AH Challenge: Less Space Exploration

With a POD after Kennedy's assassination, you should endeavour to minimise human activity beyond the atmosphere. No collapses of civilisation, no nuclear wars.
 

Thande

Donor
What a nihilistic challenge...

Alright: No Apollo-1 fire. Apollo has a successful *Apollo-7 flight, but then when the equivalent of *Apollo-8 rolls around, the command module is destroyed on the launchpad thanks to a problem due to the fact that the new safety features introduced in the wake of Apollo-1 weren't. While NASA struggles to respond, the Soviets try their own moonshot after a successful UR-700 test flight. This gets to the moon, but an airlock failure (a common problem on early Soyuzes) kills all the cosmonauts, after the USSR had already started broadcasting live footage.

The upshot of all this is that a moonshot is regarded as too dangerous/impossible, manned flight by extension, and everyone reverts to just using space as a place to put satellites with unmanned launchers.

Depressing enough for you?
 

MrP

Banned
What a nihilistic challenge...

Alright: No Apollo-1 fire. Apollo has a successful *Apollo-7 flight, but then when the equivalent of *Apollo-8 rolls around, the command module is destroyed on the launchpad thanks to a problem due to the fact that the new safety features introduced in the wake of Apollo-1 weren't. While NASA struggles to respond, the Soviets try their own moonshot after a successful UR-700 test flight. This gets to the moon, but an airlock failure (a common problem on early Soyuzes) kills all the cosmonauts, after the USSR had already started broadcasting live footage.

The upshot of all this is that a moonshot is regarded as too dangerous/impossible, manned flight by extension, and everyone reverts to just using space as a place to put satellites with unmanned launchers.

Depressing enough for you?

Dunno, but methinks Ian and Faeelin may have reached orgasm on reading that. ;)
 
Since Apollo 17 returned in December, 1972, I don't believe any human has since traveled more than 400 miles from the earth.

The space program provided the impetus to miniaturize electronics. Manned missions were important, but world communication was forever changed with geosynchronous satellites 22,000 miles above the equator. These are robotically manipulated.

Star Trek started in late 1966, six months before Apollo I. Star Wars and its special effects were result of filming technology, and would have continued as in OTL.

Even if the accidents described by Thande effectively prevent man from reaching the moon, we still would have satellite communication and manned missions would stay in lower orbit.
 
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