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Soviets in space (10)
July 31, 1973
More reasons to sack Mishin. It was all a matter of failing space stations. So far USSR totaled four atempts - three Salyut, one Almaz - with extremely mixed record.
Two years before the first Salyut actually worked, but the crew had died while returning from a record-duration flight.
A year later the second Salyut did not even reached orbit and burned miserably in the atmosphere.
Last but not least, that spring 1973 both third Salyut and first Almaz failed to beat Skylab. The former stupidly fired its orbital engines and exhausted its fuel supply; while the Almaz had literally been shot down by its launcher third stage !
The space station program had an apalling rate of failures, at a time when NASA had saved a crippled Skylab and planned an even larger station.
May marked the third failure in a row for Salyut, and Ustinov had already started a discrete campaign aimed at gathering support to find Mishin a successor. He had first assured backing from the deputies; then, from defence apparatchiks Grechko and Afanasyev, the latter making clear that, if Mishin and the lunar program were to go, the N-1 had to be kept.
Ustinov also had support from Glushko - although predictible, it was not exactly a good news, if only because the N-1 was to survive. He had scanned the list of Mishin deputies to try and find a successor among them. He was ready to act. A meeting of the VPK would happen the next month. Mishin days were counted.
***
August 14, 1973
Top ranking officials and engineers and scientists had gathered near Moscow. There were Afanasyev and Grechko, Ustinov, Glushko, Mishin - with Chelomei a marked absent, but who cared? There were matematician Keldysh and Mishin deputies Bushuyev, Chertok, Feoktistov, Okhapkin, and Semenov. Mishin evidently knew the sentence was on the wall - but so far he had defended himself bravely. He will not give up his lunar dreams nor the head of his design bureau, not like this.
And indeed, Mishin was fighting back
"Last year you all approved my L3M lunar project. Even you, Valentin." he pointed his finger toward Glushko. "Listen. If we put all our energy on the L3M, we can start building a Moonbase as early as 1980. The N-1F will fly in exactly a year; it could adapt to both the MKBS and L3M programs. I have had excellent reviews for both. You can't dismiss me."
"But those are paper projects. Your record so far with real world projects - Salyut - is not as good. Three stations lost, one crew dead, repeated docking failures. How could you build the MKBS then ?" Ustinov voice was glacial.
Okhapkin and Semenov in turn defended their boss. Okhapkin had been the faithful deputy, Semenov had totally different reasons - his father-in-law was no less than the second most powerful man in USSR, Andrei Kirilenko. Mishin knew that better than anybody – in fact it was the very reason why he had hired Semenov in the first place. Daddy political clout was more important than his son engineering talents. Didn't Chelomei started that trend two decades before - hiring Krushchev son Serguey ?
Soon Okhapkin and Semenov were overwhelmed, and silenced. It was Feoktistov that gave the final blow to Mishin.
"What about Salyut second docking port ?" he asked innocently. "Weren't you asked repeatedly to place a second docking port on Salyut, so that crew rotations would be much easier ?"
The argument was dishonest. Noone really knew how things had really happened, with Mishin sustaining that it was Ustinov that had forbidden to place the second docking port of all four first Salyuts; Ustinov saying the exact contrary; and Chelomei joyfully noting they were both wrong since he had build Almaz with two holes from the very beginning !
All in all it was the usual mix of political infighting and old hatred reaching decades away. The two-docking port controversy soon bogged down into technical details that led nowhere, until the debate died of exhaustion.
When the conversation started again Mishin and his supporters had essentially been blown away, and the debate turned to the space program future. It was Glushko that oriented the meeting in that direction.
"Shall we keep the N-1 ? I think no, and for a decade I insisted over this program utter failure. We should drop that booster, right now. I have designed a great family of rockets, the RLA - Rocket Launch Aparatus - made of building blocks clustered together for a wide range of payloads..."
Afanasyev reacted strongly. He was called the Great Hammer for obvious reasons.
"What do you suggest ? that we start another heavy lifter, from a clean sheet of paper ? And of course, you would design it. I have no doubts it might be a better vehicle than the N-1; but it would taken a decade and billion of rubbles and lot of energia... errh, energy, to make it real. We know what the situation is in our country. We need to restructure ourselves toward assembly in orbit and achieve a very high degree of reliability in docking. This will be a lot less expensive than producing another super-heavy launch vehicle.
Glushko is assuring us that the N-1 launch facilities can be used for the new series. No one has verified this in detail. Barmin maintains that this is impossible. This needs to be carefully examined. There was no Soviet man on the Moon. This is the fault of OKB-1 and our fault in general. A lunar base—in my opinion this is not a priority mission. It needs to be transferred to research work. I understand Glushko arguments against the N-1, but we can't drop it now, because the Americans have a handful of Saturn V in mothball for their future space station. We should not forgot this."
Keldysh nodded.
Glushko tried again.
"I've tentatively defined a whole family of modular, high performance rockets, the RLAs. There would be very powerful engines with four combustion chambers, that could be downscaled to two or one for smaller launchers; and those modular engines would be be part of boosters that could be clustered. With that method we could cover the whole range of payloads, from 30 tons to 250 tons in earth orbit... standardized rocket blocks, you see."
Keldysh waved him silent.
"Afanasyev is right. Listen: it happens that by a bizarre coincidence, in the aftermath of the shuttle debacle NASA focused on a space station which is outrageously similar to comrade Mishin MKBS; a hundred ton module to be launched by a moon rocket, complete with nuclear power and artificial gravity. Eerie similar, isn't it ? Meanwhile, the Air Force is bringing back the Manned Orbital Laboratory, putting hardware leftover after the program cancellation into a modified Big Gemini. This strongly suggest that we keep flying both Almaz and the TKS."
Ustinov jaw dropped. So did Glushko. By contrast, for the first since the meeting had begun Vasily Mishin looked like a happy man.
Maybe I've lost my post, but I've lost it with honour. Now let me have some fun.
"Comrades Keldysh and Afanasyev," he declared, a little smile on his face. "Vladimir Chelomei is not present today, but if he were, he would tell you we that we had in fact an agreement last year, to use the TKS as the MKBS logistic vehicle. It is an idea that makes a lot of sense. I really think we can make the N-1 work; If we drop the N-1 now, all that will remain will be a handful of Salyut or Almaz."
Mishin was delighted to see how Glushko and Ustinov took his sentence bad.
It was Keldysh that replied. "So, ok, suppose we keep that N-1 going..."
"The N-1F will fly next year." Mishin cut him.
The unflapable Keldysh continued. "we keep the N-1 going, the N-1F flies next year, but what payload for it ? the MKBS won't be ready before the end of the decade."
Mishin again. "There are plenty of lunar hardware left. I strongly suggest we atempt a fully automated mission."
To Mishin surprise, Glushko nodded. After all the two men had a common, obssessing goal: a lunar base. Glushko wanted that so much he had even endorsed Mishin L3M plans, even if they included the N-1 he hated so much !
For a second Vasily Mishin and Valentin Petrovitch Glushko fixed each other with a fragile hope in their eyes. At this very second, Mishin could read Glushko feelings exactly - because he felt the same.
A successful L3 mission, even fully automated, could turn the tide; the L3M would have an edge over damn earth orbit space stations...
Their hopes and potential alliance, however, were dashed immediately. By Sergei Afanasyev.
"The lunar program is over; by the way we military have zero interest in a lunar outpost. We like the MKBS better. What are the Americans doing ? they are planning space stations. They are also planning a couple of Viking Mars landers to seek life there."
Glushko and Mishin were stunned by the non sequitur.
Mars ? What the hell with that planet ?
"Yes, Mars.” The Big Hammer continued. “I, Serguey Afanasyev, suggests automated Mars sample return by Lavochkin; drawing from their highly successful lunar scoopers. That would leapfrog Viking."
Afanasyev could see doubtful glances and ironic smiles all over the room. Every probe send to Mars since 1969 had ended in failure. The first lander ever had worked a mere twenty seconds before dying. Don’t worry, comrades, I know how bad the situation has been.
"Before the sample return mission, there might be a kind of dress rehearsal - a large rover, Lunokhod style."
Afanasyev first and foremost wanted to keep the N-1 alive and for that it needed payloads, very heavy ones to justify its huge power. Mars sample return was one of these rare missions. There was another connection between Mars and the N-1 however. Sergey Kryukov - the man that a decade before had designed the N-1 for Korolev - in 1970 Kryukov couldn't stand Mishin and he had transfered himself to Lavochkin. When Lavochkin very talented boss Babakin died of a heart attack it was Kryukov that replaced him.
Mishin was far from being convinced, but he also knew politics would rule, as usual. If the Americans were to give up the Moon to build manned space stations and robotic Mars landers, so would the Soviet Union. What a waste, with all this hardware build and throughly tested in countless missions in earth and Moon orbit.
He thought about the circumlunar Zondand the lunar orbit Soyuz, the LK lunar lander, the Block D propulsive stage, the Lunokhod rovers to move the crew from an ailing LK to a backup lander.
Each of these vehicle had left a trail of cutting-edge hardware that would never be flown - instead gathering dust in a corner of some contractor plant, or collecting snow somewhere in the steppe near Baikonur. Vasily Mishin closed its fists in anger.
Something has to be saved.
As the meeting broke, Mishin was already assembling a plan to save and store as much lunar hardware as possible. Barmin - I need him in my conspiracy. Vladimir Pavlovich Barmin had been the master designer of soviet rocket launch pads. Then he had been recruited by Korolev himself to design a lunar base. If someone was to help Mishin hiding moonships in Baikonur with the final objective of bringing a lunar program back someday, it would be Barmin.
Meanwhile a furious Glushko cornered Ustinov. They climbed into the same car, the driver crossing Moscow suburbs at good pace.
"Listen. We can make without the N-1. I did some calculations: we can piece together a handful of TKS, Almaz, and Salyut. We can build a modular space station using Proton rockets, or a better medium-lift launcher. But the N-1 can only carry air. Please: let me takeover Mishin bureau, and blend it with my own engine factory. "
Here we are. Ustinov sighed.
"I'm sorry, Valentin. I can certainly remove Mishin; I can kill the lunar program; I can certainly help you. But the N-1 is harder to erase since the Americans are mothballing some of their Saturns. If I make you head of TskBEM instead of Mishin, I'm affraid you'll have to keep the N-1 going.”
He could see Glushko took the last sentence pretty bad. After all he hated the N-1 as much as Ustinov hated Chelomei; he would have had to go against his own ambition. How could Glushko be willing to remain the general designer of a rocket that he had not been involved in developing ?
“You heard Keldysh arguments; his opinion is shared by Smirnov, and together they have direct access to old Breznhev. Do you remember that American project, the space shuttle ? Do you you know their opinion about it ?"
"Tell me" Glushko was all rage.
"Well, they couldn't figure how on Earth NASA economic case for the shuttle made sense. The damn economists planned, can you believe it ? 700 flights over the first twelve years of operations. That mounted to 20 000 tons in Earth orbit ! Then we heard that the shuttle would lift off from a military base in California, fly a single polar orbit and land at the same place. Keldysh slapped his forehead and came to the conclusion the shuttle was to be a nuclear bomber the polar orbit would take above Moscow without a warning, overwhelming our A35 anti-missile system.”
“What ?”
“Keldysh saw the shuttle as a cross between a B-52 and a Minuteman.
Like the B-52, it is manned and winged so it is flexible.
Like a Minuteman, it is rocket powered to hypersonic speeds far above the atmosphere.
Now, we know how to shoot a B-52, with our SA-2 missiles. As for Minutemans, the A35 can do it. But the shuttle ! Imagine it flew a depressed trajectory and sneaked between the two layers of missiles, somewhat too fast for the SAMs and too low for the ABM. So we should need to build a carbon copy of it, for the sake of mutual assured detruction terror."
Glushko rolled his eyes.
"The shuttle a nuclear bomber ?" he exclaimed. "Who is Keldysh kidding ?the damn spaceplane was to seat on a fat tank crammed with cryogenic propellants that have to be refill anytime. The way I see it, the shuttle seating on that immense Apollo launch gantry would make a perfect target to any missile. Hell, with a bit of luck even a plain old Tupolev Tu-95 could blew it."
Glushko laughed at the vision.
"Oh, the military was no fool either. Grechko certainly dismissed the shuttle nuclear threat as bollocks, just like you did. Their opinion did not mattered, however, because the campaign actually bypassed the military. Whatever you think of the argument, it finally reached Brezhnev."
"And what was Brezhnev reaction ?"
"We are not country bumpkins here. Let us make an effort and find the money. That what he said. Can you believe it ?"
Glushko shook his head in disbelief. "The space shuttle a nuclear bomber. It says a lot about Breznhev shape after his stroke."
"Well, it is not all Keldysh fault, and in fact it makes for an interesting story.
Two years ago some young and zealous guys from the Institute of Applied Mathematics (IPM) figured out in advance the possible orbits of the Space Shuttle allowing for possible maneuvers in the atmosphere at 2,000 kilometers clear of ballistic orbit. They scared Keldysh, and he reported to Ustinov, and then to Brezhnev.
It turned out that the Space Shuttle, flying far from our borders, having lulled the missile defense (PRO) and air defense (PVO) into a false sense of security, could suddenly execute a maneuver—a ‘dash to the north,’ and, flying over Moscow, could drop a 25-ton thermonuclear bomb with an explosive yield of at least 25 megatons there."
Glushko still couldn't believe what Ustinov had told him. Was Keldysh turning senile like Breznhev ? Was a soviet shuttle on the pipeline ? or MiG Spiral ? He dismissed that hypothesis. For all the high-ranking meetings he had attended, he still had to found a supporter for a soviet space shuttle. And Spiral blue-sky engineering did not helped.
"Back to our future. I'm furious we can't destroy the N-1; but I still think we can topple it in other ways. If I can't blown the damn white elephant, I have no interest in Mishin design bureau. Give me Chelomei head instead; I know you hate him."
Ustinov was taken aback by the proposal. Glushko was hammering him with arguments.
"It would make some sense; we could take Salyut out of Mishin bureau (he doesn't want it in the first place), and join it with Almaz. That way they could concentrate on the MKBS; and I could piece together a modular space station from FGBs, Salyut and Almaz, as a backup to the monolithic orbital complex.
I could also design a Soyuz successor from the TKS. And I could build a new family of boosters to replace, first the Proton, then the smaller Soyuz, and, at the end of the next decade, the fucking N-1. The Proton propellants are toxic and dangerous; the Soyuz is growing old; while the N-1 was flawed from day one, and still is. If I can't kill the N-1 directly, I'll make it obsolete over time. But I need your help."
Ustinov did not answered. The car had reached the office where he worked, and he still had a difficult decision to make. Glushko insisted a last time before mercifully leaving him alone. As he went to his office, Ustinov dug a list out of his pocket.
It was a list of Mishin potential successors. Ustinov had drawn it from two major events: the 1969 Salyut conspiracy, and the anti-Mishin cabal at the beginning of the year.
Okhapkin ranked number two; he had been a faithfull deputy for years. But the man, like that young, talented Semenov, had supported the alliance with Chelomei. This simple fact evidently discredited them.
Feoktistov then ? he was certainly talented, and an astronaut with that - he had flown Voskhod 1 a decade earlier. But Feoktistov had a major default. To the amazement of many, he hadnever joined the communist party.
Bushuyev perhaps ? Bushuyev had refused to bring the Salyut conspiracy to Ustinov in the first place - leaving that task to Feoktistov. In Glushko view he was a bit too loyal to Mishin but, most worryingly, he was deep into Apollo-Soyuz, with his name revealed to the Americans. If they made that man the successor of Mishin, he would inevitably draw attentions of western observers. And that was absolutely undesirable.