Nice update, for obvious reasons--I tend to think that if you want to make the US space programme better in a plausible way, a lot of it comes down to 'how do I rejig the presidents so the most damaging likely contenders come in at the least damaging possible time', which basically sums this up.
Thank you, Thande, and of course you raise an excellent point. We shall have to see how it is tested in the further course of this timeline!
Thande said:
Interesting to see the OTL early-1970s obsession with alternative power sources come in later in TTL due to the different oil situation. Might we see a Bond film with an alternative power based MacGuffin like The Man With The Golden Gun in OTL, but juxtaposed with different ATL late 70s/early 80s attitudes (and filmmaking style)?
Recall that the SPS or "Microwave" prototype was authorized in the wake of the Oil Crisis (in 1973) by President Humphrey; it just took until the end of the decade to be designed, constructed, launched, and suitably tested. (We'll get more into this in the very next update, actually.)
Thande said:
(I should imagine the OTL rise of environmentalism is strongly affected by this as well - not absent, but different in nature, and with the more prominent space programme, perhaps based more overtly on the whole 'look at that fragile pale blue dot' philosophy).
On the whole, yes, I would say that's the overall "target" of (first-wave) environmentalism ITTL, especially given Moonshot Lunacy.
Thande said:
Here's an artist's impression of the Skylab reboost mission mooted in OTL and actually accomplished in TTL:
What a stunning illustration! Just a couple of minor clarifications: ITTL, Skylab (A) was not reboosted but was in fact given a controlled push out of orbit to ensure a safe and unobtrusive landing. This could be done with the Shuttle ITTL, though it would of course not resemble the one in the illustration, and it would also take multiple shuttle missions to do so. The last of these missions would leave behind a small thruster package which would guide the station to atmospheric disintegration over a large and empty ocean.
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Work on the next update proceeds apace. Until such time as it is good and ready, I thought I would share an invaluable resource which I discovered in my research:
Allow me to present to all of you (what appears to be) a contemporary map of Desilu Gower, the primary lot of Desilu Productions! The orientation is due southeast; this has obviously been cropped from a book or magazine, and you can see the compass pointing west in the upper-left-hand corner. Unfortunately, through some careful (and, it must be said, rather painstaking) research, I discovered that the line separating Desilu from Paramount
is in the wrong place. For one thing,
Star Trek filmed at Desilu Stages 9 and 10... Stage 10, as you can probably guess, is apparently part of Paramount, according to this map. Also, that water tower on the Paramount side of the line says "Desilu Studios" on it (which might be hard to read, but I cross-referenced contemporary and present-day pictures of that water tower from the same ground-level position). You may also notice a wall
right behind the water tower, which can also be seen continuing along to Melrose Avenue; it is my strong opinion that
this is
The Wall which separates Paramount from Desilu. This means that Desilu actually comprised only one-quarter of the now-combined studio space, and therefore that it (and, thus, RKO before it) was just one-third the size of the Paramount studio. That said, this map is clearly inaccurate, though I sadly lack the mad Photoshop skills necessary to correct it.
Below is another "map" of Desilu (and Paramount), which appears to be drawn from the same source photograph, though cropped differently (and lacking the fold):
Sadly, in addition to being miniscule, it (and the above picture) are undated, though presumably they were taken sometime between 1957 (when Desilu purchased the Gower lot from RKO) and 1967 (when, alas, That Wacky Redhead sold her studio to Charlie Bluhdorn at Gulf+Western, allowing that wall to be torn down).