On the shoulders of Apollo
- Thread starter Archibald
- Start date
Seems more like Chenalyb... Chenaly... Russian dash-cam asteroid from last year.
I'm having a lot of trouble seeing how a change in space policy, however hand-waved, could cause butterflies enough in orbital trajectories for San Francisco to be hit by an asteroid in 1967. Given you were already having space policy changed without much explanation, this comes off as a more than a bit gratuitous and ASB. Especially with the apparent reaction being, "Man, all that death and fire? That was totally metal!"
Archibald
Banned
Let's be clear: it's kind of Tchelyabinsk, not Tungska, in the sense that the meteor bursted high in the air without a true impact, just an enormous shockwave.
E of pi - space policy didn't changed so far. The manned Mars flyby + MSR thing was briefly considered in Houston during the first half of 1967, until August. I've found a number of 1967 documents dealing with that via Google books.
The PSAC report is also OTL.
As for ASB - ok, maybe you have a point. In defense: the Arietids come every year (at varied intensity, admittedly) and I have tracked two impacts related to them, in 1932 and 2006.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arietids
http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?showtopic=2837
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2011LPI....42.1368M
E of pi - space policy didn't changed so far. The manned Mars flyby + MSR thing was briefly considered in Houston during the first half of 1967, until August. I've found a number of 1967 documents dealing with that via Google books.
The PSAC report is also OTL.
As for ASB - ok, maybe you have a point. In defense: the Arietids come every year (at varied intensity, admittedly) and I have tracked two impacts related to them, in 1932 and 2006.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arietids
http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?showtopic=2837
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2011LPI....42.1368M
Archibald
Banned
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Ok, the last chapter was a bit weird, admittedly. Time for more serious matters.
[/FONT]ON THE SHOULDERS Of APOLLO, PART 5[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
"The San Fransico event impacted (pun intended) the life of planetary scientist Eugene Merle Shoemaker. It was him who led the charge, the [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Icarus[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] report under his arm..." [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]"With Leonor Helin and using the Palomar 48 inch reflector Shoemaker found that 1566 Icarus had shed some big fragments, making the Arietids more menacing. The San Fransisco impact happened during the meteor shower peak mid June. Another debris had a mostly similar trajectory, and it was bigger." [/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]"The debris was just big enough and his trajectory close enough from Earth to cause some worries. Shoemaker was adamant the chance of impact was minimal, but he felt ground-based observations were not precise enough. An in situ close up flyby was needed, but there were not many space probes on the pad that could be hijacked. Mariner 5, Venera 4 and an unfortunate twin Cosmos 167 had left (or failed to left) Earth for Venus only days or weeks before the impact.
At the end of June 1967 when meeting Alex Kosygin at Glassboro, President Johnson nonetheless inquired about Soviet space probes – could a Venera lander be hijacked to Icarus offspring ? But Kosygin answer was nothing could be ready before early 1968 at best. The last option left was Lunar Orbiter 5, to be launched early August 1967. And so it was. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]"The most desirable option" Gene Shoemaker said to the worried men standing in the Oval Office that day of July 1967 "would be to rendezvous with Icarus when it reached aphelion—the slowest point in its orbit—in November 1967. At that point it would be easiest to rendezvous with the asteroid and easiest to exert force to change its orbit. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]But such a mission would have to be launched in spring 1967, and so it was out of the question. The MIT group quickly determined that no rockets could conceivably be readied before 1968 and this greatly constrained their options.
A slow rendezvous, or even a soft landing, is totally out of the question: Icarus would be moving too fast by 1968 for a spacecraft to reach it and then reverse direction for a rendezvous.
The only option was a fast intercept—fly out to Icarus and detonate a bomb near the surface to change its course. In this case the best way to get the most payload to Icarus would be to launch two modified Saturn V rockets into orbit. These would rendezvous with an Apollo “space tug” launched atop a Titan III rocket. The space tug would connect up the modified S-IVB third stages from the Saturns. They would then be used to push a relatively large spacecraft out to Icarus where it would detonate a large nuclear weapon. But there are many problems with this proposal.
The Saturn S-IVB third stages are not designed to carry fuel in orbit for more than six hours and would require extensive modification. A spacecraft would also have to be designed form scratch and built in under a year. Most importantly, the on-orbit operations required to link up the large craft were extensive and unproven. There would be no way to practice. This plan was rejected.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]"What the group ultimately decided to do was to take six Saturn V rockets then in production, and with only minimal modifications to their payloads use them to carry smaller bombs to Icarus. The first launch would have to take place by April 1968, only a year away, and five more launches would have to follow at two-week increments." [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]"So there goes the Apollo program ?" the President asked dryly. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]"Nope. Whatever happened, Icarus won't slam into the planet, not in year, never. Unfortunately the asteroid spanned some offsprings. We already knew about the Arietids for a long time; they are usually harmless. But that situation changed. Considering Icarus size, it probably didn't spanned much larger rocks. Still, now we have one on a collision course with us..." [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]"Are we doomed ?"[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]"Nope. The chance of it ever colliding with Earth are minimal. Listen. Saturn V S-IVB has been build to push the CSM-LM stack out of Earth gravity well, all 100 000 ponds of it. There's no reason a Saturn V couldn't push an equal amount of conventional explosives in the direction of the threatening asteroid, which is much smaller than Icarus itself."
[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]"Only three decades later was the secret protocol revealed; that is, the US military had modified a couple of Titan II 9 Mt W53 warheads to be carried aboard Saturn 501. Although that rocket maiden flight was perfect, Saturn 502, launched on April 4 1968, was by contrast a rocky flight. The mind shudder at the thinking of megatonic warheads riding that balky booster, which S-IVB was so shaken and battered it failed to restart. The nukes would have been stranded into Earth orbit !" [/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]"Lunar Orbiter 5 has been officially re-programmed from the Moon to Icarus fragment. In turn this mean that, to achieve complete coverage of the lunar surface for Apollo, the backup Lunar Orbiter 6 that was canned by NASA in April will return to the flight manifest. Yet scientists complain that if coverage is to be achieved then science will be neglected once again. They ask for more Lunar Orbiter probes, but the program has already be wound down a while back.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]--------------------
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]December 24, 1968 [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Public Affairs Officer
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]"This is Apollo Control Houston, we estimate another 7 or 8 minutes before Apollo 8 Command and Service Module will separate from the S-IVB. We have not heard from the crew in the last few minutes, they're busy doing post TLI duties and we are looking at data here and everything we see is quite comforting. That is the next major event, separation from the booster, three hours and twenty minutes into a historical flight..."
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:20:28 Collins:Roger. We have you about 30 seconds prior to separation, and everything's looking good.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:20:33 Borman:Roger. Call you again after separation, Houston. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:20:39 Lovell :Okay, I'm coming up on 15 seconds to Sep.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:20:42 Borman:Alright.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:20:45 Lovell:10 seconds to go.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:20:48 Anders:You in Auto?[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:20:50 Borman:Yes, Auto, Auto, right.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:20:52 Anders:Okay, at zero, turn Hand Controller counter-clockwise, plus-X, and hold. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Jim Lovell occupied the left-hand seat and has access to the Translation Hand Controller. By turning the controller and pushing it forward, he fired the plus-X thrusters. When separation occurred the CSM immediately began moving away from the S-IVB. After three seconds, the vehicles separated and Lovell continued firing forward for a further five seconds.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]A complex sequence of events now unfolded without a glitch. A guillotine first severed the electrical connections between Apollo and the S-IVB; then a train of explosive cords cut the metal structure joining Apollo to the conical adapter to allow the spacecraft to come free. The conical adapter was cut into four long sections which were now only joined to the S-IVB by spring loaded partial hinges at the centre of their lower edge. Pyrotechnic thrusters, mounted within the intact portion of the adapter, forced pistons to push on the outside edge of each four section, causing them to begin rotating away from the vehicle's centreline. With the panels rotated about 45°, the hinges disengaged, allowing the springs within the hinge assembly to push the panels away.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:21:00 Anders:3 seconds, Launch Vehicle Tank Pressure indicator, zero; CM/LV Sep; Translational Contr, Neutral; plus-X, Off; TVC Servo Power 1, Off. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Sitting on top of the now peeled-off S-IVB, and revealed for the first time was the Secondary Payload, a passenger that replaced Grumman-not yet-ready Lunar Module. [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:21:37 Lovell:There's one adapter panel.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:21:39 Anders:After this camera [garble].[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:21:46 Borman:Man, where's the S-IVB? Anybody see it, now?[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:21:49 Lovell:There it is![/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:21:50 Borman:You found it?[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:21:51 Lovell:Right in the middle. Right in the middle of my window. There's not a panel around.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:21:55 Borman: What a view![/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:21:58 Collins: Looks pretty good, huh?[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:21:58 Lovell:Give me the camera.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:21:59 Anders:Well, we've got some still pictures we can take...[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:22:01 Lovell:Could you pitch a little more?[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:22:02 Borman:Yes.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:22:03 Anders:We haven't got in here, yet.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:22:12 Anders: We've Separated Houston. We got the S-IVB and its payload, right in sight.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:22:16 Capcom Michael Collins: Roger, Apollo 8. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Jim Lovell turned the camera toward the payload stuck to the S-IVB, puzzled. There should have been a ballast there, a big chunk of instrumented metal called the Lunar-Module Test Article, or LTA. With Grumman Lunar Module still two months in the future NASA engineers would have had to fly the Saturn V with only the load of the Apollo on top. And they disliked that, for good reasons. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]By contrast with a near perfect maiden launch, Saturn V second flight, coincidentally set the very day Martin Luther King had been assassinated - April 4, 1968 - had been an utter disaster. The booster had suffered violent vibrations in flight, nearly tearing itself apart, shaking over its whole length like a pogo stick, with disastrous results.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Engines had shut down with pieces of the booster skin falling apart; astronauts would certainly have been injured had the flight been manned. For a moment it looked as if the next Saturn V would have to be flown unmanned again. Marshall's position after that had been that the Saturn control system was extremely sensitive to payload weight; von Braun engineers feared any change in the established weights might bring the destructive pogo back.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]So further ballast was required to bring the payload's mass towards a figure that the launch vehicle's control system could handle. In simple English, a payload of seven tons had to fill the Lunar Module empty slot set below the crewed Apollo and above the S-IVB. And that was the Secondary Payload role, at least initially. Early on it had been as if a dumb chunk of metal could do the job, but soon George Low changed its mind, resulting in that payload stuck to the top of Apollo 8 S-IVB. The Lunar Mapping and Survey System was also set to replace Lunar Orbiter 5 that had been sent to the asteroid.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Of course the once cancelled Lunar Orbiter 6 backup had been flown late 1967, but there had been a lot of tensions between the scientists that wanted it to study geology and the engineers that only cared about plotting Apollo future landing spots. As a result of the asteroid mess and Lunar Orbiter 5 hijacking there were enough gaps in the photographic coverage of the Moon surface that Apollo 8 ultimately had to carry a LMSS.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Lovell hold on its camera: orders had been clear enough. Taking picture of the S-IVB payload was absolutely forbidden. [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Those National Reconnaissance Office paranoid officers[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]. Lovell rolled his eyes.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]As incredible as it sounded, Apollo 8 was to carry a spy satellite - a machine straight out of a James Bond movie - around the Moon. The cynically named [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Key Holes[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] snapped argentic pictures before the precious film was dropped into a reentry capsule. The film bucket then parachuted itself over the Pacific, where it was snapped in flight by a military cargo aircraft that brought it back to Hawaii, where it caught a flight to the United States and the NRO headquarters. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]That cumbersome process obviously no longer worked around the Moon.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]On Christmas Day 1968, as Apollo 8 prepared to shoot out of lunar orbit in the direction of Earth, Anders opened the hatch that would someday led into the Lunar Module - and History. The Key Hole was stuck there; the powerful camera system was so heavy it massed half of a Lunar Module, a good 15 000 pounds.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Frank Borman literally crawled into the spy satellite, where he painstakingly retrieved the film bucket. The hatch closed and the film safely tucked, the spy satellite was cast away and abandonned into lunar orbit. It would soon crash on the surface.
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
[/FONT]
(Picture from Giuseppe de Chiarra, an extremely talented artist)
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February 1969
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]"On behalf of President Johnson the National Space Council chaired by Vice President Hubert Humphrey carefully reviewed options from many sources - NASA internal planning documents, the President Science Advisory Council, and the National Academies Lunar and Planetary Mission Board (LPMB). [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]A host of possible options concerning manned spaceflight future have been reviewed, ranging from low Earth orbit activities, either through Apollo Aplications or advanced hardware like the space shuttle and a permanent space station; to lunar missions, once again either as an offspring of Apollo or through the establishment of a lunar base via a reusable nuclear shuttle (RNS). Attention was also given to manned planetary missions. Beside a Mars landing, the space council reviewed planetary flybys to Venus and Mars, with the eventual addition of sample return probes. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
The Space Council believe that ongoing lunar exploration through Apollo should continue in earnest.
We believe that the primary goal of manned space flight in the 1970’s which should be planned now is the scientific exploration of the moon, by both equipment and occasional manned landings using upgraded versions of the present Apollo system. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Alternatives for this choice are a commitment next year to a manned landing on Mars, which some of us believe could be carried out in the early or middle 1980’s, if sufficient effort were made; or an earth orbital space station to house perhaps six to nine men who would make occasional trips to and from Earth. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]A great majority of the task force opposes a commitment to a manned Mars landing at this time. We believe that the space program in this second decade should not be built around a single monolithic goal on a fixed timetable. The task force also recognizes that a Mars landing in the early or middle 1980’s would require a substantial expansion of the NASA budget in the next few years. We also proposes that the space station receive further study without a binding commitment until its design and purposes are more clearly delineated and the possibilities of a radical reduction in the future of costs of transportation to orbit are more firmly established. It appears that the Apollo Applications program for manned flight, also scheduled for the 70’s might serve many of the purposes of a space station. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]The Space Council heard, among many other guests, astrogeologist Eugene Shoemaker, who after managing the Ranger, Surveyors and Lunar Orbiter robotic programs is currently training Apollo astronauts. Learning from the June 18, 1967 event Shoemaker forged the concept of Flexible Path. Flexible Path is an innovative approach reworking Apollo Applications in the direction of asteroid exploration, with the ultimate goal of a landing on asteroid Eros in the year 1975.
In preparation of that landing, Apollo Applications would focuse on a) long duration missions using spent or dry workshops in Earth orbit and b) Apollo lunar landings to explore the Moon, including possible asteroid impacts on Earth satellite.
Unlike Earth, the Moon has no erosion to mask craters, although serious doubts remains about their origin. In the aftermath of the 1967 event it became of uttermost importance to determine whether the lunar craters are of volcanic or meteoritic origin.
If the latter hypothesis was confirmed, then it might be possible to estimate the rate of impacts over long period of time. According to Shoemaker "only a human brain can pick the most valuable rocks, the ones a robot would wheel past without noticing." [/FONT]
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September 1969
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Gene Shoemaker pointed an area of the Moon. The resolution was just jaw dropping; the LMSS had imaged the lunar surface at a resolution of 10 inch, no less. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]"This is Davy Rille. You can see a perfect alignement of craters, eleven of them. Much like every planetary scientist, I until recently believed those craters were of volcanic origin. Yet in the wake 1967 impact I asked myself whether an asteroid might have broken into various fragments that would have impacted the Moon separately. that was only a wild hypotheis, but that LMSS picture brought further interesting clues. Yet they remain unconclusive; we need boots of the ground as soon as possible." [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Shoemaker smiled. He knew that recently another jaw dropping LMSS picture had found its way to President Johnson White House. It showed Tycho crater of [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]2001[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] fame, and clearly visible on the crater rim stood a rectangular box - not a monolith but the defunct Surveyor 7. He had used that picture to push the Planetary and Lunar Mission Board own agenda, that is, lunar science and geology [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]before[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] engineering when planning Apollo missions. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Shoemaker had its revenge over many years of frustrations. To think he had considered leaving Apollo altogether back ! [/FONT]
[/FONT]ON THE SHOULDERS Of APOLLO, PART 5[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
"The San Fransico event impacted (pun intended) the life of planetary scientist Eugene Merle Shoemaker. It was him who led the charge, the [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Icarus[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] report under his arm..." [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]"With Leonor Helin and using the Palomar 48 inch reflector Shoemaker found that 1566 Icarus had shed some big fragments, making the Arietids more menacing. The San Fransisco impact happened during the meteor shower peak mid June. Another debris had a mostly similar trajectory, and it was bigger." [/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]"The debris was just big enough and his trajectory close enough from Earth to cause some worries. Shoemaker was adamant the chance of impact was minimal, but he felt ground-based observations were not precise enough. An in situ close up flyby was needed, but there were not many space probes on the pad that could be hijacked. Mariner 5, Venera 4 and an unfortunate twin Cosmos 167 had left (or failed to left) Earth for Venus only days or weeks before the impact.
At the end of June 1967 when meeting Alex Kosygin at Glassboro, President Johnson nonetheless inquired about Soviet space probes – could a Venera lander be hijacked to Icarus offspring ? But Kosygin answer was nothing could be ready before early 1968 at best. The last option left was Lunar Orbiter 5, to be launched early August 1967. And so it was. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]"The most desirable option" Gene Shoemaker said to the worried men standing in the Oval Office that day of July 1967 "would be to rendezvous with Icarus when it reached aphelion—the slowest point in its orbit—in November 1967. At that point it would be easiest to rendezvous with the asteroid and easiest to exert force to change its orbit. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]But such a mission would have to be launched in spring 1967, and so it was out of the question. The MIT group quickly determined that no rockets could conceivably be readied before 1968 and this greatly constrained their options.
A slow rendezvous, or even a soft landing, is totally out of the question: Icarus would be moving too fast by 1968 for a spacecraft to reach it and then reverse direction for a rendezvous.
The only option was a fast intercept—fly out to Icarus and detonate a bomb near the surface to change its course. In this case the best way to get the most payload to Icarus would be to launch two modified Saturn V rockets into orbit. These would rendezvous with an Apollo “space tug” launched atop a Titan III rocket. The space tug would connect up the modified S-IVB third stages from the Saturns. They would then be used to push a relatively large spacecraft out to Icarus where it would detonate a large nuclear weapon. But there are many problems with this proposal.
The Saturn S-IVB third stages are not designed to carry fuel in orbit for more than six hours and would require extensive modification. A spacecraft would also have to be designed form scratch and built in under a year. Most importantly, the on-orbit operations required to link up the large craft were extensive and unproven. There would be no way to practice. This plan was rejected.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]"What the group ultimately decided to do was to take six Saturn V rockets then in production, and with only minimal modifications to their payloads use them to carry smaller bombs to Icarus. The first launch would have to take place by April 1968, only a year away, and five more launches would have to follow at two-week increments." [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]"So there goes the Apollo program ?" the President asked dryly. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]"Nope. Whatever happened, Icarus won't slam into the planet, not in year, never. Unfortunately the asteroid spanned some offsprings. We already knew about the Arietids for a long time; they are usually harmless. But that situation changed. Considering Icarus size, it probably didn't spanned much larger rocks. Still, now we have one on a collision course with us..." [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]"Are we doomed ?"[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]"Nope. The chance of it ever colliding with Earth are minimal. Listen. Saturn V S-IVB has been build to push the CSM-LM stack out of Earth gravity well, all 100 000 ponds of it. There's no reason a Saturn V couldn't push an equal amount of conventional explosives in the direction of the threatening asteroid, which is much smaller than Icarus itself."
[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]"Only three decades later was the secret protocol revealed; that is, the US military had modified a couple of Titan II 9 Mt W53 warheads to be carried aboard Saturn 501. Although that rocket maiden flight was perfect, Saturn 502, launched on April 4 1968, was by contrast a rocky flight. The mind shudder at the thinking of megatonic warheads riding that balky booster, which S-IVB was so shaken and battered it failed to restart. The nukes would have been stranded into Earth orbit !" [/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]"Lunar Orbiter 5 has been officially re-programmed from the Moon to Icarus fragment. In turn this mean that, to achieve complete coverage of the lunar surface for Apollo, the backup Lunar Orbiter 6 that was canned by NASA in April will return to the flight manifest. Yet scientists complain that if coverage is to be achieved then science will be neglected once again. They ask for more Lunar Orbiter probes, but the program has already be wound down a while back.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]--------------------
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]December 24, 1968 [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Public Affairs Officer
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]"This is Apollo Control Houston, we estimate another 7 or 8 minutes before Apollo 8 Command and Service Module will separate from the S-IVB. We have not heard from the crew in the last few minutes, they're busy doing post TLI duties and we are looking at data here and everything we see is quite comforting. That is the next major event, separation from the booster, three hours and twenty minutes into a historical flight..."
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:20:28 Collins:Roger. We have you about 30 seconds prior to separation, and everything's looking good.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:20:33 Borman:Roger. Call you again after separation, Houston. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:20:39 Lovell :Okay, I'm coming up on 15 seconds to Sep.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:20:42 Borman:Alright.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:20:45 Lovell:10 seconds to go.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:20:48 Anders:You in Auto?[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:20:50 Borman:Yes, Auto, Auto, right.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:20:52 Anders:Okay, at zero, turn Hand Controller counter-clockwise, plus-X, and hold. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Jim Lovell occupied the left-hand seat and has access to the Translation Hand Controller. By turning the controller and pushing it forward, he fired the plus-X thrusters. When separation occurred the CSM immediately began moving away from the S-IVB. After three seconds, the vehicles separated and Lovell continued firing forward for a further five seconds.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]A complex sequence of events now unfolded without a glitch. A guillotine first severed the electrical connections between Apollo and the S-IVB; then a train of explosive cords cut the metal structure joining Apollo to the conical adapter to allow the spacecraft to come free. The conical adapter was cut into four long sections which were now only joined to the S-IVB by spring loaded partial hinges at the centre of their lower edge. Pyrotechnic thrusters, mounted within the intact portion of the adapter, forced pistons to push on the outside edge of each four section, causing them to begin rotating away from the vehicle's centreline. With the panels rotated about 45°, the hinges disengaged, allowing the springs within the hinge assembly to push the panels away.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:21:00 Anders:3 seconds, Launch Vehicle Tank Pressure indicator, zero; CM/LV Sep; Translational Contr, Neutral; plus-X, Off; TVC Servo Power 1, Off. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Sitting on top of the now peeled-off S-IVB, and revealed for the first time was the Secondary Payload, a passenger that replaced Grumman-not yet-ready Lunar Module. [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:21:37 Lovell:There's one adapter panel.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:21:39 Anders:After this camera [garble].[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:21:46 Borman:Man, where's the S-IVB? Anybody see it, now?[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:21:49 Lovell:There it is![/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:21:50 Borman:You found it?[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:21:51 Lovell:Right in the middle. Right in the middle of my window. There's not a panel around.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:21:55 Borman: What a view![/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:21:58 Collins: Looks pretty good, huh?[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:21:58 Lovell:Give me the camera.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:21:59 Anders:Well, we've got some still pictures we can take...[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:22:01 Lovell:Could you pitch a little more?[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:22:02 Borman:Yes.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:22:03 Anders:We haven't got in here, yet.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:22:12 Anders: We've Separated Houston. We got the S-IVB and its payload, right in sight.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]003:22:16 Capcom Michael Collins: Roger, Apollo 8. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Jim Lovell turned the camera toward the payload stuck to the S-IVB, puzzled. There should have been a ballast there, a big chunk of instrumented metal called the Lunar-Module Test Article, or LTA. With Grumman Lunar Module still two months in the future NASA engineers would have had to fly the Saturn V with only the load of the Apollo on top. And they disliked that, for good reasons. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]By contrast with a near perfect maiden launch, Saturn V second flight, coincidentally set the very day Martin Luther King had been assassinated - April 4, 1968 - had been an utter disaster. The booster had suffered violent vibrations in flight, nearly tearing itself apart, shaking over its whole length like a pogo stick, with disastrous results.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Engines had shut down with pieces of the booster skin falling apart; astronauts would certainly have been injured had the flight been manned. For a moment it looked as if the next Saturn V would have to be flown unmanned again. Marshall's position after that had been that the Saturn control system was extremely sensitive to payload weight; von Braun engineers feared any change in the established weights might bring the destructive pogo back.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]So further ballast was required to bring the payload's mass towards a figure that the launch vehicle's control system could handle. In simple English, a payload of seven tons had to fill the Lunar Module empty slot set below the crewed Apollo and above the S-IVB. And that was the Secondary Payload role, at least initially. Early on it had been as if a dumb chunk of metal could do the job, but soon George Low changed its mind, resulting in that payload stuck to the top of Apollo 8 S-IVB. The Lunar Mapping and Survey System was also set to replace Lunar Orbiter 5 that had been sent to the asteroid.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Of course the once cancelled Lunar Orbiter 6 backup had been flown late 1967, but there had been a lot of tensions between the scientists that wanted it to study geology and the engineers that only cared about plotting Apollo future landing spots. As a result of the asteroid mess and Lunar Orbiter 5 hijacking there were enough gaps in the photographic coverage of the Moon surface that Apollo 8 ultimately had to carry a LMSS.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Lovell hold on its camera: orders had been clear enough. Taking picture of the S-IVB payload was absolutely forbidden. [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Those National Reconnaissance Office paranoid officers[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]. Lovell rolled his eyes.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]As incredible as it sounded, Apollo 8 was to carry a spy satellite - a machine straight out of a James Bond movie - around the Moon. The cynically named [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Key Holes[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] snapped argentic pictures before the precious film was dropped into a reentry capsule. The film bucket then parachuted itself over the Pacific, where it was snapped in flight by a military cargo aircraft that brought it back to Hawaii, where it caught a flight to the United States and the NRO headquarters. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]That cumbersome process obviously no longer worked around the Moon.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]On Christmas Day 1968, as Apollo 8 prepared to shoot out of lunar orbit in the direction of Earth, Anders opened the hatch that would someday led into the Lunar Module - and History. The Key Hole was stuck there; the powerful camera system was so heavy it massed half of a Lunar Module, a good 15 000 pounds.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Frank Borman literally crawled into the spy satellite, where he painstakingly retrieved the film bucket. The hatch closed and the film safely tucked, the spy satellite was cast away and abandonned into lunar orbit. It would soon crash on the surface.
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
[/FONT]
(Picture from Giuseppe de Chiarra, an extremely talented artist)
--------------
February 1969
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]"On behalf of President Johnson the National Space Council chaired by Vice President Hubert Humphrey carefully reviewed options from many sources - NASA internal planning documents, the President Science Advisory Council, and the National Academies Lunar and Planetary Mission Board (LPMB). [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]A host of possible options concerning manned spaceflight future have been reviewed, ranging from low Earth orbit activities, either through Apollo Aplications or advanced hardware like the space shuttle and a permanent space station; to lunar missions, once again either as an offspring of Apollo or through the establishment of a lunar base via a reusable nuclear shuttle (RNS). Attention was also given to manned planetary missions. Beside a Mars landing, the space council reviewed planetary flybys to Venus and Mars, with the eventual addition of sample return probes. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
The Space Council believe that ongoing lunar exploration through Apollo should continue in earnest.
We believe that the primary goal of manned space flight in the 1970’s which should be planned now is the scientific exploration of the moon, by both equipment and occasional manned landings using upgraded versions of the present Apollo system. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Alternatives for this choice are a commitment next year to a manned landing on Mars, which some of us believe could be carried out in the early or middle 1980’s, if sufficient effort were made; or an earth orbital space station to house perhaps six to nine men who would make occasional trips to and from Earth. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]A great majority of the task force opposes a commitment to a manned Mars landing at this time. We believe that the space program in this second decade should not be built around a single monolithic goal on a fixed timetable. The task force also recognizes that a Mars landing in the early or middle 1980’s would require a substantial expansion of the NASA budget in the next few years. We also proposes that the space station receive further study without a binding commitment until its design and purposes are more clearly delineated and the possibilities of a radical reduction in the future of costs of transportation to orbit are more firmly established. It appears that the Apollo Applications program for manned flight, also scheduled for the 70’s might serve many of the purposes of a space station. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]The Space Council heard, among many other guests, astrogeologist Eugene Shoemaker, who after managing the Ranger, Surveyors and Lunar Orbiter robotic programs is currently training Apollo astronauts. Learning from the June 18, 1967 event Shoemaker forged the concept of Flexible Path. Flexible Path is an innovative approach reworking Apollo Applications in the direction of asteroid exploration, with the ultimate goal of a landing on asteroid Eros in the year 1975.
In preparation of that landing, Apollo Applications would focuse on a) long duration missions using spent or dry workshops in Earth orbit and b) Apollo lunar landings to explore the Moon, including possible asteroid impacts on Earth satellite.
Unlike Earth, the Moon has no erosion to mask craters, although serious doubts remains about their origin. In the aftermath of the 1967 event it became of uttermost importance to determine whether the lunar craters are of volcanic or meteoritic origin.
If the latter hypothesis was confirmed, then it might be possible to estimate the rate of impacts over long period of time. According to Shoemaker "only a human brain can pick the most valuable rocks, the ones a robot would wheel past without noticing." [/FONT]
-------------
September 1969
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Gene Shoemaker pointed an area of the Moon. The resolution was just jaw dropping; the LMSS had imaged the lunar surface at a resolution of 10 inch, no less. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]"This is Davy Rille. You can see a perfect alignement of craters, eleven of them. Much like every planetary scientist, I until recently believed those craters were of volcanic origin. Yet in the wake 1967 impact I asked myself whether an asteroid might have broken into various fragments that would have impacted the Moon separately. that was only a wild hypotheis, but that LMSS picture brought further interesting clues. Yet they remain unconclusive; we need boots of the ground as soon as possible." [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Shoemaker smiled. He knew that recently another jaw dropping LMSS picture had found its way to President Johnson White House. It showed Tycho crater of [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]2001[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] fame, and clearly visible on the crater rim stood a rectangular box - not a monolith but the defunct Surveyor 7. He had used that picture to push the Planetary and Lunar Mission Board own agenda, that is, lunar science and geology [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]before[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] engineering when planning Apollo missions. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Shoemaker had its revenge over many years of frustrations. To think he had considered leaving Apollo altogether back ! [/FONT]
Archibald
Banned
Folks,
I have created a false wikipedia page mixing OTL and ITTL missions. I plan to upgrade it regularly with new entries.
Suffice to say there will be 80 or so Apollo flights ITTL, instead of OTL fifteen...
http://archibald.wikia.com/wiki/Archibald_Wiki
Hope you enjoy it !
I have created a false wikipedia page mixing OTL and ITTL missions. I plan to upgrade it regularly with new entries.
Suffice to say there will be 80 or so Apollo flights ITTL, instead of OTL fifteen...
http://archibald.wikia.com/wiki/Archibald_Wiki
Hope you enjoy it !
Archibald
Banned
a little political context... with a very different 1968 president election...
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]ON THE SHOULDERS Of APOLLO, PART 5[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
[/FONT]
South Vietnam leader on the run; rumoured dead.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Saigon overrun by Vietcong in a surprise offensive
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]"His brother Ngô Ðình Nhu death in the 1962 renegade bombing of the Independance Palace was seen by many as a kind of blessing. Nhu had been rather fanatical against Buddhist opponents, to a point when his activism threatened Diem regime itself. Indeed at the time were persistent rumours of a US backed coup against Diem if he did not removed his brother from power. In the following years President Johnson throw his full support behind the controversial "Winston Churchill of Asia". The South Vietnamese defense forces never lacked up to date equipment, but the endemic corruption ultimately collapsed the edifice. The lightning Vietcong strike, happened on Tet, took everybody by surprise. The fall of Saigon to the communist might cost president Johnson the 1968 election - or not. A recent Gallup poll show Joe Six Pack total lack of interest for a country as remote as Vietnam." [/FONT]
March 27, 1968
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Incumbent President Johnson on track for November election [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Richard Nixon throws the towel. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Governor of California Ronald Reagan not interested; neither is Robert F. Kennedy. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Rockfeller and Romney head to head for GOP nomination[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]President Johnson confirms Vice-President Humphrey on the ticket; handwaves possible health issues.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]ON THE SHOULDERS Of APOLLO, PART 5[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
[/FONT]
South Vietnam leader on the run; rumoured dead.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Saigon overrun by Vietcong in a surprise offensive
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]"His brother Ngô Ðình Nhu death in the 1962 renegade bombing of the Independance Palace was seen by many as a kind of blessing. Nhu had been rather fanatical against Buddhist opponents, to a point when his activism threatened Diem regime itself. Indeed at the time were persistent rumours of a US backed coup against Diem if he did not removed his brother from power. In the following years President Johnson throw his full support behind the controversial "Winston Churchill of Asia". The South Vietnamese defense forces never lacked up to date equipment, but the endemic corruption ultimately collapsed the edifice. The lightning Vietcong strike, happened on Tet, took everybody by surprise. The fall of Saigon to the communist might cost president Johnson the 1968 election - or not. A recent Gallup poll show Joe Six Pack total lack of interest for a country as remote as Vietnam." [/FONT]
March 27, 1968
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Incumbent President Johnson on track for November election [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Richard Nixon throws the towel. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Governor of California Ronald Reagan not interested; neither is Robert F. Kennedy. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Rockfeller and Romney head to head for GOP nomination[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]President Johnson confirms Vice-President Humphrey on the ticket; handwaves possible health issues.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
[/FONT]
Well, that's certainly *one* way of getting some extra funding for NASA past 1968...
Archibald
Banned
It was the only way to achieve that TL ultimate goal - that is, the fusion of all the documents listed in the first post (more Apollos and more Skylabs with a touch of manned interplanetary spaceflight). 
the Vietnam war had to be butterflied away, together with more space-friendly presidents...
I've submitted my presidential roster in this thread https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=295327
the political background is not over. Sweeping changes will come.
the Vietnam war had to be butterflied away, together with more space-friendly presidents...
I've submitted my presidential roster in this thread https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=295327
the political background is not over. Sweeping changes will come.
Archibald
Banned
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]ON THE SHOULDERS OF APOLLO, PART 6[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
[/FONT][/FONT]
January 18, 1969 [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Boris Volynov prepared to die a horrible death. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]To think the mission had been successful before the shit started to hit the fan... [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]The duo of Soyuz, Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5, had docked face-to-face with the respective crews swapping spaceships. It was a great first, a leap foward in the Soviet quest for the Moon. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Volynov was to return Earth alone aboard Soyuz 5. Everything had been fine until module separation. The Soyuz was made of three pieces latched together; fore to aft was a living quarter used in orbit, the reentry capsule by itself, and a service module. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]The forward module had separated without a glitch, but the service module had not. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Some goddam glitch had it still tucked to Volynov reentry capsule. And that was a very bad news.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]The Soyuz reentry capsule had been designed so that, even with all computers - and even crew - dead, the aerodynamic forces of reentry would turn it ass-first. Whatever happened, the capsule would tilt and present it heatshield first. Except, of course, if an enormous mass prevented the tilting manoeuver from happening, twarthing aerodynamics. And the service module had done just that !
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]The result had been that Soyuz was now reentering earth atmosphere head-first, where not heatshield existed. Instead was the bare hull with the astronaut entry hatch. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]As Soyuz 5 plunged deeper and deeper into the atmosphere Volynov could see his hatch fuming and smoking. Within second it would be blown away, and a 2000°C furious plasma would incinerate the unfortunate cosmonaut. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]But fate decided otherwise. [/FONT]
Soyuz 5 flaming return (James Oberg)
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Somewhere at the back of the little capsule the renegade service module was torn to piece and flew away. To Volynov amazement, amid the chaos of reentry the Soyuz tilted in the correct position with the heatshield now taking the brunt of heating - as originally planned. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]He was saved, although enough damage had been done that neither the parachutes nor retrorockets fully functionned. As a result landing was so hard Volynov broke some teeth and was bruised; but he did not cared. He was alive, damn it ! [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Vuknovo airport [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]January 22, 1969 [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Four days after his horrendous experience Volynov readied himself for a major celebration. Him and his fellow crew members Vladimir Shatalov, Yevgeny Khrunov, and Aleksei Yeliseyev arrived at the airport and were to be driven with Brezhnev and Soviet President Nikolai Podgorny to their commemorative celebration inside the Kremlin's Palace of Congresses. They were to rode in an open convertible at the front of the line, waving to spectators while a line of closed limousines trailed behind them. Just behind them Brezhnev Zil was followed by another limousine carrying elite cosmonauts from past missions. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Within second however the motorcade grounded to a bloody halt. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]As the motorcade passed through the airport gate, a very pissed-off conscript with the name of Viktor Ivanovich Ilyin drew a pair of pistols in both hands.
Ignoring the waving cosmonauts, he first opened fire on the second car in the line: within seconds however he realized this Zil limousine was filled only with other cosmonauts from earlier missions: Alexey Leonov, Valentina Tereshkova, Georgy Beregovoy and Andrian Nikolayev.
That's when Brezhnev luck left him.
Ilyin randomly stumbled on the Soviet leader Zil and ran toward it, firing his pistols. A hail of bullets crippled the car, leaving no chance to the driver, Podgorny and Brezhnev. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]The pack of astronauts ran to Brezhnev bullet-ridden Zil, to no avail. First-woman-in-space Valentina Tereshkova stared into Brezhnev glassy eyes; he was evidently dead. She realized she did not really cared about the old crook that laid dead at her feet. Instead she couldn't help thinking what this event meant for the manned space program future... better to keep those inner feelings to herself, she felt. [/FONT]
Valentina...
---------------------------------------------------------
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Soviet Union to embark on a second collective leadership [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]"It seems were are back to late 1964, after Mister K was ousted of power. That year, Brezhnev and Alexey Kosygin, along with Mikhail Suslov, Andrei Kirilenko and Anastas Mikoyan (replaced in 1965 by Nikolai Podgorny), were elected to their respective offices to form and lead a functioning collective leadership. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]The 1969 collective leadership is not that different; with Podgorny and Brezhnev gone, and Mikoyan definitively out of fashion, power has been split between the last two survivors that are Kosygin and Suslov. So far the two present a rather united front, but the 24th Party Congress is to happen in mid-1971, and God know how many knives are being readied. Perhaps Andropov KGB will help selecting a winner... " [/FONT]
---------------------------------------------------
(November 14, 1969)
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]President Johnson disabled by a heart attack; Vice-President Humphrey sworn in. [/FONT]
---------------------------------------------------
Moscow
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Yuri Andropov had been a busy man. He had recently been courted by a lot of prominent leaders of the Soviet Union. Obviously they all wanted power; and obviously they all wetted their pants at the KGB plotting against them. Better to have the dreaded secret police at your side when preparing some machination aimed at sizing power.
Andropov knew he would be the king maker; whoever he would thrown the KGB mighty power along would be the winner. Of Kosygin, Suslov and Kirilenko or perhaps some outsider, Andropov personally felt closer from Suslov - together they shared a common hate for dissent intellectuals.
What Andropov hadn't told Suslov was that behind him where two reformists, that Fyodor Kulakov and his young protégé, how was he called ? Dorbachchev ? Gorbchov ? - it didn't mattered.
Fyodor Kulakov: the never-been Gorbachev prototype... and mentor !
Yuri Andropov paradoxically felt some limited reform wouldn't hurt his country; as head of the KGB he had an eye on the Soviet economy, and what he saw at times frightened him.
With a bit of luck that old Suslov asshole wouldn't last too long, and after that, he could allow a limited amount of reform to happen. If he picked some reformists like Kosygin or Kirilenko straight ahead then there was a great chance they would burn themselves to death, and reforms with them, as had happened to Kosygin back in '65. No, it was better to leave Suslov as an empty, conservative shell in the forefront, and act backstage... [/FONT]
[/FONT][/FONT]
January 18, 1969 [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Boris Volynov prepared to die a horrible death. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]To think the mission had been successful before the shit started to hit the fan... [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]The duo of Soyuz, Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5, had docked face-to-face with the respective crews swapping spaceships. It was a great first, a leap foward in the Soviet quest for the Moon. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Volynov was to return Earth alone aboard Soyuz 5. Everything had been fine until module separation. The Soyuz was made of three pieces latched together; fore to aft was a living quarter used in orbit, the reentry capsule by itself, and a service module. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]The forward module had separated without a glitch, but the service module had not. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Some goddam glitch had it still tucked to Volynov reentry capsule. And that was a very bad news.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]The Soyuz reentry capsule had been designed so that, even with all computers - and even crew - dead, the aerodynamic forces of reentry would turn it ass-first. Whatever happened, the capsule would tilt and present it heatshield first. Except, of course, if an enormous mass prevented the tilting manoeuver from happening, twarthing aerodynamics. And the service module had done just that !
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]The result had been that Soyuz was now reentering earth atmosphere head-first, where not heatshield existed. Instead was the bare hull with the astronaut entry hatch. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]As Soyuz 5 plunged deeper and deeper into the atmosphere Volynov could see his hatch fuming and smoking. Within second it would be blown away, and a 2000°C furious plasma would incinerate the unfortunate cosmonaut. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]But fate decided otherwise. [/FONT]
Soyuz 5 flaming return (James Oberg)
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Somewhere at the back of the little capsule the renegade service module was torn to piece and flew away. To Volynov amazement, amid the chaos of reentry the Soyuz tilted in the correct position with the heatshield now taking the brunt of heating - as originally planned. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]He was saved, although enough damage had been done that neither the parachutes nor retrorockets fully functionned. As a result landing was so hard Volynov broke some teeth and was bruised; but he did not cared. He was alive, damn it ! [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Vuknovo airport [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]January 22, 1969 [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Four days after his horrendous experience Volynov readied himself for a major celebration. Him and his fellow crew members Vladimir Shatalov, Yevgeny Khrunov, and Aleksei Yeliseyev arrived at the airport and were to be driven with Brezhnev and Soviet President Nikolai Podgorny to their commemorative celebration inside the Kremlin's Palace of Congresses. They were to rode in an open convertible at the front of the line, waving to spectators while a line of closed limousines trailed behind them. Just behind them Brezhnev Zil was followed by another limousine carrying elite cosmonauts from past missions. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Within second however the motorcade grounded to a bloody halt. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]As the motorcade passed through the airport gate, a very pissed-off conscript with the name of Viktor Ivanovich Ilyin drew a pair of pistols in both hands.
Ignoring the waving cosmonauts, he first opened fire on the second car in the line: within seconds however he realized this Zil limousine was filled only with other cosmonauts from earlier missions: Alexey Leonov, Valentina Tereshkova, Georgy Beregovoy and Andrian Nikolayev.
That's when Brezhnev luck left him.
Ilyin randomly stumbled on the Soviet leader Zil and ran toward it, firing his pistols. A hail of bullets crippled the car, leaving no chance to the driver, Podgorny and Brezhnev. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]The pack of astronauts ran to Brezhnev bullet-ridden Zil, to no avail. First-woman-in-space Valentina Tereshkova stared into Brezhnev glassy eyes; he was evidently dead. She realized she did not really cared about the old crook that laid dead at her feet. Instead she couldn't help thinking what this event meant for the manned space program future... better to keep those inner feelings to herself, she felt. [/FONT]
Valentina...
---------------------------------------------------------
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Soviet Union to embark on a second collective leadership [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]"It seems were are back to late 1964, after Mister K was ousted of power. That year, Brezhnev and Alexey Kosygin, along with Mikhail Suslov, Andrei Kirilenko and Anastas Mikoyan (replaced in 1965 by Nikolai Podgorny), were elected to their respective offices to form and lead a functioning collective leadership. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]The 1969 collective leadership is not that different; with Podgorny and Brezhnev gone, and Mikoyan definitively out of fashion, power has been split between the last two survivors that are Kosygin and Suslov. So far the two present a rather united front, but the 24th Party Congress is to happen in mid-1971, and God know how many knives are being readied. Perhaps Andropov KGB will help selecting a winner... " [/FONT]
---------------------------------------------------
(November 14, 1969)
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]President Johnson disabled by a heart attack; Vice-President Humphrey sworn in. [/FONT]
---------------------------------------------------
Moscow
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Yuri Andropov had been a busy man. He had recently been courted by a lot of prominent leaders of the Soviet Union. Obviously they all wanted power; and obviously they all wetted their pants at the KGB plotting against them. Better to have the dreaded secret police at your side when preparing some machination aimed at sizing power.
Andropov knew he would be the king maker; whoever he would thrown the KGB mighty power along would be the winner. Of Kosygin, Suslov and Kirilenko or perhaps some outsider, Andropov personally felt closer from Suslov - together they shared a common hate for dissent intellectuals.
What Andropov hadn't told Suslov was that behind him where two reformists, that Fyodor Kulakov and his young protégé, how was he called ? Dorbachchev ? Gorbchov ? - it didn't mattered.
Fyodor Kulakov: the never-been Gorbachev prototype... and mentor !
Yuri Andropov paradoxically felt some limited reform wouldn't hurt his country; as head of the KGB he had an eye on the Soviet economy, and what he saw at times frightened him.
With a bit of luck that old Suslov asshole wouldn't last too long, and after that, he could allow a limited amount of reform to happen. If he picked some reformists like Kosygin or Kirilenko straight ahead then there was a great chance they would burn themselves to death, and reforms with them, as had happened to Kosygin back in '65. No, it was better to leave Suslov as an empty, conservative shell in the forefront, and act backstage... [/FONT]
Archibald
Banned
transition toward a new space age...
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]ON THE SHOULDERS OF APOLLO, PART 7[/FONT][/FONT]
Earthrise, december 24, 1968 - where do we go from there ?
--------------------------------------------------------------------
“The remarkable success of the Apollo 8 mission has provided renewed insight to the dramatic public appeal of manned space flight and bolsters our confidence that the manned lunar landing may be accomplished as early as July 1969. With this convincing demonstration of our strength and capability in space technology we must examine and redefine the future role and objectives of manned space activity in our national space program. A decision regarding this role may be the most critical choice facing the new administration in regard to the space program.(…)
What are the program items and their urgency for the immediate future ?
Through the Apollo program NASA manned space program is currently centered on the Moon. A crucial question is whether it should stay focused on our satellite or reach for different destinations - Mars or Earth orbit ?
Various items need special consideration. They are a manned space station, the Apollo application program, further manned lunar exploration, manned interplanetary trips, and lowering the costs of transportation to low Earth orbit.
1 - Planetary exploration
The US. program for planetary exploration by instrumented, unmanned probes needs to be strengthened and funds for such probes increased appreciably. However, the great majority of the task force is not in favour of a commitment at present to a manned planetary lander or orbiter, to Venus, Mars or elsewhere. The June 1967 airburst over the San Fransisco area, however, attracted a lot of interest over asteroids. Planetary defense now ranks very high among the space program list of objectives. Telescopic detection is ramping up, with monthly discoveries of new bodies. While instrumented probes could study asteroids very well, there's a growing interest in a manned expedition to such a body, in the name of geology. We recommend to put geology at the forefront of the manned spaceflight effort, including the ongoing Apollo program.
2 - Lunar exploration
After the first Apollo landing it will be exciting and valuable. But additional work needs to be initiated this year to provide for its full exploitation by means of an adequate mobility and extended stay on the lunar surface.
3 - Space station
We are against any present commitment to the construction of a large space station, but believe study of the possible purposes and design of such a station should be continued. We believe the Apollo Applications Program should proceed instead, as a way of testing man's role in space, of allowing a healthy continuing manned space program, and for the biomedical and scientific information it will yield.
4 - Space Shuttle
The unit costs of boosting payloads into space can be substantially reduced, but this requires an increased number of flights, or such an increase coupled with an expensive development program. We do not recommend initiation of such a development, but study of the technical possibilities and rewards. Some cost reductions in the space program can probably be made simply through experience and stabilization of the level of effort, and through coordination of future NASA and DOD programs.
IN CONCLUSION
We believe that the primary goal of manned space flight in the 1970’s which should be planned now is the scientific exploration of the moon, by both equipment and occasional manned landings using upgraded versions of the present Apollo system.
Alternatives for this choice are a commitment next year to a manned landing on Mars, which some of us believe could be carried out in the early or middle 1980’s, if sufficient effort were made; or an earth orbital space station to house perhaps six to nine men who would make occasional trips to and from earth.
A great majority of the task force opposes a commitment to a manned Mars landing at this time. We believe that the space program in this second decade should not be built around a single monolithic goal on a fixed timetable. The task force also recognizes that a Mars landing in the early or middle 1980’s would require a substantial expansion of the NASA budget in the next few years.
We also proposes that the space station receive further study without a binding commitment until its design and purposes are more clearly delineated and the possibilities of a radical reduction in the future of costs of transportation to orbit are more firmly established. It appears that the AAP program for manned flight, also scheduled for the 70’s might serve many of the purposes of a space station.
We believe that the primary goal of manned space flight in the 1970’s which should be planned now is the scientific exploration of the moon, by both equipment and occasional manned landings using upgraded versions of the present Apollo system. The next goal should be a manned flight to an asteroid. In preparation of that, a serie of temporary space stations - and not a more expensive space base - should help defining the most urging issues with long duration spaceflight. The Task Force believe the Apollo Applications Program should proceed as a way of testing man's role in space, of allowing a healthy continuing manned space program, and for the biomedical and scientific information it will yield.
We recommend that the scientific exploration of the Moon by Apollo, together with long-duration flight aboard temporary space station in Earth orbit, should lead to a manned asteroid sortie to asteroid 433 Eros in the year 1975...
Charles H. Townes.
Source: REPORT ON PRESIDENT JOHNSON TRANSITION TEAM ON SPACE
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Date: February 8, 1969[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]ON THE SHOULDERS OF APOLLO, PART 7[/FONT][/FONT]
Earthrise, december 24, 1968 - where do we go from there ?
--------------------------------------------------------------------
“The remarkable success of the Apollo 8 mission has provided renewed insight to the dramatic public appeal of manned space flight and bolsters our confidence that the manned lunar landing may be accomplished as early as July 1969. With this convincing demonstration of our strength and capability in space technology we must examine and redefine the future role and objectives of manned space activity in our national space program. A decision regarding this role may be the most critical choice facing the new administration in regard to the space program.(…)
What are the program items and their urgency for the immediate future ?
Through the Apollo program NASA manned space program is currently centered on the Moon. A crucial question is whether it should stay focused on our satellite or reach for different destinations - Mars or Earth orbit ?
Various items need special consideration. They are a manned space station, the Apollo application program, further manned lunar exploration, manned interplanetary trips, and lowering the costs of transportation to low Earth orbit.
1 - Planetary exploration
The US. program for planetary exploration by instrumented, unmanned probes needs to be strengthened and funds for such probes increased appreciably. However, the great majority of the task force is not in favour of a commitment at present to a manned planetary lander or orbiter, to Venus, Mars or elsewhere. The June 1967 airburst over the San Fransisco area, however, attracted a lot of interest over asteroids. Planetary defense now ranks very high among the space program list of objectives. Telescopic detection is ramping up, with monthly discoveries of new bodies. While instrumented probes could study asteroids very well, there's a growing interest in a manned expedition to such a body, in the name of geology. We recommend to put geology at the forefront of the manned spaceflight effort, including the ongoing Apollo program.
2 - Lunar exploration
After the first Apollo landing it will be exciting and valuable. But additional work needs to be initiated this year to provide for its full exploitation by means of an adequate mobility and extended stay on the lunar surface.
3 - Space station
We are against any present commitment to the construction of a large space station, but believe study of the possible purposes and design of such a station should be continued. We believe the Apollo Applications Program should proceed instead, as a way of testing man's role in space, of allowing a healthy continuing manned space program, and for the biomedical and scientific information it will yield.
4 - Space Shuttle
The unit costs of boosting payloads into space can be substantially reduced, but this requires an increased number of flights, or such an increase coupled with an expensive development program. We do not recommend initiation of such a development, but study of the technical possibilities and rewards. Some cost reductions in the space program can probably be made simply through experience and stabilization of the level of effort, and through coordination of future NASA and DOD programs.
IN CONCLUSION
We believe that the primary goal of manned space flight in the 1970’s which should be planned now is the scientific exploration of the moon, by both equipment and occasional manned landings using upgraded versions of the present Apollo system.
Alternatives for this choice are a commitment next year to a manned landing on Mars, which some of us believe could be carried out in the early or middle 1980’s, if sufficient effort were made; or an earth orbital space station to house perhaps six to nine men who would make occasional trips to and from earth.
A great majority of the task force opposes a commitment to a manned Mars landing at this time. We believe that the space program in this second decade should not be built around a single monolithic goal on a fixed timetable. The task force also recognizes that a Mars landing in the early or middle 1980’s would require a substantial expansion of the NASA budget in the next few years.
We also proposes that the space station receive further study without a binding commitment until its design and purposes are more clearly delineated and the possibilities of a radical reduction in the future of costs of transportation to orbit are more firmly established. It appears that the AAP program for manned flight, also scheduled for the 70’s might serve many of the purposes of a space station.
We believe that the primary goal of manned space flight in the 1970’s which should be planned now is the scientific exploration of the moon, by both equipment and occasional manned landings using upgraded versions of the present Apollo system. The next goal should be a manned flight to an asteroid. In preparation of that, a serie of temporary space stations - and not a more expensive space base - should help defining the most urging issues with long duration spaceflight. The Task Force believe the Apollo Applications Program should proceed as a way of testing man's role in space, of allowing a healthy continuing manned space program, and for the biomedical and scientific information it will yield.
We recommend that the scientific exploration of the Moon by Apollo, together with long-duration flight aboard temporary space station in Earth orbit, should lead to a manned asteroid sortie to asteroid 433 Eros in the year 1975...
Charles H. Townes.
Source: REPORT ON PRESIDENT JOHNSON TRANSITION TEAM ON SPACE
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Date: February 8, 1969[/FONT]
Archibald
Banned
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]ON THE SHOULDERS OF APOLLO, PART 8
[/FONT][/FONT]"By 1975, the United States should be ready to test manned spaceships for deep space exploration, vehicles capable of exploring beyond the moon on the first-ever manned trip to an asteroid" *
(Lyndon B. Johnson, Cape Canaveral, July 16, 1969)
(*sounds familiar ? those are Barack Obama exact words on April 15, 2010 at the Cape, when he committed NASA to a 2025 trip to an asteroid...)
Simon Ramo: born 1913, now a century old, and still going strong !
The "R" in TRW, Simon Ramo was, together with General Bernard Schriever, the driving force behind the formidable Minuteman buildup of the early 60's. Incidentally, Schriever was also considered as a possible candidate for the harrowing job of NASA administrator. Fortunately for NASA President Humphrey has zero interest in militarization of space, so Ramo was picked instead. Thomas O. Paine resigned last month after his bold plan was rejected in favour of what he calls "a watered down variant".
The fact was that Paine, bolstered by Apollo 11 triumph, asked for a far-reaching vision backed by unlimited budgets.
Paine had space shuttles and Saturn V hauling freight to an immense space station from which nuclear shuttles would fly to either the Moon or Mars.
A picture is worth a lot of words... Paine plan was well articulated, but horribly expensive...
Building on the June 1967 San Fransisco airbust, Shoemaker tied together Apollo and Skylab - lunar geology and long duration space flight - with the ultimate goal of a sortie to an asteroid in the middle of the next decade.
If all goes well, in January 1975 a crew should land on 433 Eros, probably using slightly modified Apollo hardware. It was found that a Lunar Module was perfectly able to land on an asteroid since the gravity is much weaker than on the Moon. The propellants not spent battling the Moon deep gravity well will found another role. Put together, the CSM and LM multiple rocket stages offers a huge delta-v in the order of 7500 m/s; something that won't be wasted.
Kosygin out !
New Soviet premier Kulakov to meet President Humphrey in Glassboro next month.
[/FONT][/FONT]"By 1975, the United States should be ready to test manned spaceships for deep space exploration, vehicles capable of exploring beyond the moon on the first-ever manned trip to an asteroid" *
(Lyndon B. Johnson, Cape Canaveral, July 16, 1969)
(*sounds familiar ? those are Barack Obama exact words on April 15, 2010 at the Cape, when he committed NASA to a 2025 trip to an asteroid...)
Simon Ramo: born 1913, now a century old, and still going strong !
The "R" in TRW, Simon Ramo was, together with General Bernard Schriever, the driving force behind the formidable Minuteman buildup of the early 60's. Incidentally, Schriever was also considered as a possible candidate for the harrowing job of NASA administrator. Fortunately for NASA President Humphrey has zero interest in militarization of space, so Ramo was picked instead. Thomas O. Paine resigned last month after his bold plan was rejected in favour of what he calls "a watered down variant".
The fact was that Paine, bolstered by Apollo 11 triumph, asked for a far-reaching vision backed by unlimited budgets.
Paine had space shuttles and Saturn V hauling freight to an immense space station from which nuclear shuttles would fly to either the Moon or Mars.
A picture is worth a lot of words... Paine plan was well articulated, but horribly expensive...
By contrast President Humphrey Science Advisory Committee took a more cautious approach. They did not opposed manned exploration of the inner solar system. But everything else was cut down.
The space shuttle is gone, and so is NERVA. And the permanent, expensive Earth orbit space station did not survived either. Instead, PSAC members Sheomaker and Townes recommended a three legged package they said to be more coherent and less expensive. That's the reason why Paine resigned in disgust.
The space shuttle is gone, and so is NERVA. And the permanent, expensive Earth orbit space station did not survived either. Instead, PSAC members Sheomaker and Townes recommended a three legged package they said to be more coherent and less expensive. That's the reason why Paine resigned in disgust.
Building on the June 1967 San Fransisco airbust, Shoemaker tied together Apollo and Skylab - lunar geology and long duration space flight - with the ultimate goal of a sortie to an asteroid in the middle of the next decade.
If all goes well, in January 1975 a crew should land on 433 Eros, probably using slightly modified Apollo hardware. It was found that a Lunar Module was perfectly able to land on an asteroid since the gravity is much weaker than on the Moon. The propellants not spent battling the Moon deep gravity well will found another role. Put together, the CSM and LM multiple rocket stages offers a huge delta-v in the order of 7500 m/s; something that won't be wasted.
Kosygin out !
New Soviet premier Kulakov to meet President Humphrey in Glassboro next month.
Last edited:
Archibald
Banned
That entry was largely inspired by David Portree blog as mentionned in page 1 of this thread. The NASA document by itself is stunning - when reality beat fiction, when engineers write alternative history. They had the shuttle flying in 1981; and, delightfully, all those Skylabs were rebranded as ISS, that is, Interim Space Stations ! [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
ON THE SHOULDERS OF APOLLO, PART 9
[/FONT][/FONT]
April 1971
NASA Headquarters, Washington DC
"The Soviets are on the brink to launch the first space station ever; that's a battle we have lost. We need to accelerate Skylab pace, and fortunately we have the budget for that, thanks to Humphrey."
"We will be ready to launch by April next year."
I wish I was Nixon's head, or at least have him onboard...
NASA deputy administrator George Low did not minced words.
Low knew Adelbert "Del" Tischler from a long time; after all they were both veterans from Apollo and even from the NACA days, before a space agency ever existed. The meeting promised to be memorable.
Tischler had a lot of things to say over Tom Paine Integrated Program failure, and he did not minced his words either.
Low let him blew his stack, then the two went to the reason of their meeting.
"When working at the OART I heard of a peculiar study that may be of interest for you now that the shuttle is dead. A very interesting study of a serie of Skylabs running until 1987 and serviced by modified Apollos. I did a short summary of it." Tischler paused.
The Office of Advanced Research and Technology was nothing less than NASA aeronautical branch, and the agency poor child.
Manned Spaceflight (OMSF) and OSSA (robotic space science) ate most of the agency budget. It was a shame, since OART was the true heir of NACA. But NASA seemed to have forgotten its aeronautics roots in favor of space, so OART was usually starved of funds.
Each branch controlled a bunch of centers; OART had Langley, Ames, Lewis, and Dryden under control. Goddard and JPL belongued to space science, while Kennedy, Marshall, Houston and Stennis were all for manned flight. And they all battled for their slice of the budget – and whatever program Headquarters decided.
There was no lack of extremely talented engineers there, however, and Tischler was one of them. A decade before he had successfully tackled the Saturn F-1 combustion instability issues that used to blew not only engines, but also the expensive test benches that supported them.
"Earlier this month, eight engineers at the OART (most of them from Ames Research Center) completed a blueprint of NASA’s future." Tischler started.
"Ah, glad to hear that I and the President are not the only one to be worried. Damn Houston and damn Marshall, they are only interested in the Moon and asteroids, or Mars. So thanks Ames and OART for their valiant effort." Low said dryly.
"Humphrey is to meet Kulakov soon and he wants to bargain over the space program as an instrument of détente. This is formidable opportunity for us, yet since the Soviets still didn't landed on the Moon, cooperation will have to happen in Earth orbit. And there we are losing the space station race; we have nothing to show while the Soviets have made known publicly - most notably in an October 1969 speech by Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev - their intention to establish permanent Earth-orbiting stations.
"Recently the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency completed a report in which it suggested that the Soviets might construct a series of stations, each larger and more capable than the last, culminating, perhaps, in a $5-billion, 150-ton station between 1976 and 1980."
Tischler was surprised
"The OART engineers did not mentioned the Soviet space program in their report. Whatever the reason behind their study they proposed the ISS..."
"The what ?"
George Low interrupted. For some reason he couldn't explain that accronym rang a bell.
"The Interim Space Station program. It is in effect, an evolutionary extension of Skylab.
"Why interim, anyway ?"
"The OART engineers applied the term interim to their eight-and-half-year program because they intend for it to lead from Skylab to a permanent Space Station through evolutionary, gradual, and step-wise spacecraft systems development.
"Beginning about three years after the third and final Skylab crew returned to Earth, a new interim station would reach LEO every two and a half years. Each would be staffed continuously for from 360 to 420 days."
Low had a mixed expression on his face.
"Gimme a break. You are talking about, what, four more Skylabs ?"
"Yes. And now the best part." he continued, smiling.
"They went so far as to acknowledge that the Station/Shuttle Program might be delayed or abandoned in favor of some new space goal before the interim station program ran its course."
Low face as Tischler spoke those words was memorable.
"For planning purposes, however, they offered a timeline in which NASA’s permanent Station became operational in late 1987, about six years after the Shuttle’s maiden flight and a little more than three years after the last interim station crew returned to Earth."
"Wait a minute, they said the shuttle would fly only in 1981 ?" Low had a bizarre feeling that once again he could not explain.
"Yes. Based on their own NASA flight schedule, the reusable Space Shuttle would begin flights in late 1981 only.
"In keeping with this year budget, the OART engineers assumed a steady NASA annual budget of $3.3 billion throughout the interim station program. They estimated that each interim station would cost $2 billion, of which about $330 million would be spent on hardware development, $500 million on experiments, and $1.6 billion on spacecraft hardware. Their program would cost an average of about $500 million annually"
"Fine calculations. Skylab cost $2.5 billion and a production run, even small, would have unit cost drop. How many Skylab did they foresaw ?"
"Four of them - called Interim Space Station -A, -B, -C and -D.
"ISS-A would operate in a a 245-nautical-mile orbit inclined 28.5° relative to Earth’s equator. In fact it would be built from Skylab B itself. There would be no Apollo Telescope mount and it would weight 57 tons plus a 30-ton growth allowance."
"What would the logistic vehicle be without the shuttle ?"
"Apollo command and service modules."
"What launchers ? Titan IIIM or Saturn IB ?"
"None of them, rather an hybrid of the two. Three Titan solids with a Saturn S-IVB above them.
They say it would cost $80 million to develop, to launch as much as 28.7-ton to a 245-nm orbit at 28.5° of inclination. As for the Apollo its service module would be transformed. Forget the six fuel tanks grouped around a big engine; a couple of smaller tanks and engine borrowed from the Lunar Module would do the job. With only two tanks four bays would be available for cargo. The Apollo would be capable of transporting a total of about 10 tons of supplies and equipment."
"10 tons" Low said, surprised. "How about that." It stroke him as the shuttle original payload before the Air Force come into the program.
"Yeah. And it would cost $100 million to develop. Cargo items as large as 3.5 feet wide by 12 feet long could be removed from the Service Module bays and moved into the space station. The issue however is that cargo could only be transfered by spacewalking astronauts. Or perhaps they could use a robotic arm ?"
Low nodded. Test of the shuttle robotic arm on an Apollo had been proposed.
"I suppose that, as usual without a shuttle the only items retrieved from orbit would have to be small enough to fit into the Apollo along the astronauts." Low sighed.
"Spot on. And now the schedule and missions.
"ISS-A would be launched early 1976 and dedicated to biotechnology research - a centrifuge and a behavioural laboratory. Three missions would man it for a year after what much like Skylab it would be worn out and abandonned in favour of ISS-B.
"The first three-man ISS-B crew would arrive for a 90-day stint beginning in July 1978, then a second three-man crew would reach the station a month later (August 1978). The resulting six-man crew would work together for 60 days (September - October), then the first three-man crew would return to Earth.
A third three-man crew would arrive almost immediately (early November) to replace them. Thirty days later, the second crew would return to Earth and a fourth would replace them.
The station main mission would be to perform experimental Earth surveys - agriculture, forestry, geography; geology/mineralogy; hydrology/water resources; oceanography and meteorology. The station would revolve around the Earth in an orbit inclined 50° relative to the equator, so that it could pass over the “most populated and agriculturally productive areas of the Earth.
Aboard would be 19 experimental sensors covering the spectrum from ultraviolet through visible light to infrared and microwave. The crews would also continue biomedical experiments.
"The seventh three-man ISS-B crew would return to Earth in July 1979 and not be replaced, and the eighth and last three-man crew would splash down a month later, about 390 days after ISS-B reached space."
"So ISS-B would be over in, what, September 1979 ?"
"Yes. Replaced by ISS-C, scheduled for launch in January 1981 with ISS-D following it in orbit in July 1983.
ISS -C and -D are pretty similar. Each would have a full crew complement of nine, making more challenging NASA’s reliance on the three-man Apollo for crew rotation and resupply."
"Still no Shuttle ?" Low asked. "I thought those pessimistics had it fly in 1981. Or perhaps in their universe it was also abandonned." he said dryly.
"Nope. Aparently they elected - in their own words, for the sake of simplicity - not to consider using it for ISS-C and ISS-D crew rotation and resupply.
"Which results in monthly Apollo launches in January, February, and March 1981 to bring the station population to nine. Only a month after its third crew arrived, its first crew would complete its 90-day stint on board the station and would return to Earth. NASA would immediately launch a fourth crew to replace them.
"ISS-C and ISS-D would each receive 12 three-man crews. The stations would support nine men for 360 of the 420 days each was occupied."
Low made rapid calculations.
"36 Apollos over a decade. Pretty hefty flight rate." Tischler nodded.
"So we have an ISS-A for biotechnology research and ISS-B for Earth survey. What about the other two ?"
"ISS-C - materials processing and manufacture. Taking advantage of weightlessness and nearly pure vacuum, the astronauts would manufacture large crystals, exotic composite materials, and biological compounds impossible (or at least very difficult) to create under terrestrial conditions. Oh, and they would also try artificial gravity by spinning the spent S-II. There would also have some Isotope Brayton nuclear power units aboard to boost the station electrical power by six to fifteen kilowatt.
"ISS-D then ?"
"Astronomy, with a trio of free-flying astronomy modules as well as instruments mounted on the station - cosmic rays, solar and stellar astronomy with some big 3 meter mirror."
"And all this end in 1987, in fifteen years. That's impressive."
"Surely. NASA would have accrued the equivalent of more than two years of permanent Space Station biomedical data and operations experience from its four interim stations. This would, they concluded, constitute the interim station program’s chief benefit to U.S. spaceflight."
Tischler did not knew what to say. But Low had taken notes, and obviously his brain was already at work.
"Tell those OART guys they did an excellent work, somewhat prescient at times. Their schedule may be pertinent." Tischler approved and left the room.
Now alone, for a couple of minutes George Low stood near his office window, staring at the Washington landscape outside.
Low felt the OART plan was a good start - a serie of evolutionary space station, Salyut style.
The next step was precisely to try and shoehorn the Soviet into that grand plan.
On the American side an Apollo could fly to a Salyut, or dock nose to nose with a Soyuz. The reverse was not true; Soyuz might have a hard time catching a Skylab orbiting as high as 270 miles. Yet Humphrey initial forays showed that the Soviet wanted cooperation on an equal basis.
Yet if they launched Skylab on a lower orbit it would drastically shorten its useful life since, unlike the Salyut there was no reboost capability aboard.
Something had to be done, but what ?
ON THE SHOULDERS OF APOLLO, PART 9
[/FONT][/FONT]
April 1971
NASA Headquarters, Washington DC
"The Soviets are on the brink to launch the first space station ever; that's a battle we have lost. We need to accelerate Skylab pace, and fortunately we have the budget for that, thanks to Humphrey."
"We will be ready to launch by April next year."
I wish I was Nixon's head, or at least have him onboard...
NASA deputy administrator George Low did not minced words.
Low knew Adelbert "Del" Tischler from a long time; after all they were both veterans from Apollo and even from the NACA days, before a space agency ever existed. The meeting promised to be memorable.
Tischler had a lot of things to say over Tom Paine Integrated Program failure, and he did not minced his words either.
Low let him blew his stack, then the two went to the reason of their meeting.
"When working at the OART I heard of a peculiar study that may be of interest for you now that the shuttle is dead. A very interesting study of a serie of Skylabs running until 1987 and serviced by modified Apollos. I did a short summary of it." Tischler paused.
The Office of Advanced Research and Technology was nothing less than NASA aeronautical branch, and the agency poor child.
Manned Spaceflight (OMSF) and OSSA (robotic space science) ate most of the agency budget. It was a shame, since OART was the true heir of NACA. But NASA seemed to have forgotten its aeronautics roots in favor of space, so OART was usually starved of funds.
Each branch controlled a bunch of centers; OART had Langley, Ames, Lewis, and Dryden under control. Goddard and JPL belongued to space science, while Kennedy, Marshall, Houston and Stennis were all for manned flight. And they all battled for their slice of the budget – and whatever program Headquarters decided.
There was no lack of extremely talented engineers there, however, and Tischler was one of them. A decade before he had successfully tackled the Saturn F-1 combustion instability issues that used to blew not only engines, but also the expensive test benches that supported them.
"Earlier this month, eight engineers at the OART (most of them from Ames Research Center) completed a blueprint of NASA’s future." Tischler started.
"Ah, glad to hear that I and the President are not the only one to be worried. Damn Houston and damn Marshall, they are only interested in the Moon and asteroids, or Mars. So thanks Ames and OART for their valiant effort." Low said dryly.
"Humphrey is to meet Kulakov soon and he wants to bargain over the space program as an instrument of détente. This is formidable opportunity for us, yet since the Soviets still didn't landed on the Moon, cooperation will have to happen in Earth orbit. And there we are losing the space station race; we have nothing to show while the Soviets have made known publicly - most notably in an October 1969 speech by Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev - their intention to establish permanent Earth-orbiting stations.
"Recently the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency completed a report in which it suggested that the Soviets might construct a series of stations, each larger and more capable than the last, culminating, perhaps, in a $5-billion, 150-ton station between 1976 and 1980."
Tischler was surprised
"The OART engineers did not mentioned the Soviet space program in their report. Whatever the reason behind their study they proposed the ISS..."
"The what ?"
George Low interrupted. For some reason he couldn't explain that accronym rang a bell.
"The Interim Space Station program. It is in effect, an evolutionary extension of Skylab.
"Why interim, anyway ?"
"The OART engineers applied the term interim to their eight-and-half-year program because they intend for it to lead from Skylab to a permanent Space Station through evolutionary, gradual, and step-wise spacecraft systems development.
"Beginning about three years after the third and final Skylab crew returned to Earth, a new interim station would reach LEO every two and a half years. Each would be staffed continuously for from 360 to 420 days."
Low had a mixed expression on his face.
"Gimme a break. You are talking about, what, four more Skylabs ?"
"Yes. And now the best part." he continued, smiling.
"They went so far as to acknowledge that the Station/Shuttle Program might be delayed or abandoned in favor of some new space goal before the interim station program ran its course."
Low face as Tischler spoke those words was memorable.
"For planning purposes, however, they offered a timeline in which NASA’s permanent Station became operational in late 1987, about six years after the Shuttle’s maiden flight and a little more than three years after the last interim station crew returned to Earth."
"Wait a minute, they said the shuttle would fly only in 1981 ?" Low had a bizarre feeling that once again he could not explain.
"Yes. Based on their own NASA flight schedule, the reusable Space Shuttle would begin flights in late 1981 only.
"In keeping with this year budget, the OART engineers assumed a steady NASA annual budget of $3.3 billion throughout the interim station program. They estimated that each interim station would cost $2 billion, of which about $330 million would be spent on hardware development, $500 million on experiments, and $1.6 billion on spacecraft hardware. Their program would cost an average of about $500 million annually"
"Fine calculations. Skylab cost $2.5 billion and a production run, even small, would have unit cost drop. How many Skylab did they foresaw ?"
"Four of them - called Interim Space Station -A, -B, -C and -D.
"ISS-A would operate in a a 245-nautical-mile orbit inclined 28.5° relative to Earth’s equator. In fact it would be built from Skylab B itself. There would be no Apollo Telescope mount and it would weight 57 tons plus a 30-ton growth allowance."
"What would the logistic vehicle be without the shuttle ?"
"Apollo command and service modules."
"What launchers ? Titan IIIM or Saturn IB ?"
"None of them, rather an hybrid of the two. Three Titan solids with a Saturn S-IVB above them.
They say it would cost $80 million to develop, to launch as much as 28.7-ton to a 245-nm orbit at 28.5° of inclination. As for the Apollo its service module would be transformed. Forget the six fuel tanks grouped around a big engine; a couple of smaller tanks and engine borrowed from the Lunar Module would do the job. With only two tanks four bays would be available for cargo. The Apollo would be capable of transporting a total of about 10 tons of supplies and equipment."
"10 tons" Low said, surprised. "How about that." It stroke him as the shuttle original payload before the Air Force come into the program.
"Yeah. And it would cost $100 million to develop. Cargo items as large as 3.5 feet wide by 12 feet long could be removed from the Service Module bays and moved into the space station. The issue however is that cargo could only be transfered by spacewalking astronauts. Or perhaps they could use a robotic arm ?"
Low nodded. Test of the shuttle robotic arm on an Apollo had been proposed.
"I suppose that, as usual without a shuttle the only items retrieved from orbit would have to be small enough to fit into the Apollo along the astronauts." Low sighed.
"Spot on. And now the schedule and missions.
"ISS-A would be launched early 1976 and dedicated to biotechnology research - a centrifuge and a behavioural laboratory. Three missions would man it for a year after what much like Skylab it would be worn out and abandonned in favour of ISS-B.
"The first three-man ISS-B crew would arrive for a 90-day stint beginning in July 1978, then a second three-man crew would reach the station a month later (August 1978). The resulting six-man crew would work together for 60 days (September - October), then the first three-man crew would return to Earth.
A third three-man crew would arrive almost immediately (early November) to replace them. Thirty days later, the second crew would return to Earth and a fourth would replace them.
The station main mission would be to perform experimental Earth surveys - agriculture, forestry, geography; geology/mineralogy; hydrology/water resources; oceanography and meteorology. The station would revolve around the Earth in an orbit inclined 50° relative to the equator, so that it could pass over the “most populated and agriculturally productive areas of the Earth.
Aboard would be 19 experimental sensors covering the spectrum from ultraviolet through visible light to infrared and microwave. The crews would also continue biomedical experiments.
"The seventh three-man ISS-B crew would return to Earth in July 1979 and not be replaced, and the eighth and last three-man crew would splash down a month later, about 390 days after ISS-B reached space."
"So ISS-B would be over in, what, September 1979 ?"
"Yes. Replaced by ISS-C, scheduled for launch in January 1981 with ISS-D following it in orbit in July 1983.
ISS -C and -D are pretty similar. Each would have a full crew complement of nine, making more challenging NASA’s reliance on the three-man Apollo for crew rotation and resupply."
"Still no Shuttle ?" Low asked. "I thought those pessimistics had it fly in 1981. Or perhaps in their universe it was also abandonned." he said dryly.
"Nope. Aparently they elected - in their own words, for the sake of simplicity - not to consider using it for ISS-C and ISS-D crew rotation and resupply.
"Which results in monthly Apollo launches in January, February, and March 1981 to bring the station population to nine. Only a month after its third crew arrived, its first crew would complete its 90-day stint on board the station and would return to Earth. NASA would immediately launch a fourth crew to replace them.
"ISS-C and ISS-D would each receive 12 three-man crews. The stations would support nine men for 360 of the 420 days each was occupied."
Low made rapid calculations.
"36 Apollos over a decade. Pretty hefty flight rate." Tischler nodded.
"So we have an ISS-A for biotechnology research and ISS-B for Earth survey. What about the other two ?"
"ISS-C - materials processing and manufacture. Taking advantage of weightlessness and nearly pure vacuum, the astronauts would manufacture large crystals, exotic composite materials, and biological compounds impossible (or at least very difficult) to create under terrestrial conditions. Oh, and they would also try artificial gravity by spinning the spent S-II. There would also have some Isotope Brayton nuclear power units aboard to boost the station electrical power by six to fifteen kilowatt.
"ISS-D then ?"
"Astronomy, with a trio of free-flying astronomy modules as well as instruments mounted on the station - cosmic rays, solar and stellar astronomy with some big 3 meter mirror."
"And all this end in 1987, in fifteen years. That's impressive."
"Surely. NASA would have accrued the equivalent of more than two years of permanent Space Station biomedical data and operations experience from its four interim stations. This would, they concluded, constitute the interim station program’s chief benefit to U.S. spaceflight."
Tischler did not knew what to say. But Low had taken notes, and obviously his brain was already at work.
"Tell those OART guys they did an excellent work, somewhat prescient at times. Their schedule may be pertinent." Tischler approved and left the room.
Now alone, for a couple of minutes George Low stood near his office window, staring at the Washington landscape outside.
Low felt the OART plan was a good start - a serie of evolutionary space station, Salyut style.
The next step was precisely to try and shoehorn the Soviet into that grand plan.
On the American side an Apollo could fly to a Salyut, or dock nose to nose with a Soyuz. The reverse was not true; Soyuz might have a hard time catching a Skylab orbiting as high as 270 miles. Yet Humphrey initial forays showed that the Soviet wanted cooperation on an equal basis.
Yet if they launched Skylab on a lower orbit it would drastically shorten its useful life since, unlike the Salyut there was no reboost capability aboard.
Something had to be done, but what ?
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