SF leads to Space : a literary driven space race

Hecatee

Donor
Some nine years ago on this board I asked a question :

Inspired with the idea, suggested in the thread "Truman's satellite", of Truman being stuck in an elevator with Arthur C. Clarke, I propose something slightly different : what if Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke joined together in a massive campaign to promote space travel research and development, doing so from the 50's onward, not yet the world famous figures they became in the 60's and 70's but developing their reputation through their writings and their lobbying for space travel ?

As you may know Arthur C. Clarke was not only a writer but also a brilliant engineer while Asimov was, as is sometime forgotten, a biochemist who taught at the Boston University, so they had the scientific credentials to convince people.

The questions I asked in 2010 were as follow :

- Would they manage to accelerate space research in the US ?
- Would they promote projects that would be conflicting with Von Braun's ? Could we see two US schools of space development ?
- Could a fight with Von Braun make them go to the UK instead (Clarke IS British...) and promote a stronger British space program instead ?
- France under De Gaulle was also having its independent space program : the program, started in 1961, succeeded in 1965 with the launch of the Diamant rocket with the satellite Asterix, France being only the third nation to independently send a satellite into space (Canada used a local built satellite and an US rocket, UK an US built satellite with UK instruments and an US rocket, Italy a local built satellite and an US rocket). Could our engineering writers help support this program, or lead to an earlier ESA, thanks maybe to the efforts by other polymath like the great french prehistorian and S-F writer François Bordes ?

- Other member of this "league of extraordinary gentlemen of SF and Space" could be Heinlein (who was, among other things, a civil engineer and friend of Asimov whom he got to work at the Naval Air Experimental Station of Philadelphia during the war) and Lyon Sprague de Camp, aeronautical engineer who was also recruited at the Naval Air Experimental Station of Philadelphia on Heinlein's recommendation. Of course Astounding's astounding John W. Campbell was also a nuclear engineer : could we see a split between two teams, the Europeans under Clarke on one side, the Americans under either Campbell or Asimov in the other, each side actively pushing to make SF real TODAY ?

Here is the beginning of timeline, but then you'll have to help me to flesh it out :

- 1944 : Arthur C. Clarke, a radar specialist, is sent on a technology sharing mission to the US. During his tour he goes through the Philadelphia Naval Air Experimental Station where he is to demonstrate the working of his latest research in ground controlled approach, which interest the Navy for its aircraft carriers. The RAF officer spends four nights in town and meets with a trio of SF writers of some repute in the US : Sprague de Camp, Asimov en Heinlein. Himself an amateur dabbling in SF with a few publications in fanzines, he spends a fantastic time speaking with the men : they spend 3 evenings discussing their favorite genre before Clarke has to go back to the UK. They promise to write to each other. (POD)
- 1951 : Clarke becomes for the second tie president of the British Interplanetary Society, which aim exclusively to support and promote astronautics and space exploration. In this capacity he promotes a book of short stories by SF authors, saying that if Churchill could write alternate histories then engineers could write realistic future technologies. He himself writes a novel about a planet's geostationary satellite communication network bringing untold riches to the civilization that launch it. The novel is obviously inspired by his recent presentation to the society on this concept. Among the other authors of the anthology are his three american friends de Camp, Asimov and Heinlein. Surprisingly the result, published in 1952, is well received by the members of the Society and mentioned in the Times.
- 1953 : Sprague de Camp, influenced by Arthur C. Clarke, suggest to friends working at NACA to support a publication similar to the British initiative. The idea arrives on the table of Dryden who is not enthusiast but fighting a budget war in Congress and thinks that some publicity for his agency could be good. He asks that a specialist editor takes charge of the project : he is given the name of John W. Campbell, but refuses it because the man has a somewhat sulfurous reputation. He is then suggested the name of Lyon Sprague de Camp, who had no particular experience in edition but had good connections and had been the first to suggest the project. Shrugging, Dryden agrees.
- 1954 : "Space of tomorrow by those building it today" is published by the Naval Institute Press. Word of mouths in the SF community combined with interest by a number of engineers make it a surprisingly successful publication, even garnering some orders from the UK, although some engineers such as Von Braun at the Army Ballistic Missile Agency are not impressed and make it known. This begins a long rivalry between the so called "literary engineers" and the unimaginatively named "uber followers", in a dig against Von Braun's nazi past.
- 1955-1957 : the conflict between the "literary" and the "followers" is fought through a number of articles debating more of the interest of the exercise than of the concept developed in the stories although those also cause a number of discussions. Then the Russians launch Sputnik...

So, what do you think ? Got any ideas in store ?
 
" member of this "league of extraordinary gentlemen of SF and Space" could be Heinlein (who was, among other things, a civil engineer and friend of Asimov... ")

RAH would be a must... at this time he is the "more known" SF writer (possibity 2nd only to HG Wells...), and as a Naval Academy graduate/ Navy Vet (in uniform and as a civilian) has the contacts they would need in the U.S. (and late 40-early 50s, the U.S. is the only possible player with the money, infrastructure, and isn't rebuilding) to be "accerated," at least for non-military space.

One note, this is what many of the SF authors of the 30-50s were trying to do with their SF and serious science writing.
 

Hecatee

Donor
" member of this "league of extraordinary gentlemen of SF and Space" could be Heinlein (who was, among other things, a civil engineer and friend of Asimov... ")

RAH would be a must... at this time he is the "more known" SF writer (possibity 2nd only to HG Wells...), and as a Naval Academy graduate/ Navy Vet (in uniform and as a civilian) has the contacts they would need in the U.S. (and late 40-early 50s, the U.S. is the only possible player with the money, infrastructure, and isn't rebuilding) to be "accerated," at least for non-military space.

One note, this is what many of the SF authors of the 30-50s were trying to do with their SF and serious science writing.
Sprague de Camp may have had a better network, no ? (I still need to read the new biography of Heinlein by Farah Mendelhson though) but I agree Heinlein or Asimov would have to be the figurhead of the movement, or maybe Asimov for the general public and Heinlein for the administration...
 

Hecatee

Donor
so basically the timeline from niven's "the return of william proxmire"
I've not read it, but it seems it might have some elements of it, yes, although here the POD is different and I would advocate for a less US centric space story and for putting non US and non english speaking SF authors in the story...
 
given the story no reason to do that tbh.

look at who was 1) in a position to build spaceships 2) had governments responsive to popular pressure otl for why it'd be us-centric
 

Marc

Donor
Sadly, Asimov would not be part of all this, he suffered from a rather major case of agoraphobia (which should give you all some insight into some of his novels).
Arthur C. Clarke likely couldn't get a security clearance, given the times - a morals issue.
Heinlein? He did try his best early on, but when it became clear about the cost of space travel - the kind of resources that required a national treasury - well...
 
To get more money into the space industry it would require that the military industrial complex is kept in check because it is the greatest drain on the us economy.

It would require a constitutional amendment where you keep money out of politics, where corporations or individuals can not donate money to parties or politicians and make all "pacts" and "super pacts" illegal.

Also it would require people being elected who would rather spend money on space than on other issues for example the military. This does not mean they want to spend ZERO on the military, just less than in the original timeline.
 
To get more money into the space industry it would require that the military industrial complex is kept in check because it is the greatest drain on the us economy.

It would require a constitutional amendment where you keep money out of politics, where corporations or individuals can not donate money to parties or politicians and make all "pacts" and "super pacts" illegal.

Also it would require people being elected who would rather spend money on space than on other issues for example the military. This does not mean they want to spend ZERO on the military, just less than in the original timeline.
No offense, but all that’s going to do is turn a bunch of Boeing military lobbyists into Boeing rocket lobbyists. And honestly, I’m not sure how useful throwing more money at NASA would be. The Space industry until recently was basically a massive jobs program.
 
No offense, but all that’s going to do is turn a bunch of Boeing military lobbyists into Boeing rocket lobbyists. And honestly, I’m not sure how useful throwing more money at NASA would be. The Space industry until recently was basically a massive jobs program.

The question was how one increases space research.

I gave a possible solution

Also, did you miss the middle line of my text?

There would be no lobbyist.
 
Top