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Gorgeous as usual! Discovery has a truss section? From the description, I thought it was something more like two skylabs docked together, with antenna, radiators, etc. attached directly to the module. Even with the truss....it looks like what, 4-5 launches to assemble the thing? Very...

I just have to re-state that this is far and away the coolest and most plausible space TL I've ever read.

Another great post! So has mars ATL been totally bereft of rovers since the Mars Traverse Rovers mission? I'm wondering if mars planetary science is ahead or behind of OTL.....probably ahead?

For an international take there is what is basically an Islamic Republic of Iran version of Top Gun- it's called The Pilot and is a biopic of the legendary Iran-Iraq war pilot and mythologized martyr Abbas Dowran. The Kelly Mcgillis equivalent spends most of her time clad in a chador and...

Interesting to think about- IOTL the US has the world's only [EDIT: well okay not the only...] Special Forces unit dedicated to going into third countries and training local paramilitary forces/waging unconventional warfare alongside those forces. Would the UASR develop an equivalent to the...

I read an interesting and compelling argument on this site years ago that an Imperial Iran that reformed just enough to survive might actually look a lot like the Islamic Republic, structurally. The idea was something like this: the Shah would have to step back and let an elected prime...

I keep forgetting how HUGE station modules are in this TL.

Amazing work as usual Nixonshead! I'm curious as to how much payload Thunderbolt loses because of flyback to launch site. I'd always thought it would be pretty prohibitive, which is what led to so much my my skepticism about Falcon 9R. These concerns were partially assuaged when they announced...

I can't imagine that in the Cold War era the Soviets had any plans more ambitious than neutralizing Japan as a US base of operations through IRBM's/airpower and seizing the disputed Kuriles with amphibious forces/maybe VDV. There might have been an eye towards establishing a lodgement on...

A related question about the now-workhorse Saturn family: has Saturn I-C/Multibody ever been used for geosynchronous orbit launches in this timeline? Does the S-IVB have enough restarts/battery life to insert a payload into geosynch, or is that a job for Saturn-Centaur?

To clarify my point: I was referring to the deep unlikelihood of Israeli military collapse.

I think a lot of the "annihilation" scenarios are more based in the rhetoric *both* sides have used in the Arab-Israeli wars. Post-1948, I don't see the existence of the state of Israel being called into question -barring WMD use in 1973 but that would rapidly turn into a not-just-Israel...

A cynical but accurate answer. It's worth noting that one of the most prominent Indian military doctrines (although it's never been officially endorsed) calls for almost exactly what you are describing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_Start_(military_doctrine) Basically a rapid limited war...

See now I just wanna play legos with early 1960's space systems. Soyuz-Centaur?

Hey guys! Life is totally amazingly nuts. Three transcontinental moves, an MA, starting a career, it's been a bizzare time that hasn't left me a lot of energy to write. I loved writing this timeline and I still love daydreaming about tales from Objectivist Katanga. What I might do in the...

From everything you describe (increasingly technocratic, rudderless ennui with no guiding purpose that sort of deeply knows it doesn't have a future and the cards are stacked against it) it sounds like the FBU will be putting out some incredible glam rock in the 1970's.

So are the "Red Guards" going to turn into a la Mao Red Guards?

This is so cool! I'm also really excited with the Kerbal Space Program mod y'all are making! I PM'ed Nixonshead about this but I thought I'd post the TL's artwork to a facebook discussion group I'm part of called Space Hipsters with credit to the TL authors, Nixonshead, and a link to the...

I know they were paranoid but if the primary concern was foreign observation of their military activities then a civilian-only launch facility at/near Baku still seems like a pretty good idea- launch to northeast inclinations (north for polar) only and first stages/boosters go into the Caspian...

Take your time! This TL is so incredible and so, so much effort has gone into it. I have full faith that whenever the next update rolls around it will be awesome.