Red Moon: What if the Space Race continued?

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    • aoisnwiwij the gpuser

    What if the Space Race never ended? What if the Space Race continued? What if NASA didn't land a man on the Moon first? What if Soviet Russia did? What if Sergei Korolev never died, causing Russia to land on the Moon, which in turn causes the United States to try and out compete Russia, in turn continuing the Space Race? What would happen?

    I'm aoisnwiwij the gpuser, and this is Red Moon.

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    P.S.: I haven't gotten any ideas yet, apart from Sergei Korolev not dying and Soviet Russia landing on the Moon first, so some, if not all suggestions would be welcomed greatly :)
     
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    • AG_AG

    AG_AG

    aoisnwiwij the gpuser said:
    What if the Space Race never ended?
    Click to expand...
    For All Mankind explored this a bit but we would wean ourselves off of all other energy in favor of Helium-3 Fusion due to the sheer amount of energy it generates. Though there is the question centuries down the line of what happens when the helium runs out...
     
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    aoisnwiwij the gpuser

    AG_AG said:
    For All Mankind explored this a bit but we would wean ourselves off of all other energy in favor of Helium-3 Fusion due to the sheer amount of energy it generates. Though there is the question centuries down the line of what happens when the helium runs out...
    Click to expand...
    Ooh that would make a good bit of tension
     

    Look More Closely Later

    aoisnwiwij the gpuser said:
    What if the Space Race never ended? What if the Space Race continued? What if NASA didn't land a man on the Moon first? What if Soviet Russia did? What if Sergei Korolev never died, causing Russia to land on the Moon, which in turn causes the United States to try and out compete Russia, in turn continuing the Space Race? What would happen?

    I'm aoisnwiwij the gpuser, and this is Red Moon.

    P.S.: I haven't gotten any ideas yet, apart from Sergei Korolev not dying and Soviet Russia landing on the Moon first, so some, if not all suggestions would be welcomed greatly :)
    Click to expand...
    I came across a book Space Race by Deborah Cadbury, a year or two ago, concerning the real world space race, and from what I can half-remember of it, even Korolev not dying wouldn't have helped the Soviets that much in getting to the moon. If you can find a copy it might be worth your looking over it, besides any other technical discussion threads that other posters have already mentioned on this forum.
     
    AG_AG

    AG_AG

    Look More Closely Later said:
    even Korolev not dying wouldn't have helped the Soviets that much in getting to the moon.
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    Then the POD is the German and American governments being more incompetent, and the Soviets getting some more rocket scientists from Germany and Europe by conquering more of Euorpe during the end of WW2 and a much less successful Operation Paperclip, though it does run into the problem of how many German rocket scients would be reluctant to work with the people who they had seen as subhuman monsters for the past 5 years at least
     

    Garrison

    Donor
    AG_AG said:
    Then the POD is the German and American governments being more incompetent, and the Soviets getting some more rocket scientists from Germany and Europe by conquering more of Euorpe during the end of WW2 and a much less successful Operation Paperclip, though it does run into the problem of how many German rocket scients would be reluctant to work with the people who they had seen as subhuman monsters for the past 5 years at least
    Click to expand...
    But then you are rewriting the history of the 1940s to such a degree that it's hard to believe there would a meaningful space race. if the Soviets keep achieving firsts in LEO while the US flounders, I don't see the incentive for the hugely expensive propaganda exercise. It was only the perception on the part of the USA that they needed to catch up that pushed Apollo and forced the Soviets to respond in kind.
     
    AG_AG

    AG_AG

    Garrison said:
    But then you are rewriting the history of the 1940s to such a degree that it's hard to believe there would a meaningful space race
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    I did not say the Operation Paperclip would be a faliure, just that it would be nowhere near as effective as OTL. The Americans still have many good rocket scientists such as Vaun Braun, just not as many as OTL so that the Soviets get a bigger lead in the beggining, so they can land on the moon first. The would also need to be a change in how competent the Soviet space program was, because even though I have not heard much on the subject it seemed like it was mired in corruption.
     
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    marathag

    marathag

    Banned
    AG_AG said:
    I did not say the Operation Paperclip would be a faliure, just that it would be nowhere near as effective as OTL. The Americans still have many good rocket scientists such as Vaun Braun, just not as many as OTL so that the Soviets get a bigger lead in the beggining, so they can land on the moon first. The would also need to be a change in how competent the Soviet space program was, because even though I have not heard much on the subject it seemed like it was mired in corruption.
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    VB gets hit by a Bus, Willy Ley will remain the PR frontman with the tech handled Charlie Bossart.

    This TL is unlikely to get a NASA, either but Convair making Rockets for the USAF for manned missions to match what the Soviets were doing. Ike won't have the luxury for a Civilian program.
     
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