambers, that could be downscaled to two or one for smaller launchers; and those modular engines would be be part of boosters that could be clustered. With that method we could cover the whole range of payloads, from 30 tons to 250 tons in earth orbit... standardized rocket blocks, you see."


Keldysh waved him silent.

"Afanasyev is right. Listen: it happens that by a bizarre coincidence, in the aftermath of the shuttle debacle NASA focused on a space station which is outrageously similar to comrade Mishin MKBS; a hundred ton module to be launched by a moon rocket, complete with nuclear power and artificial gravity. Eerie similar, isn't it ? Meanwhile, the Air Force is bringing back the Manned Orbital Laboratory, putting hardware leftover after the program cancellation into a modified Big Gemini. This strongly suggest that we keep flying both Almaz and the TKS."

Ustinov jaw dropped. So did Glushko. By contrast, for the first since the meeting had begun Vasily Mishin looked like a happy man.

Maybe I've lost my post, but I've lost it with honour. Now let me have some fun.

"Comrades Keldysh and Afanasyev," he declared, a little smile on his face. "Vladimir Chelomei is not present today, but if he were, he would tell you we that we had in fact an agreement last year, to use the TKS as the MKBS logistic vehicle. It is an idea that makes a lot of sense. I really think we can make the N-1 work; If we drop the N-1 now, all that will remain will be a handful of Salyut or Almaz."

Mishin was delighted to see how Glushko and Ustinov took his sentence bad.

It was Keldysh that replied. "So, ok, suppose we keep that N-1 going..."

"The N-1F will fly next year." Mishin cut him.

The unflapable Keldysh continued. "we keep the N-1 going, the N-1F flies next year, but what payload for it ? the MKBS won't be ready before the end of the decade."

Mishin again. "There are plenty of lunar hardware left. I strongly suggest we atempt a fully automated mission."

To Mishin surprise, Glushko nodded. After all the two men had a common, obssessing goal: a lunar base. Glushko wanted that so much he had even endorsed Mishin L3M plans, even if they included the N-1 he hated so much !

For a second Vasily Mishin and Valentin Petrovitch Glushko fixed each other with a fragile hope in their eyes. At this very second, Mishin could read Glushko feelings exactly - because he felt the same.

A successful L3 mission, even fully automated, could turn the tide; the L3M would have an edge over damn earth orbit space stations...

Their hopes and potential alliance, however, were dashed immediately. By Sergei Afanasyev.

"The lunar program is over; by the way we military have zero interest in a lunar outpost. We like the MKBS better. What are the Americans doing ? they are planning space stations. They are also planning a couple of Viking Mars landers to seek life there."

Glushko and Mishin were stunned by the non sequitur.

Mars ?
What the hell with that planet ?

"Yes, Mars.” The Big Hammer continued. “I, Serguey Afanasyev, suggests automated Mars sample return by Lavochkin; drawing from their highly successful lunar scoopers. That would leapfrog Viking."

Afanasyev could see doubtful glances and ironic smiles all over the room. Every probe send to Mars since 1969 had ended in failure. The first lander ever had worked a mere twenty seconds before dying.
Don’t worry, comrades, I know how bad the situation has been.
"Before the sample return mission, there might be a kind of dress rehearsal - a large rover, Lunokhod style."

Afanasyev first and foremost wanted to keep the N-1 alive and for that it needed payloads, very heavy ones to justify its huge power. Mars sample return was one of these rare missions.

There was another connection between Mars and the N-1 however. Sergey Kryukov - the man that a decade before had designed the N-1 for Korolev - in 1970 Kryukov couldn't stand Mishin and he had transfered himself to Lavochkin. When Lavochkin very talented boss Babakin died of a heart attack it was Kryukov that replaced him.

Mishin was far from being convinced, but he also knew politics would rule, as usual. If the Americans were to give up the Moon to build manned space stations and robotic Mars landers, so would the Soviet Union.
What a waste, with all this hardware build and throughly tested in countless missions in earth and Moon orbit.
He thought about the circumlunar Zondand the lunar orbit Soyuz, the LK lunar lander, the Block D propulsive stage, the Lunokhod rovers to move the crew from an ailing LK to a backup lander.

Each of these vehicle had left a trail of cutting-edge hardware that would never be flown - instead gathering dust in a corner of some contractor plant, or collecting snow somewhere in the steppe near Baikonur. Vasily Mishin closed its fists in anger.

Something has to be saved.

As the meeting broke, Mishin was already assembling a plan to save and store as much lunar hardware as possible. Barmin - I need him in my conspiracy. Vladimir Pavlovich Barmin had been the master designer of soviet rocket launch pads. Then he had been recruited by Korolev himself to design a lunar base. If someone was to help Mishin hiding moonships in Baikonur with the final objective of bringing a lunar program back someday, it would be Barmin.

Meanwhile a furious Glushko cornered Ustinov. They climbed into the same car, the driver crossing Moscow suburbs at good pace.

"Listen. We can make without the N-1. I did some calculations: we can piece together a handful of TKS, Almaz, and Salyut. We can build a modular space station using Proton rockets, or a better medium-lift launcher. But the N-1 can only carry air. Please: let me takeover Mishin bureau, and blend it with my own engine factory. "

Here we are. Ustinov sighed.

"I'm sorry, Valentin. I can certainly remove Mishin; I can kill the lunar program; I can certainly help you. But the N-1 is harder to erase since the Americans are mothballing some of their Saturns. If I make you head of TskBEM instead of Mishin, I'm affraid you'll have to keep the N-1 going.”

He could see Glushko took the last sentence pretty bad. After all he hated the N-1 as much as Ustinov hated Chelomei; he would have had to go against his own ambition. How could Glushko be willing to remain the general designer of a rocket that he had not been involved in developing ?

“You heard Keldysh arguments; his opinion is shared by Smirnov, and together they have direct access to old Breznhev. Do you remember that American project, the space shuttle ? Do you you know their opinion about it ?"


"Tell me" Glushko was all rage.

"Well, they couldn't figure how on Earth NASA economic case for the shuttle made sense. The damn economists planned, can you believe it ? 700 flights over the first twelve years of operations. That mounted to 20 000 tons in Earth orbit ! Then we heard that the shuttle would lift off from a military base in California, fly a single polar orbit and land at the same place. Keldysh slapped his forehead and came to the conclusion the shuttle was to be a nuclear bomber the polar orbit would take above Moscow without a warning, overwhelming our A35 anti-missile system.”

What ?”

Keldysh saw the shuttle as a cross between a B-52 and a Minuteman.

Like the B-52, it is manned and winged so it is flexible.

Like a Minuteman, it is rocket powered to hypersonic speeds far above the atmosphere.

Now, we know how to shoot a B-52, with our SA-2 missiles. As for Minutemans, the A35 can do it. But the shuttle ! Imagine it flew a depressed trajectory and sneaked between the two layers of missiles, somewhat too fast for the SAMs and too low for the ABM. So we should need to build a carbon copy of it, for the sake of mutual assured detruction terror."

Glushko rolled his eyes.

"The shuttle a nuclear bomber ?" he exclaimed. "Who is Keldysh kidding ?the damn spaceplane was to seat on a fat tank crammed with cryogenic propellants that have to be refill anytime. The way I see it, the shuttle seating on that immense Apollo launch gantry would make a perfect target to any missile. Hell, with a bit of luck even a plain old Tupolev Tu-95 could blew it."
Glushko laughed at the vision.

"Oh, the military was no fool either. Grechko certainly dismissed the shuttle nuclear threat as bollocks, just like you did. Their opinion did not mattered, however, because the campaign actually bypassed the military. Whatever you think of the argument, it finally reached Brezhnev."

"And what was Brezhnev reaction ?"

"We are not country bumpkins here. Let us make an effort and find the money. That what he said. Can you believe it ?"


Glushko shook his head in disbelief. "The space shuttle a nuclear bomber. It says a lot about Breznhev shape after his stroke."

"Well, it is not all Keldysh fault, and in fact it makes for an interesting story.
Two years ago some young and zealous guys from the Institute of Applied Mathematics (IPM) figured out in advance the possible orbits of the Space Shuttle allowing for possible maneuvers in the atmosphere at 2,000 kilometers clear of ballistic orbit. They scared Keldysh, and he reported to Ustinov, and then to Brezhnev.
It turned out that the Space Shuttle, flying far from our borders, having lulled the missile defense (PRO) and air defense (PVO) into a false sense of security, could suddenly execute a maneuver—a ‘dash to the north,’ and, flying over Moscow, could drop a 25-ton thermonuclear bomb with an explosive yield of at least 25 megatons there."


Glushko still couldn't believe what Ustinov had told him. Was Keldysh turning senile like Breznhev ? Was a soviet shuttle on the pipeline ? or MiG Spiral ? He dismissed that hypothesis. For all the high-ranking meetings he had attended, he still had to found a supporter for a soviet space shuttle. And Spiral blue-sky engineering did not helped.

"Back to our future. I'm furious we can't destroy the N-1; but I still think we can topple it in other ways. If I can't blown the damn white elephant, I have no interest in Mishin design bureau. Give me Chelomei head instead; I know you hate him."

Ustinov was taken aback by the proposal. Glushko was hammering him with arguments.

"It would make some sense; we could take Salyut out of Mishin bureau (he doesn't want it in the first place), and join it with Almaz. That way they could concentrate on the MKBS; and I could piece together a modular space station from FGBs, Salyut and Almaz, as a backup to the monolithic orbital complex.

I could also design a Soyuz successor from the TKS. And I could build a new family of boosters to replace, first the Proton, then the smaller Soyuz, and, at the end of the next decade, the fucking N-1. The Proton propellants are toxic and dangerous; the Soyuz is growing old; while the N-1 was flawed from day one, and still is. If I can't kill the N-1 directly, I'll make it obsolete over time. But I need your help."

Ustinov did not answered. The car had reached the office where he worked, and he still had a difficult decision to make. Glushko insisted a last time before mercifully leaving him alone. As he went to his office, Ustinov dug a list out of his pocket.

It was a list of Mishin potential successors. Ustinov had drawn it from two major events: the 1969 Salyut conspiracy, and the anti-Mishin cabal at the beginning of the year.

Okhapkin ranked number two; he had been a faithfull deputy for years. But the man, like that young, talented Semenov, had supported the alliance with Chelomei. This simple fact evidently discredited them.

Feoktistov then ? he was certainly talented, and an astronaut with that - he had flown Voskhod 1 a decade earlier. But Feoktistov had a major default. To the amazement of many, he hadnever joined the communist party.


Bushuyev perhaps ? Bushuyev had refused to bring the Salyut conspiracy to Ustinov in the first place - leaving that task to Feoktistov. In Glushko view he was a bit too loyal to Mishin but, most worryingly, he was deep into Apollo-Soyuz, with his name revealed to the Americans. If they made that man the successor of Mishin, he would inevitably draw attentions of western observers. And that was absolutely undesirable.

That only left a single candidate.

Boris Chertok.
 
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Finally caught back up with this.

IOTL, the N1 was easier to kill off, as once Glushko succeeded Mishin, it's poor record combined with STS being in development, he did not need to put much effort into convincing the others that the N1 was an obsolete failure AFAIK.

Here though, with the Saturn V being retained to an extent, and STS off the cards, what the USSR wants to do is rather...open to discussion. It still seems to me that they're seeking to maintain parity with the US in this regard, but the equipment they have for the job isn't nearly as up to the task, as even if the N1 can be made reliable, it's still an elderly design that leaves little room for further growth and development.

Something about the N1, N11, and N111 you've shown. those images suggest that they're just lopping the lower stages off and expecting the others to do the job, but with the N111, the upper stages are very ill-suited to the revised task demanded of them and would need substantial work to correct this obvious failing. One reason I see them having to design new upper stages for the N111, and perhaps the N11 as well.
 

Archibald

Banned
My drawings skills are pathetic - fortunately I found a member (Concured) which did some artwork for this TL.
I do know that rockets are not lego - you can't really chop stages.
 
In 2001: a Space-Time odysses
Spacegeek and I went for N1 family
But a modified version aus OTL
Less Engine In first Stage But with more thrust as NK-15
Used also on second stage or on N2

N3 use in ASTO that Engine in first Stage
Second Stage is TLI Stage and thrid is block D
Also another payload faring as for Lunar N1 or orbital N2

The Príncipe of N rocket is to mass produce the Upper Stage for various Mission
Like Military Satellite with N3 and N2 and two lunar Mission N1/year
This reduce the Cost by using One and Same Hardware als LEGO set :D
Compair to OTL dual use of R7 Soyuz and Proton rocket
Last One needed it own Launch Infrastructure and fuel Production.
What was Not cheap
 
Soviets in space (11)

Archibald

Banned
In October 1974 Valentin Glushko officially took control of Chelomei TsKBM design bureau. The next year Glushko had two major decisions. First, he stopped the Almaz program. OPS-1 had failed in the weeks before Skylab, but a year later late June 1974 OPS-2 was more successful. Then Glushko took controls, and stroke back.

OPS-3 that was to launch the next year was grounded. Secondly, Glushko had the Salyut program transferred back from OKB-1 to his shop. Salyut and Almaz being very similar, it was logical to have the two space station programs under the same roof.

Lastly that same year 1975 the TKS (now part of Glushko empire) was confirmed as the future MKBS crew and cargo vehicle, killing the unmanned Soyuz – Progress – in the process. After cancellation of OPS-3 two Almaz hulls remained at the plant - OPS-4 being under construction at the time.
 
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Archibald

Banned
OTL Glushko conquested the whole manned space program, first as the chief of the new NPO energia, and later Ustinov grounded Chelomei projects.

OTL Glushko domination was absolute.

ITTL the N-1 must survive because NASA had a handful of Saturn V in mothball.
A surviving N-1 is unbearable to Glusko. So his OTL way of total domination can't happen.

Instead he is given Chelomei workshop - it is a consolation prize from Ustinov, who hates Chelomei.
So Glushko adquires Almaz, TKS and Proton - and Salyut (because OKB-1 has too much projects on its plate)

Glushko will then run his own parallel space program, with the Proton garanting access to space (this is typical duplicate waste of money that ultimately sunk the Soviet Union !)

Just like OTL poor Chelomei is the victim of his allegiance to Kruchtchev all these years before... Ustinov hate him.
 

Archibald

Banned
Finally caught back up with this.

IOTL, the N1 was easier to kill off, as once Glushko succeeded Mishin, it's poor record combined with STS being in development, he did not need to put much effort into convincing the others that the N1 was an obsolete failure AFAIK.

Here though, with the Saturn V being retained to an extent, and STS off the cards, what the USSR wants to do is rather...open to discussion. It still seems to me that they're seeking to maintain parity with the US in this regard, but the equipment they have for the job isn't nearly as up to the task, as even if the N1 can be made reliable, it's still an elderly design that leaves little room for further growth and development.

Something about the N1, N11, and N111 you've shown. those images suggest that they're just lopping the lower stages off and expecting the others to do the job, but with the N111, the upper stages are very ill-suited to the revised task demanded of them and would need substantial work to correct this obvious failing. One reason I see them having to design new upper stages for the N111, and perhaps the N11 as well.

I've used their wikipedia pages to compare the N-1 upper stages (N-11!) and the Proton.
They are not too dissimilar - N-11 first stage has more power but Proton upper stages are better.
 
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