One Giant Leap: The Voyage Beyond

Happy Monday Everyone!

Today I want to bring you the first chapter in my alternate history story, "One Giant Leap: The Voyage Beyond". A story inspired by my thoughts of a Space Shuttle program that returned us to the moon and took us to Mars. I have often seen alternate history stories that talk about either the Shuttle returning humanity to the moon, or taking us to Mars but I have rarely seen stories talk about both. This is my first ever alternate history story which means that any and all criticism is welcomed. I am really excited about publishing this story, so without further ado, enjoy.

Special thanks to @Earthy05 for helping me with this story, she was an enormous help for me and I don't think this would be nearly half as good without her help.

Chapter 1: A Looming Threat

February 20th, 1977, the CIA had just discovered something enormous within the Soviet Space program. They had uncovered plans for a Soviet Super Heavy Lift launch vehicle capable of carrying at least 105 tons to a Low Earth Orbit. This startling discovery caused panic throughout NASA and the U.S. government. Ideas began rapidly spreading around on what this vehicle was capable of, “How could it be used for military applications?”, “What were the true intentions of this rocket?”, and most frighteningly to the minds at NASA, “Was it a moon rocket?”. While the idea of this Soviet beast being a moon rocket capable of launching crews to the moon seemed outlandish to many, the idea nonetheless stuck around in the minds of higher ups at NASA as the maiden flight of Columbia grew closer. In response to these newfound fears, President Jimmy Carter requested an additional $300 million for the Space Shuttle program so that a 1979 launch of Columbia would still be in reach.

March 15th, 1979, with only a week till the maiden flight of Columbia, STS-1, excitement was growing fast, both within the public and NASA. For the public STS-1 being the first crewed launch from American soil since the Apollo half of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975 made this launch special and NASA used the public interest in the flight to excite the public about the possibilities the Space Shuttle introduced and hopefully raise public support for the space program. While the public saw the shuttle as just another rocket, for NASA the Space Shuttle opened up a whole new world of possibilities. It would be capable of constructing massive space stations in LEO, launching science missions that would greatly expand humanity's knowledge of space, and even possibly returning humans to the moon and beyond. It would do all of this while hopefully lowering the cost of spaceflight. The week turned into days, then hours, and finally turned into minutes and before long Columbia was just 20 minutes away from her maiden launch. In the final T-9 hold period Launch Director George Page read a message from President Jimmy Carter to Commander John Young and Pilot Robert Crippen wishing them luck on their flight ending with “John, we can't do more from the launch team than say, we wish you an awful lot of luck. We are with you one thousand percent and we are awful proud to have been a part of it. Good luck gentlemen.” The minutes continued to count down till engine ignition, at T-6.6 seconds the RS-25s ignited and roared to life building up to full power. Seconds later the Solid Rocket Boosters ignited and Columbia lifted off from LC-39A and began her trek into orbit. T+2 minutes into flight the Solid Rocket Boosters shut down and separated from the external tank leaving only the RS-25s to power the shuttle to space. At this moment the entire mission control breathed a sigh of relief, one of the most stressful components of the vehicle had worked successfully, however there were still several milestones Columbia had to achieve till it was in a stable orbit. 8 ½ minutes after liftoff Main Engine Cutoff occurred, the RS-25s had done their jobs and now it was up to the OMS engines to circularize Columbia into orbit. As soon as the OMS engines finished their burn a collective wave of simultaneous relief and excitement came over mission control.

With Columbia safely in orbit many at NASA could relax, however several in the agency still wouldn’t be relieved till Columbia was safely on the ground at Edwards Air Force Base. Over the course of the 2 day mission the crew gave interviews with the media, examined the thermal tiles which included imaging by a KH-11 reconnaissance satellite, and received a telephone call from President Carter on his visit to JSC. Before too long It was time for Columbia to come home. The vehicle performed its deorbit burn flawlessly and began its reentry into Earth’s atmosphere. Everyone in mission control was tense, while images from the KH-11 and crew observations showed minimal thermal tile damage in the back of everyone’s mind there was a possibility that the observations had misled them. Shortly before reentry John Young gave one last speech to mission control saying, “On behalf of myself and Robert I just want to thank everyone who worked on this mission, it has been truly an honor to fly this vehicle on her maiden voyage and with that we’ll talk to you on the other side, Columbia out.” Minutes seemed like hours in mission control as the flight team waited for the communications blackout to end. When the blackout was over Young radioed back a playful, “Hello Houston. Columbia’s here.” While most of the flight had been automated, Young would pilot Columbia for the final approach. At 18:21 UTC March 24th, Columbia touched down on runway 23 at Edwards Air Force Base. As Columbia came to a stop Young could be heard saying over the radio, "This is the world's greatest all electric flying machine. I'll tell you that. That was super!" As the crew disembarked they had visible smiles on their faces and a sense of pride and accomplishment that was shared by both NASA and the nation. For the first time since the last mission to Skylab, America was dominant in space, however the threat of the Soviet SHLV now named “Energia“ still loomed in people’s minds, and made people less certain on how long America’s new found space dominance would last. While Young and Crippen gave a post mission speech, crews began readying Columbia for her trip back to the KSC where she would be inspected and prepped for STS-2, the mission to save Skylab.
 
Happy Sunday everyone! Today's chapter touches on STS-2's mission to Skylab and Soviet lunar ambitions. Hopefully after this chapter I'll have a more consistent posting schedule. I hope you all enjoy chapter 2 of "One Giant Leap: The Voyage Beyond"!

Chapter 2: Skylab’s Savior

As the Skylab program began to wind down in the 70s, ideas about how to use the station in conjunction with the space shuttle program began popping up. Some proposed using the Apollo spacecraft originally intended for a hypothetical Skylab rescue mission for a shorter duration mission to boost the station. This idea was not approved however and instead NASA decided to use the Space Shuttle to boost the station. In October 1977 NASA ordered a unique spacecraft called the Teleoperator Retrieval System. The TRS would be capable of boosting Skylab into a safe orbit and even possibly acting as a tug for the space shuttle. In April 1979 TRS-1 was delivered to the Kennedy Space Center for mating with Columbia inside the Orbiter Processing Facility. Columbia and TRS-1 were rolled out from the Vehicle Assembly building to Pad 39A on March 2nd, 1979. 3 months later on June 16th, 1979 STS-2 launched on a 4-day mission to the Skylab space station. The main objective of the mission would be to successfully boost Skylab into a stable orbit using the TRS. The mission would also demonstrate the ability to use the Shuttle Remote Manipulator System to deploy payloads from the shuttle’s payload bay and to demonstrate the shuttle’s ability to rendezvous and station keep with objects in orbit.

After a one-day chase, Columbia arrived at Skylab. Before deploying the TRS, Fred Haise and Jack Lousma would maneuver Columbia around Skylab in order to image it. Once the crew were done with imaging, they maneuvered Columbia away from the station in preparation for TRS deployment. When Colombia was in position, Jack Lousma used the SRMS to deploy the TRS, while Fred Haise assisted him with operating the cameras on the arm. After the TRS was safely out of the Columbia’s payload bay, it was let go from the SRMS and began maneuvering its way to Skylab. Once the TRS was docked to Skylab, it fired up its main engines and successfully stabilized Skylab’s orbit. With the main mission objective achieved the crewed could relax a bit. Flight day 3 started off pretty uneventfully with the crew stowing the SRMS and performing small experiments, this however was about to change.

CapCom: “Jack, Fred, there’s something you guys need to hear about.”

Jack: ”Yeah Sally, what’s up?”

CapCom: “The Soviets just announced that an uncrewed Soyuz completed a Lunar flyby.”

People around the world stared at their television screens as news reports of the Soviet flyby came in. Up until now America had felt dominant in space, but the flyby came as a blow to American morale. The idea that the Soviet Union could match or even surpass American capabilities was now in the forefront of everyone’s minds as Columbia and her crew came home. After Columbia landed and Lousma and Haise exited the shuttle, reporters flocked towards the crew to get their opinions of the Soviet lunar flyby. Fred Haise told one reporter, “Back in the 50s and early 60s the Soviets beat America to many firsts, yet we never gave up, we kept going. I believe that the same holds true for this flyby” President Jimmy Carter, who had previously not been expected to attend the landing, gave a speech in front of Columbia saying, “Yesterday afternoon the Soviet Union announced that they had completed an uncrewed flyby of the moon. This announcement represents the threat of growing Soviet ambitions in space which we saw before in 1977 with the discovery of their “Energia” launch vehicle. These threats are why I Believe that America should commit itself to once again land human beings on the moon. I am also requesting additional funding for the Space Shuttle program to ensure that we do not fall behind the Soviet Union and remain the dominant power in space.”


This announcement came as a shock to the American people. No one expected president Carter to make such a big announcement after only the second flight of the Space Shuttle. NASA would now have to work hard to formulate a crewed lunar program whilst simultaneously working on the the Space Shuttle and Skylab programs. While the need to create a crewed lunar program threw everyone’s heads at NASA through a loop, the extra funding requested by President Carter opened up intriguing and exciting possibilities such as converting Enterprise into a space worthy orbiter. These ideas however could not be fully realized till the shuttle reached a consistent flight rate. The 2 limiting factors of the shuttle’s flight rate early in the program would be the time it took to turn the shuttle around and currently having only one active shuttle. While the turnaround time would not be shortened till later in the shuttle’s life, having a second orbiter could be solved much earlier. Space Shuttle Challenger was planned to be first launched in early 1981 which would mean it would be another almost 2 years until another shuttle besides Columbia took flight. Using the additional funding, NASA would fast track the building of Challenger and the other orbiters currently in production. As Columbia was being prepped for return back to Kennedy Space Center, over Kazakhstan the descent module of the first Soyuz-LT hurdled through the atmosphere. At 10:34 UTC the descent module touched down on the steppes of Kazakhstan. The flight was monumental for the soviet space program marking their first successful lunar flyby of a Soviet spacecraft since Zond 8 in 1970. The flight cleared the way for cosmonauts Nikolai Rukavishnikov and Valery Ryumin to perform the first crewed Soviet mission to the moon. With NASA starting a new crewed lunar program and the Soviets designing a SHLV and doing flybys of the moon, it truly felt like the space race was back in full force.
 
An interesting concept and I'm curious where you're taking it. A few questions that stand out:
(1) Why not pushing for a sidemount heavy lifter? I'd need to go run down a citation in Jenkins for specific dates, but if I recall there were studies of this literally as early as 1975 historically, with final reports I think being reached around 1977, so the pieces are in place to push that up, and dramatically improve NASA's HLV access and ability of the US to answer Soviet HLV options if that's viewed as critical enough to also be spending dramatically to accelerate Shuttle.
(2) Why not better awareness of the Soviet heavy lifter? Historically, the US was pretty well-informed on Soviet HLV plans throughout the Space Race and afterward. A totally new HLV coming to the US intel community as a total surprise only two or three years before its maiden flight, especially with that flight being a lunar flyby, seems a little abnormal.
 
An interesting concept and I'm curious where you're taking it. A few questions that stand out:
(1) Why not pushing for a sidemount heavy lifter? I'd need to go run down a citation in Jenkins for specific dates, but if I recall there were studies of this literally as early as 1975 historically, with final reports I think being reached around 1977, so the pieces are in place to push that up, and dramatically improve NASA's HLV access and ability of the US to answer Soviet HLV options if that's viewed as critical enough to also be spending dramatically to accelerate Shuttle

According to this paper, Rockwell heavily studied various Shuttle variants and upgrades between 1975 and the early 80s while producing the first Shuttles. The biggest 'block' OTL was a lack of budget (Congress) and a lack of will (NASA) mostly due to the fact any of these would have detracted from the schedule for the Shuttle itself and the lack of interest in non-crewed fights. Having Carter build a bigger Shuttle program is an interesting choice as well as we have "discussed" before :)
(2) Why not better awareness of the Soviet heavy lifter? Historically, the US was pretty well-informed on Soviet HLV plans throughout the Space Race and afterward. A totally new HLV coming to the US intel community as a total surprise only two or three years before its maiden flight, especially with that flight being a lunar flyby, seems a little abnormal.

Earlier Energia? Or maybe it's not 'new' but an improved N1 that was 'dismissed' since it 'failed' in the early 70s? The thing to me is that throwing a Soyuz 'past' the Moon at that point in time isn't really that impressive. Yes it can be used to generate some worry but at the given point in time it won't be Carter who's going to take this and run with it but Reagan who will use this to push the idea the US is "behind" the USSR and needs to catch up.

Randy
 
According to this paper, Rockwell heavily studied various Shuttle variants and upgrades between 1975 and the early 80s while producing the first Shuttles. The biggest 'block' OTL was a lack of budget (Congress) and a lack of will (NASA) mostly due to the fact any of these would have detracted from the schedule for the Shuttle itself and the lack of interest in non-crewed fights. Having Carter build a bigger Shuttle program is an interesting choice as well as we have "discussed" before :)
The ones I was talking about were actually Boeing studies (given to them because they weren't busy with any of the actual hardware) between '75 and September '77, reported in Jenkins's Space Shuttle: Developing an Icon 1972-2013 on pages II-440 to II-443.
 
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An interesting concept and I'm curious where you're taking it. A few questions that stand out:
(1) Why not pushing for a sidemount heavy lifter? I'd need to go run down a citation in Jenkins for specific dates, but if I recall there were studies of this literally as early as 1975 historically, with final reports I think being reached around 1977, so the pieces are in place to push that up, and dramatically improve NASA's HLV access and ability of the US to answer Soviet HLV options if that's viewed as critical enough to also be spending dramatically to accelerate Shuttle.
(2) Why not better awareness of the Soviet heavy lifter? Historically, the US was pretty well-informed on Soviet HLV plans throughout the Space Race and afterward. A totally new HLV coming to the US intel community as a total surprise only two or three years before its maiden flight, especially with that flight being a lunar flyby, seems a little abnormal.
Firstly, thank you so much for reading my alternate history! Secondly, to answer your questions;

(1) Chapter 4 will touch on American heavy lifter options.

(2) I needed some reason for the shuttle's maiden launch to be fast tracked and having Energia cause panic just made the most sense to me. The flyby would've had a Proton launch a stage used for TLI and a Soyuz would launch and rendezvous with the stage in orbit.
 
Firstly, thank you so much for reading my alternate history! Secondly, to answer your questions;

(1) Chapter 4 will touch on American heavy lifter options.

(2) I needed some reason for the shuttle's maiden launch to be fast tracked and having Energia cause panic just made the most sense to me. The flyby would've had a Proton launch a stage used for TLI and a Soyuz would launch and rendezvous with the stage in orbit.
So this is indeed Energia moved up...like ten years? I hate to come off as pushy, but...how?
 
Could the Soviets give up the N-1 as a lost cause after it destroys a whole launchpad (which it did in July 1969)?
Not without being noticed, and also internally "the rocket will explode a few times until it starts working" was kind of how the Soviets did product management and rollout. Recall in 1969, 80% of Proton launches failed, and of the two that succeeded one of the two payloads (Luna 15) later failed. They had too much sunk into N-1, too little alternative, and too much expectation of being able to work it out to give up in '69.
 
So this is indeed Energia moved up...like ten years? I hate to come off as pushy, but...how?
Gluskho contacts an eldritch abomination and makes an unholy pact involving engineering secrets from a realm where Euclidean geometry holds no sway and his family's borscht recipe to create the RD-170/171 ahead of schedule?

As that's basically what he did OTL, it can certainly be accelerated, right?

...right?
 
Chapter 3: The Titan Program

As 1979 came to an end, NASA was hard at work on the Titan program, sending out requests to the industry and deciding on a mission architecture for the program. In February 1980 NASA decided the architecture would consist of a multi-launch LEO rendezvous. The first launch would see a shuttle, carrying a crew of five, launch into orbit with a lander module and a crew return module. The second launch would be of an expendable launch vehicle or a shuttle, either of which would carry an earth departure stage. 3 crew from the shuttle would transfer to the CRM, and after this EDS would rendezvous with the lander. After both were docked, the EDS would perform its Trans Lunar Injection. Once in lunar orbit, the crew would descend to the surface. After their time on the surface, the crew would launch back into lunar orbit and dock with the EDS, which would then burn to bring the crew back to Earth. While NASA continued to work on the Titan program, the space shuttle program began ramping up. In late February, STS-3 launched on a week-long mission carrying several science experiments. 3 months later, STS-4, which would be the last R&D shuttle flight before operational flights, launched carrying 2 missile launch detection systems that successfully operated, clearing the way for the payload to be used on satellites. STS-5 was the first operational flight and launched in August 1980 and deployed 2 small communication satellites.

In November 1980, Skylab would see its first expansion as the space shuttle Challenger launched on STS-6 carrying the Skylab Multiple Docking Node Expansion, which would serve as a place for the shuttle to dock at Skylab. STS-6 would be the first time crew would be aboard Skylab since the end of Skylab 4. In preparation for the docking of the docking node, TRS-1 was moved from the forward docking port to the bottom docking port. While STS-6’s main mission would be to bring the docking node, the crew would also perform various repairs to the station itself. On the 3rd day of their stay at the station, Story Musgrave and Donald Peterson would perform the first EVA of the shuttle program to inspect the exterior of the station and perform repairs if necessary. Since the airlock on Skylab was too small for the new EMU suit, the crew would perform the EVA from the shuttle’s airlock in the payload bay. This would mean that the rest of the crew would have to stay inside the shuttle while Musgrave and Peterson performed the EVA. STS-7 would launch in January carrying the first Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, which would improve Earth to spacecraft communications for future missions. The flight also marked the first flight of Sally Ride, who became the first American woman in space. As NASA finished the year with an impressive shuttle cadence, they announced the companies who would be building the elements for the Titan program’s lunar lander. General Dynamics was selected to build the Earth Departure Stage which would be based off of their Centaur-G stage which was being built for use with the space shuttle. Boeing was selected to build the landing module, while North American Aviation was selected to build the crew return module. In addition to building the landing module, Boeing was also selected to build an uncrewed lunar lander, which would help test key technologies for a lunar landing. The first launch of the Titan program, Titan 1, was projected for an early 1985 launch and would consist of the EDS and CRM doing an uncrewed flight test around the Moon. Titan 2 would be a crewed flight around the Moon with the EDS and CRM, Titan 3 would be a crewed LEO flight of the EDS, landing module, and CRM all together. Titan 4 would be an uncrewed landing, and Titan 5 would be the first crewed landing of the program.


March 23rd, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan

The sky was blue with barely a cloud in sight, a Soyuz-LT had just launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome. Cosmonauts Nikolai Rukavishnikov and Valery Ryumin launched to rendezvous with a Blok D stage which had been launched by a Proton 2 days ago, which would propel them towards the Moon on the first crewed Soviet lunar flyby. On March 24th they docked their Soyuz to the Blok D stage. After the crew performed checkouts of their spacecraft and the Blok D stage, they burned towards the Moon. 3 days later, the crew approached the Moon. During the flyby the crew would take many photos which would become famous inside the Soviet Union and performed numerous science experiments. A week after the crew launched, they would find themselves an hour away from reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere. As reentry neared, mission control could not help but think back to the failed Zond missions that had come before. As mission control received confirmation that reentry had been successful, everyone simultaneously cheered. After their mission, Rukavishnikov and Ryumin were welcomed home with much fanfare. The crew would go down in history along with the likes of Yuri Gagarin and Alexei Leonov. While the flyby was monumental for the Soviet space program, mission planners had greater ambitions that would utilize the upcoming “Energia” launch vehicle, such as lunar orbital missions and crewed landings. In the coming years, both nations would continue to advance their space programs. NASA would continue to fly the shuttle more and more in addition to continuing work on the Titan program, while the Soviet Space Program would continue to work on the Energia launch vehicle, which would be the primary launch vehicle for future soviet crewed lunar missions and the Buran space shuttle which had recently started production. Between the two programs, the future of spaceflight looked promising.
 
1) would 300M$ over 2 years be enough to bring the first flight forward, what, 2 years?
1a) Would Congress cough up the additional money? I doubt it.

2) OTL, the Shuttle had 4 (?) test flights before operational ones. Here you're only allowing 1. That's kind of risky.

3) speaking of risky, having to launch this rescue mission in an incredibly tight time frame is bad enough. Having to rendezvous in what amounts to the upper atmosphere is insanely so. OTL Skylab reentered in July.

4) typo - you have TRS-1 arriving at Kennedy in April, and being mated to the Shuttle the month before.

5) as others have pointed out, an Energia a decade early is wildly implausible, as is the reaction to yet another Zond mission.
 
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