AHC: One Small Step for Woman...

TFSmith121

Banned
Fighter pilots tend not to be huge guys, anyway...

How about a slight POD over more concern from weight effects for takeoff from the moon, so the generally lighter women are selected for the crews of first landing on the moon? Or in more cynical terms, women are selected because they are deemed more expendable... :rolleyes:


Fighter pilots tend not to be huge guys, anyway...

I think the Scientist Astronaut selection in 1965 is the possibility with the least requirement for major changes, if it is prepped by the (for lack of a better term) Republican women with aeronautics and science backgrounds lobbying Eisenhower for Women Astro Space Pilots in 1957-58.

They already have the acronym and a mascot and everything.;)

"Houston, Tranquility Base here. Fifinella has landed."

"Roger that, Tranquility."

Best,

http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=...Yc2L5q9fHpqrWTeFCExwQK1w&ust=1427160451661379
 
maybe POD placed further behind, like how Allied nations choose to use women as pilots because they need all the men for ground fighting? (starship troopers comes in mind)
Yes, but the USA wasn't running short on manpower. It could work for the UK during the Battle of Britain (and with that POD, maybe even later) if, instead of using women only to ferry aircraft, they put them to fight against the Luftwaffe. The catch is making the USA follow their example.

Then again, the OP says the POD has to be after VJ
 

TFSmith121

Banned
A Cold War era policy decision is a possibility

Yes, but the USA wasn't running short on manpower. It could work for the UK during the Battle of Britain (and with that POD, maybe even later) if, instead of using women only to ferry aircraft, they put them to fight against the Luftwaffe. The catch is making the USA follow their example.

Then again, the OP says the POD has to be after VJ

A Cold War era policy decision is a possibility; there were a surprising number of Republican women who had been in the WASPS.

Best,
 
Yep, the Soviet Union had a corp of women pilots to recruit from, and women are, in terms of physiology, at least better than men in a few regards to be astro/cosmonauts, being smaller, require a little less oxygen and food, and tend to be more cool-headed and patient, critical traits in a space mission. The eggheads would enjoy the smaller burden on life support, and the Party would enjoy the propaganda coup.

Propoganda though was pretty much the only reason the SU put a woman in space at all. After Tereshkova's only flight it would be 19 years before another Soviet woman went up
 
The thing about the Mercury 13/FLATS is they were pilots, and they were prop pilots, and they were WW II generation, so they're actually getting a little old by the time of Apollo -


So was Deke Slayton - he flew B-25's and A-26's in action in WWII and was 51 when he flew on Apollo-Soyuz. If women were allowed to progress to fast jets Slayton proves the age issue shouldn't necessarily be a barrier
 

TFSmith121

Banned
True, but its the fast jets issue that is the differentiator

So was Deke Slayton - he flew B-25's and A-26's in action in WWII and was 51 when he flew on Apollo-Soyuz. If women were allowed to progress to fast jets Slayton proves the age issue shouldn't necessarily be a barrier

True, but its the fast jets thing that is the differentiator; Slayton was a USAF test pilot with more than 5,000 hours in jets when he was selected for Mercury, and was all of 34; even in 1973, when Apollo XVII flew, he would have been 49. Nancy Love Harkness was ten years older than Slayton.

The issue with women from (say) the WW II era WASPS getting into jets in the 1940s, and then younger women coming along to qualifiy as test pilots in time for the 1958 and after selections for NASA, is that there was no WASP equivalent in the 1950s-70s.

So my shot at a more "realistic" (or at least less ahistorical) option for a woman reaching the Moon during Apollo is one is selected as part of the Astronaut Scientist group in 1965, and makes it on a (non-cancelled) Apolo 18, 19, or 20.

Less likely, but still in the realm of the possible, is Apollo Applications surviving, and women making it in terms of the lunar elements of AAP.

Best,
 
There were women pilots in CAP, though they would have less experience in high-powered planes than WASPs in some cases.
Perhaps NASA tries to recruit civilians?
It would certainly be ironic if the woman who walked on the moon was Susan Oliver.
 
I just posted this elsewhere with slight modifications...

-Death of Kim-Il-Sung combined with famine of 1994 leads to massive dissatisfaction with the regime. Desperate farmers cling to their own foodstuffs secretly and the cities suffer even more. Without outside aid, Kim-Jong-Il is unable to consolidate his reign and suffers an ouster by the military. The new leader consolidates his reign in early 1996 by purging the old Kim loyalists he does not directly trust. He then publically makes an astonishing offer: total unification with South Korea on its own terms in exchange for massive food aid and pardons for all existing North Korean military personnel in his regime.

-1997 sees the Treaty of Kaesong with the two Koreas to merge as the Republic of Korea on January 1, 1998 or "Unity Day". This new Republic of Korea is to become the "Switzerland of the East" in that it remains absolutely neutral in all world affairs. No more US military bases, no more meddling with China, and the DMZ is to become an international park both to promote biodiversity and remember the flagging Cold War. Seoul will remain the capital but judiciary functions and the military academy will relocate to Pyongyang. China also extracts its pound of flesh in that all claims to Manchuria are to be set aside now and forever

-2000 notes the "Completion" of reunification with ceremonies held at the Ryugyong Government Office Complex, the bureaucratic heart of the new government, located in Pyongyang. Investors flock to the new country though tied to a new law stipulating that Korean ownership must control 35% of the controlling stock of any new company founded after Unity Day. Rare earth materials are exploited quickly and processed in-country while the space program turns the designs and materials for the Taepodong launch system into a viable SLS. South Korean engineers coordinate and improve on the native design somewhat.

-October 1, 2003 witnesses the Republic of Korea launch its manned "Geobukseon" capsule as a prototype. China shortly thereafter becomes the fourth nation to launch a domestically built capsule into orbit. Beijing is furious but there is little they can do, the "Turtle Ship" successfully completes eight full orbits of the Earth before a successful return that misfires, forcing the capsule to land just 1/3 mile off the coast of Havana, Cuba. Fidel Castro takes the opportunity for a photo op, handing the brave "Turtlenaut" a lit Cuban cigar not realizing that the man speaks no Spanish and is still delirious from the unexpectedly rough impact.

-2005 sees the first fully democratic elections throughout the Korean peninsula, the new President is a middle-aged South Korean whose father was an infant refugee from the North and thus claims ties to both. Although South Korea is initially much larger, the prospect of open lands drives many Koreans into the "countryside" quickly and boom towns are built north of the border. This is also the year when the Camp 19 Trials end with the execution of 45 Kim family loyalists and 15 others responsible for over 350,000 deaths by various means for political reasons.

-By 2010 RoK nuclear technology leads the world with prototype Generation 4 nuclear reactors and workable Generation 3 reactors into the 100KW range able to fit in large buildings. Korean space technology also continues its leaps with the continued construction of "Galileo", a 12-person space station with 0.5g rotating ring design at a radius of 25 meters (made using 2 sets of ten jettisoned fuel tanks arranged in a circle, the fuel tanks are from the "Mountain Wind" launch system, formerly known as Taepo-Dong 4) designed to promote long-term habitability.

-2012 notes the launch of the Kia Bolt using a new form of Lithium Ion battery in the solid state, permitting a range of 350 miles on a single charge for a family of five at a cost of only US$25,000. Production begins slowly and demand ramps up quickly as the performance and acceleration characteristics lead to widespread desirability

-2015 see Kia emerge as the second largest car manufacturer in the world behind Toyota and General Motors, the latter of which is working to avoid acquisition by Kia by hostile take-over. Following a Korean landing on the moon the year before, a permanent lunar base is established with the birth of the first child, a girl, on the lunar station about midnight on New Year's Eve 2014 (it is entirely a publicity stunt using a trained Turtlenaut and her husband, the child is exposed to significantly higher radiation than originally intended and the parents use much of their fame raising money for her care later).

By 2015 the average Korean lifespan is 82.8 - males 80, females 85.6 - and even in North Korea the quality of life is easily that of Luxembourg or the Netherlands. Farm productivity makes Korea a self-feeding country thanks to vastly more efficient farms in the North and vertical farming in the South aided by technology derived from the Space Program. Planned missions to Mars are on everyone's mind and a Generation IV powered vehicle is already under construction for the trip. The crew of six - three married couples - returns from Mars on August 21, 2019 following three months "in country" using a modified VASMIR propulsion system and one "micronized" molten sodium salt reactors for power production of 50MW. The four 500KW magnetic propulsion systems use space itself to cool superconducting magnets that control the direction of the propulsion. This permits a one-way trip to Mars at optimal orbit of only 25 days, permitting the "Turtlenauts" a chance to set up long-duration equipment on the surface and for Korea to ponder a Mars Base before the decade is out. Its lunar base is projected to open its first hotel while the first "civilian" space station for 500 tourists is expected to open the same year at 0.8 g with tickets initially costing $100,000 each for a five-night all-inclusive stay.
 

TFSmith121

Banned
NASA didn't recruit non-military or NASA test pilots, though

There were women pilots in CAP, though they would have less experience in high-powered planes than WASPs in some cases.
Perhaps NASA tries to recruit civilians?
It would certainly be ironic if the woman who walked on the moon was Susan Oliver.

NASA didn't recruit non-military or NASA test pilots, though.

The agency did recruit civilians as scientist - astronauts, however.

Best,
 
Having a woman as a scientist-astronaut-an astronomer or geologist is possible. Jack Schmitt and Owen Garriott were two of the scientists who flew pre-Shuttle. Schmitt on Apollo 17, Garriott on Skylab 3. If Skylab 5 had flown (a planned 20-day mission to do some experiments and boost Skylab to a higher orbit, that would be a good mission for the first female U.S. Astronaut ITTL. AAP, if it had been pursued instead of Shuttle, has the possibility of a woman eventually walking on the Moon sometime in the 1980s.
 

TFSmith121

Banned
Yeah, pretty much..

Having a woman as a scientist-astronaut-an astronomer or geologist is possible. Jack Schmitt and Owen Garriott were two of the scientists who flew pre-Shuttle. Schmitt on Apollo 17, Garriott on Skylab 3. If Skylab 5 had flown (a planned 20-day mission to do some experiments and boost Skylab to a higher orbit, that would be a good mission for the first female U.S. Astronaut ITTL. AAP, if it had been pursued instead of Shuttle, has the possibility of a woman eventually walking on the Moon sometime in the 1980s.

Yeah, pretty much. I vote for Poppy Northcutt, even though she wasn't a PHD. Absent that, I am sure there were some impressive women geologists out there who would have loved the opportunity.

Best,
 
Propoganda though was pretty much the only reason the SU put a woman in space at all. After Tereshkova's only flight it would be 19 years before another Soviet woman went up

There were more women propaganda missions planned, they just got pushed aside in favor of something more important. There was a proposed women's spacewalk on Voskhod (cancelled along with the rest of the program) and an all-female crew to Salyut 7 (admittedly after Savitskya) that almost went through but was cancelled as well.

So have the Soviets reach the moon and have it go well enough that they can "afford" to send a female cosmonaut there for propaganda.
 
This thread is rather old, but sure!

1944: Nazi rocket scientist Klaus Riedel survived the car accident that would've killed him in OTL.

1945: Anthony Marchione was shot down by part of the Imperial Japanese air force, causing General Mcarthur to interpret this as an act of non-surrender. Small skirmishes between US and Japanese forces ensued but it was quickly brought to a resolution fortunately. At the same time rocket scientists Rudolf Nebel and Klaus Riedel are recruited by the US.

October 4, 1957: USSR launched Sputnik 1 into space, which is the first artificial satellite.

November 3, 1957: Sputnik 2 is launched, carrying Laika the first dog in orbit.

December 6, 1957: The US launched its first satellite into space, Vanguard I.

January 31, 1958: USA sent up another satellite Explorer I into space.

March 5, 1958: NASA's Explorer II is launched into orbit.

April 27, 1958: Sputnik 3 launched by USSR.

December 6, 1958: Pioneer 3 is launched that will became the first object to impact the Moon.

January 2, 1959: SU takes one step further by sending Luna 1 into the cislunar space and beyond.

January 20, 1961: Inauguration of President Kennedy.

January 31, 1961: NASA sent up Ham the Chimp into space.

April 12, 1961: Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space and in orbit, however his mission is a partial failure since Vostok's retrorockets failed before intended reentry causing him to enter the code to unlock the controls and attempt to control his spacecraft to no avail. Fortunately he safely landed inside the United States due to natural orbital decay in lower orbits few days later.

May 5, 1961: NASA's Alan Shepard is the first American in space with a 15 minute suborbital flight, and with a recoverable booster.

May 25, 1961: US President Kennedy delivers his speech to put a man on the Moon in the Congress. Afterwards Khrushchev orders Korolev to do the same thing.

July 21, 1961: Mercury Redstone 4 carrying Gus Grissom commences with the usage of the booster recovered from Shepard's flight.

February 20, 1962: John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth.

July 22, 1962: Mariner 1 is launched, and would become the first probe to fly by a planet (Venus) later.

November 1, 1962: Yevgeni Andreyev and Pyotr Dolgov survived their space dive. Soviet probe Mars 1 is successfully sent to the direction of Mars.

June 16, 1963: Valentina Tereshkova is the first woman in space.

June 19, 1963: Mars 1 closest approach at 193,000 km from Mars. It also sent back first close-up images of the red planet.

March 18, 1965: Alexei Leonov is the first person to do a extravehicular spacewalk.

November 2, 1965: Voskhod 3 lifts off into space and flew into the vicinity of the Van Allen Belt.

February 3, 1966: Luna 9 is the first object to soft land on the moon.

March 15, 1966: Irina Solovyova is the first woman to spacewalk in the Voskhod 4 mission.

January 27, 1967: Apollo 1 does not have a disaster in TTL.

April 26, 1967: Soyuz 1 performed a hard landing onto the ground. Vladimir Komarov survived but is permanently left disabled.

Mid-1968: Apollo 7 made a circumlunar flight around the Moon, but not into orbit.

November 15, 1968: USSR launched Alexey Leonov and Valery Bykovsky in a Soyuz 7K-L1 spacecraft to do a lap around the Moon like Apollo 7.

December 24, 1968: Apollo 8 became the first manned mission to orbit the Moon.

February 19, 1969: Lunokhod 1 rover is sent to the Moon where it successfully lands, stunning the world.

May 17, 1969: Yuri Gagarin and Viktor Gorbatko became the first Soviet cosmonauts to orbit the Moon in a Soyuz 7K-LOK spacecraft.

July 20, 1969: Apollo 11 landed on the Moon which is the first manned mission to do so.

November 4, 1969: USSR followed suit by sending Alexei Leonov to land on the Moon.

March 1970: In tandem with the lunar mission, NASA launched the world's first space station "Olympus" based on LM lab design. There would be two missions to dock on it and conduct experiments.

December 15, 1970: Venera 7 soft lands on Venus.

April 12, 1971: Launch of Salyut 1 the second space station.

April 22, 1971: Soyuz 10 launched which will become the first manned mission to enter the Salyut 1 station.

June 12, 1971: Soviet Russia's Irina Solovyova is the first woman to walk on the Moon.

March 2, 1972: Pioneer 10 is launched to Jupiter.

April 6, 1973: Pioneer 11 is launched to Jupiter and Saturn.

October 6 - 25, 1973: Yom Kippur War.

Circa 1974: Mariner 10 is the first to reach Mercury while Pioneer H is launched as an out-of-the ecliptic mission.

July 15, 1975: Apollo Soyuz test project is launched into space.

Early July 1976: The final Apollo 22 mission is the first working base on another celestial body with the deployment of a lunar shelter, dealing a final blow to the Soviets in the race for space supremacy.

July 20, 1976: NASA's Viking 1 lands on Mars and successfully performed its mission.

September 5, 1977: NASA launched Voyager 1 to the outer planets and beyond.

April 12, 1981: Space Shuttle Columbia makes its maiden flight.

March 9, 1989: Start of a series of revolutions in the Eastern Bloc.

November 9, 1989: Fall of the Berlin Wall.

December 26, 1991: End of the Cold War as the USSR vanish from existence.

November 16, 1996: Russia's Mars 96 is launched to Mars.

October 7, 2001: U.S. invaded Afghanistan.

March 20, 2003: USA invades Saddamist Iraq.

January 19, 2006: NASA launches space probe New Horizons.

October 9, 2006: North Korea explode its first nuke.

September 10, 2008: The Large Hadron Collider is activated by CERN.

January 20, 2009: Barack Obama is inaugurated as POTUS.

December 18, 2010: Start of the Arab Spring.

November 9, 2011: Phobos Grunt is launched to Mars.

April 13, 2012: North Korea launched its first satellite into space.

July 14, 2015: New Horizons flew by Pluto.

January 20, 2017: Hillary Rodham Clinton is inaugurated as the President of the United States.
 
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