meanwhile on the other side of the Iron Curtain...
Spring 1972 The massive Salyut sat in the background, with technicians buzzing around it. Launch was planned for July.
Vasily Mishin stood in the huge hall. He hesitantly raised his hand in the direction of Chelomey.
He was not sure what would happen next, but Chelomey smiled and shook that hand. Their contract was a go.
"I agree with all this. Make sense, not only for you and I but for the whole program. That Salyut heresy has to stop." Chelomey says.
"So I give you all four Salyuts..."
"And I blend them within the Almaz program, as was the case before Ustinov silliness in 1970."
"Good. Then no more Salyuts, just Almaz, and that's it." Mishin approved.
"Because I manage all the small space stations, you are free to work on the massive programs, the lunar L3M and that huge MOK space complex - with the MKBS, the Multipurpose Space Base Station serving as an orbiting garage."
"Indeed. The idea so far is the satellites in the constellation to be serviced either at the MKBS or regularly be visited by MKBS-based crews flying light versions of the Soyuz outfitted with a manipulator arm. The satellites themselves will be orbited by expendable rockets."
"But that MKBS is much bigger than my Almaz... or Salyut. So you need a bigger and better crew and cargo vehicle than Soyuz."
"You mean, a space shuttle like the one the American have just killed ?" Chelomey asked hesitantly.
Mishin did not answered immediately.
Late April they had both atended a meeting at TsNIIMash - the Central Research Institute of Machine Building, near Moscow, to discuss reusable launch vehicles. In the wake of the American shuttle fiasco, the meeting conclusion had been obvious. Reusable launch vehicles were less efficient that expendables on the way up - as for the way down, there was no need to bring satellites down to Earth surface when they could be repaired at Mishin MKBS.
Even Glushko agreed with Mishin and Chelomey on that conclusion, and that fact by itself spoke volume.
"No." Mishin continued. "No need for a shuttle, not with that vehicle you are currently building - the TKS." Mishin smiled. "May I borrow it for the MKBS ?"
"Of course you can. We could introduce reusable transportation systems later." "Spiral, for example, if Mikoyan ever overcome the technical craziness of his space plane."
"So we agree on everything. How about that. Let's send that document, that contract, to our supporters - Andrei Grechko and his deputy, the big hammer, Serguey Afanasyev.
I just can just imagine Ustinov figure when he will found the fait accompli. Delightful." Chelomey said with a wryly smile.
"Glushko will be equally devastated." Mishin noted.
Chelomey suddendly reminded that, a decade earlier, Glushko had stabbed Mishin late boss Korolev in the back by refusing to build big engines for the N-1.
We have many things in common, Chelomey told himself.
As Mishin departed, he called him back. "I have another idea to make Glushko and Ustinov mad."
"What ?"
"The joint flight with the Americans. Apollo was to dock with a bloody Salyut. But it is not ready. We need an alternate plan."
Mishin was surprised.
"Are you seriously suggesting we dock their Apollo to an Almaz or to the TKS ?"
"No. But how about your Soyuz ?"
"Good idea. Perhaps we should add an post-scriptum to that contract before it goes to Grechko and Afanysev."
...
"The Americans' basic purpose for these meetings in Moscow had been to obtain assurance from the Soviets that there could be agreement on the organizational structure to conduct a joint mission and that the mission could be carried out according to a specified timetable. Low in his opening remarks on Tuesday, April 4, 1972 told the Soviets that NASA was sure that a joint mission was technically feasible, but the agency was not sure that in managerial terms it was possible. Before the two sides pursued this point further, Kotelnikov said that he had an important statement that he would like to make.
Kotelnikov told the NASA people that in re-evaluating the proposed test mission the Soviets had come to the conclusion that it would not be technically and economically feasible to fly the mission using Salyut. Salyut had only one docking port and the addition of a second port would be very difficult technically and very costly in both time and money. Therefore, the Soviets proposed to conduct the test flight using Soyuz, which could accept all the modifications necessary for such a mission. They were quite forceful in stating that there would be no changes in any of the agreements made thus far.
Surprise was perhaps the mildest word for the Americans' reaction. Nevertheless, Low quickly responded and told Kotelnikov that barring any technical difficulties, the switch from Salyut to Soyuz would be acceptable. He turned to Lunney and asked him if he saw any technical reason for opposing such a change, and Lunney could think of none. Operationally, this would present a simpler mission since it would involve only two coordinated launches - Apollo and Soyuz and not three - Apollo, Salyut, and Soyuz. Low and Frutkin tried to think through any "political" implications and found none. It would still be possible to exchange crews, which would be the major public impact of the mission, and such a mission would give the Americans an added advantage - not calling attention to the fact that the Soviets already had a space station flying and NASA did not."
(excerpt from: NASA history series - SP-4209 The Partnership: A History of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, 1978)
...
And indeed Dmitryi Ustinov was all rage, and he knew Glushko shared a similar feeling.
It happened that their best ennemies Vasily Mishin and Vladimir Chelomey had joined forces. Against them.
The unexpected alliance was kind of landmark since Soviet rocket designers - the Ustinov, Korolev, Mishin, Yangel, Chelomey, Glushko- rather killed themselves than working together.
To Ustinov, it was very much the alliance of the soviet space program underdogs.
Just six years before, Vasily Mishin had had the daunting honor of replacing the legendary Serguei Korolev of Sputnik and Gagarin fame - and he had mostly failed at the task. So far his record included dying astronauts, crippled space stations, and lunar rockets immense explosions akin to tactical nuclear bombs over the steppe.
Just eight years before, Vladimir Chelomey had been Krushchev favourite rocket designer, and as a result his projects had been ruined by Brezhnev and its supporters. Chelomey rocket plant would have been erased from the face of the Soviet Union had he not been supported by the ministry of defence apparatchiks - Andrei Grechko and Viktor Afanasyev, that somewhat protected him from Ustinov.
Damn Grechko - damn that man. I have to be patient - he beat me to the post of Defence minister in 1967, but we won't last an eternity.
And when he will die, I will destroy both Afanasyev and Chelomey.
And now Mishin and Chelomey had joined their forces.
Such old rivalries and hatred had cost the Soviet Union the Moon.
