Bold They Rise:Spaceflight from 1976 to the Present

From the JSC Roundup (1)
Headlines only

September 2,1977

HAISE ANNOUNCES THAT HE WILL STAY ON AS AN ASTRONAUT

ALT #3 GOES WELL-ROOSA:"SHE HANDLES REAL WELL"

SHUTTLE CENTAUR PRODUCTION TO BEGIN IN SPRING '81

FLETCHER,CHERTOK,BYKOVSKY DISCUSS POSSIBLE ISS-SOYUZ MISSION

EOC MEETING POSTPONED TO WEEK BEFORE CHRISTMAS

LEONOV,VOLKOV,OTHERS TO TOUR JSC,KSC,GSFC IN SPRING

SHUTTLE DEPLOY OF AUSSAT 1 TO OCCUR IN FEBRUARY '85

NASA TO KEEP OPERATING ALSEP PACKAGES THROUGH FY82
 
Last edited:
February 1976
MoM decree 129:The N1-L3 program is cancelled. Development of space stations DOS-7 and DOS-8 is approved. Development of projects 1K11K25 Energia-Buran,100GK Mosche geostationary Earth resources and observation platform,and 150GK Heavy Rocket Study Phases 1-2 program is approved.

March 1976
Ford's speech at KSC. Fifth test firing of the Space Shuttle Main Engine,for 205 seconds.

April 1976
NBC's John Chancellor takes a tour of Russia'a space center at Star City. Chancellor reports (aired on April 30 and May 6) that the Soviet Union's space program isn't leaps and bounds ahead of NASA:rather,the two space programs are more or less evenly matched.

May 1976
Development as per NASA budgetary request 74-10 of the Cargo Space Shuttle (Shuttle-C) Phase 1 is approved.

June 1976
Last launch attempt of the Europa rocket. This mission,the only successful Europa,places the 503 lb West German Tamich research satellite into medium Earth orbit. Europa is cancelled in July. The first launch of Ariane,Europe's next generation rocket,is anticipated for early 1979.

July 4,1976
NASA's Viking 1 lander touches down at Chryse Planitia,Mars.

July 31,1976
Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev dies peacefully in his sleep,aged 69.

Late summer 1976 (August-mid September)
NASA's Viking 2 arrives at Mars on August 11,its lander touching down at Schiaparelli Crater on the 29th. On August 17,TASS announces that a "careful selection" has ensured that Alexi Kosygin will be General Secretary of the CCCP. The next day,Soviet space scientist Roald Sagdeyev reveals in a BBC interview that the next Soviet Mars probes will be a pair of orbiters in 1977 and orbiter/lander pairs in 1979 and 1981:the 1975 launch opportunity was skipped for "budgetary reasons". The first shuttle SRB test firing,a 15 second event on September 8,is viewed close up by 12,000 guests and on TV by over 100,000 people. Between September 12 and October 2,cosmonauts Anatoly Filipchenko and Mikhail Lisun, the crew of Soyuz 23, fly the second manned mission to the Salyut 5 space station.

October 7,1976
Three days after the 19th anniversary of the Sputnik 1 launch,NASA is in shock:closeup imagery taken by the Viking 2 orbiter has identified,on the Isidis Planitia,what can only be some sort of moss. However,further analysis will have to wait:NASA's next Mars mission,the Pioneer Mars orbiter and atmospheric probe,isn't due for launch until 1981.

October 24,1976
NASA announces that its next astronaut selection has been moved up one year to allow for the delay of the first Space Shuttle mission to September 1980. Also,the test orbiter Enterprise will be modified for spaceflight after the ALT tests next year:Enterprise's first space mission is not expected earlier than Q1 1984 because of the modifications required for Enterprise's structure and systems.

OTL, the last attempted launch of Europa was 1971. What changed to make this Happen?
 
So the pod is 1969 or 1976?
The extra Europa production doesn't really count since originally they were meant to be operational launchers before 1971,but 1969 could count as an initial POD (as well as 1973 b/c no Glushko, who ruined the Russian space program) but 1976 is the relevant POD. I apologize for any confusion.
 
Chronology:autumn 1977
September-November 1977
Salyut 6 launches on September 14,Soyuz 25 follows on September 29. The first occupation of the station is a success,with Dobrovolski and Ryumin performing 2 EVAs. On November 8,Soyuz 26 arrives with Vasili Lazarev,Georgi Grechko,and Eberhard Koellner. This mission is historic for two reasons:the first manned spacecraft exchange (with Lazarev,Grechko,and Koellner returning to Earth in Soyuz 25 on November 21) and the first international manned spaceflight. The first Progress resupply vessel arrives on December 16,departing on January 11,and Dobrovolski and Ryumin return to Earth in Soyuz 26 on February 18,1978. Next up are Yuri Romanenko and Boris Andreyev, Ivanchenkov having been slipped to a later mission.

October 1977
The last ALT tests prove that Enterprise can fly without a tailcone:modifications for spaceflight are set to begin in April 1978 for delivery to KSC in summer '82 and first manned mission (tentatively STS-25) in late 1984. The first Ariane countdown rehearsal,on October 20,is a complete success.

November 1977
42 new astronauts are selected to fly on the Space Shuttle,including 8 women and 4 minority members.
 
The Soviet Union's international relations, 1976-1984
The death of Leonid Brezhnev marked a major shift in how the USSR saw other countries and itself. For years the Soviet Union had been struggling economically,and also its relations with the US and allied countries hadn't been all that great. Alexi Kosygin sent the message that he planned to change the Soviet Union,and for the better. In 1977,Kosygin and US vice president Nelson Rockefeller met in Athens and took several steps to improve relations in Europe. As mentioned above,one such step was renewing the US-USSR space co-operation treaty signed in 1972 by Nixon and Brezhnev. Other results of the Rockefeller-Kosygin Summit were:
-Rudolf Hess was freed from Spandau Prison on grounds of time served (31 years since 1946,and his health was starting to go). Hess retired to Erfurt, where he would die in 1984.
-The Soviet government would contribute technical and personnel expertise to a notional joint oil pipeline
-The USSR would only send military observers to USSR-aligned countries,and never more than 20 at a time (1).
-Cultural and political exchanges would be determined at a later date

The 1980s saw new progress in US-USSR relations. If Ronald Reagan had been elected when Leonid Brezhnev was in office,then it is likely that space cooperation would've been reduced,and the SDI space defense program expanded (2). However,with Kosygin in power,the need for such a program was reduced although not totally eliminated. In 1988,computer electronics mogul George Fowler praised Reagan's space policies (3) as "indicative of a new era".

(1)-And thus the invasion of Afghanistan is butterflied away. OBL will meet his fate (28 years earlier than OTL) in a subsequent entry
(2)-ITTL SDI is more of a technology demonstration program,with A LOT of its technology applied for civilian uses, such as the ALSV
(3)-No spoilers,mind you..........
 
ISS mission planning
Just a heads up. I'm non-canonizing the flights of the GKNI-1 cosmonaut group,because things might change in the course of the TL (Buran will still fly many times). So anyway........

December 21,1977
Houston Coliseum
An evening speech by George Low

"The ISS is based on a study conducted in 1970. The study called for four space station launches between 1975 and 1983 to preserve America's long duration manned space capability. There are obviously some differences from the old ISS study as compared to the station now under devleopment. The 1970 study assumed four stations launched by Saturn Vs. This has been reduced to one station,launched by the second Phase 1 Shuttle-C,scheduled for launch in May 1985. Elements of all four original ISS stations will appear in the new program. Ir is worth examining the original vision to compare it to the new.

The first ISS space station,built from Skylab B,would be launched in December 1975 into an orbit similar in altitude to Skylab,but at a 28 degree inclination as opposed to Skylab's 50 degrees. The CSM crew transports would ride a Titan SRB plus S-IVB upper stage to ISS-1. Changes to the Apollo Service Module would enable the SM equipment bays to be converted into cargo bays. Cargo stored in these bays during launch would be transferred to the station via spacewalking astronauts using a 'clothesline' system. Four crews would man ISS-1,performing biological and chemical research,including utilization of a specialized onboard centrifuge. The mission of the space station would span about 21 months.

ISS-2 would be the second station launch,in April 1978. During the two year operational lifetime of this station,Earth resources surveys would be conducted. To aid these,the station would be launched into a 290 nm orbit at the original Skylab inclination,enabling Skylab to serve as a backup should ISS-2 fail to reach orbit (1). As with ISS-1,biomedical experiments would be conducted.

ISS-3 would take up its predecessor's work in September 1980. Monthly CSM launches that winter would raise its crew complement to nine. Despite the planned introduction of the Shuttle at that time,the original plan did not assume Shuttle missions to ISS-3 or its successor. Onboard this station,space manufacturing experiments would be conducted. Anticipated operational time for ISS-3 and ISS-4 was 2 1/2 years apiece. ISS-4 would launch in March 1983.

ISS-4 is especially notable for two reasons. The first is that it was planned that artifiil gravity would be used. The station's spent S-II booster rocket would be used as a counterweight,enabling 1/6th g similar to the gravitational force of the Moon. The second is its use of 2 radioactive power units,which would separately launch on the Saturn 1-B rocket (2). They would be docked to ISS-4 via an Agena upper stage (3) and would generate 6 kW of electricity. By the end of station life in the autumn of 1985,NASA would be ready to launch a permanent,modularized space station.

The ISS being developed today,by contrast,will be launched by the Shuttle-C. Its crews will ride to orbit in specialized passenger modules in a Shuttle cargo bay. At an appointed time,these modules will be ejected from the payload bay. Agena stages will carry them to the ISS orbit,from where they will dock to the station autonomously,with the crew as backup. At the end of a mission,another Agena picks them up and transfers them to another Shuttle. The centrifuge module is retained as well:it will launch on an Atlas-Centaur. The station will operate in a 268 nm orbit,inclined 42 degrees to the equator. Thank you,and may you all enjoy a Merry Christmas".

1-Apparently I'm the first person to realize that................

2-In the original ISS study,the radioactive power units would be launched on Titan rockets.

#-In the original study,there was no explanation of how the RPUs would be ferried to ISS-4. Also,said study used letter designations for the stations.
 
Chronology:December 1977-September 1978
Because I've been away so long,please accept this slightly longer than normal chronology post. Also,the TOC interludal epilogue thingy stands because Books 12 and 13 will be posted to the Writer's Forum w/a link to this thread.So:

December 1977
NASA Administrator Robert Frosch is forced into medical retirement. James Fletcher takes over as interim Administrator until a replacement can be found.

January-February 1978
Space Shuttle Columbia is delivered to KSC on January 18:the first space shuttle mission is now anticipated for late 1979. The ESA announces that Olympus,their newest communications satellite project,will be launched via Space Shuttle in 1988. President Ford appoints Buzz Aldrin to head a committee to study options for an integrated space architecture for the 1990s and beyond.

March-April 1978
Soyuz 27 takes off from Baikonur on March 4,docking to Salyut 6 the following day. Cosmonauts Yuri Romanenko and Boris Andreyev set up shop:they are expecting two Interkosmos missions,one of which will exchange their Soyuz. Israel tests their first Jericho 100 missile on March 23:to some it's pretty obvious that this missile could someday be a satellite launcher. In April,NASA decides to cancel the Skylab reboost mission,but temporarily keep open the option of deorbiting Skylab with a Delta-launched Agena.

May-June 1978
The Soviet Mars 8 and 9 orbiters arrive at Mars,assuming elliptical orbits. On May 16,Soyuz 28 carries Alexei Gubarev and Vladimir Remek to Salyut 6,where they spend 10 days with Romanenko and Andreyev doing astronomical experiments. Deke Slayton forms Comspace,a commercial space exploration group. In August,they reveal the design of their Percheron rocket,a two stage LEO booster loosely inspired by the Titan 23G. The smaller Peterel rocket will act as a Percheron test platform,uncovering any potential issues (1). They also contract with the USAF for the use of Launch Complex 46 for both rockets.

July-September 1978
Soyuz 29 arrives at Salyut 6 on July 10,crewed by Pyotr Kolodin and Zenon Jankowski. On July 20,they return to Earth in Soyuz 27. Romanenko and Andreyev return to Earth on August 26,utilizing Soyuz 29. NASA announces that the Skylab B ATM will fly on the Sunlab Shuttle mission,scheduled for late 1985 or early 1986:after the mission,the modified ATM will be left in orbit for automatic observations and possible retrieval by a future Shuttle mission. On September 8,William A.Anders is sworn in as NASA Administrator by Vice President Rockefeller,one of his last major actions in office.

(1)-This helps to avoid the problems Percheron suffered in OTL.
 
Pop culture 2:Electric Boogaloo
Space-wise,the popular culture of the late 1970s and early 1980s was one of re-evaluation. With NASA well and truly back on its feet after the hard days following Apollo, space culture grew more relaxed. In 1977,the first Star Wars movie,A New Hope,came out. George Lucas exercised control over almost all areas of the film's production,except (notably) for casting. Mark Hamill's performance as Luke Skywalker was hailed by critics worldwide as "top-notch",as was Harrison Ford's performance as Han Solo,Carrie Fisher's as princess Leia,and Adam West's as Darth Vader (1). Two more followed, The Empire Strikes Back in 1980 and Return of the Jedi in 1984. These movies sparked a fanbase that has continued since then, with eight more films (as of 2018. with three more due for release through 2022), and many novels,three TV shows,and merchandise almost beyond count.

The first half of the 1980s saw
:The 1979 film Star Trek I:The Motion Picture
:The 1980 film Stowaway to the Moon
:The 1980 film Moonraker
:The 1981 TV movie Starship Troopers
:The 1981 and 1982 films Star Trek 2:Guardian of the Past (2),Starflight,The Ark Principle,and Moon 0-2
:And in 1983 and 1984, Star Trek 3:The Voyage Home, Stellar Journey,Dominator (based on the 1981 book),Starfall (3),Starraker (4),and the lead-in to Star Trek 4:The Final Frontier

(1)-RIP Adam West

(2)-Based on an idea by Arthur C.Clarke to have the second Star Trek movie be about Klingons interfering with JFK's assassination and Kirk stopping them via the Guardian of Forever

(3)-Not the James Bond film,but based on a 1976 novel about the failed launch of a space-based solar collector

(4)-A sequel to Moonraker involving the proposed space plane of that name (Star Raker)
Star-raker
 
Last edited:
ESA (2)-the first flight of Ariane 1
From "50 Years of ESA:1975-2025"

On November 19,1978, not much of importance was happening in the world. It was the Monday of Thanksgiving week in the US. In the Soviet Union, Alexei Kosygin was receiving American Secretary of Agriculture John Knebel on a visit related to potential joint agricultural projects between America and the USSR. In Vienna,torrential rain had put paid to a pro-Communist student riot. In New Zealand,a new Liberal government had just been swept into power. In the US,the news headlines included former President Richard Nixon headlining a book tour for the first volume of his memoirs,a potential new bull market in 1979 following the Oil Recession,and the New York Jets gearing up for the 12th Super Bowl. But all this would be equalled by a test flight taking place at the Kourou test range in French Guiana.

The rocket had been sitting on its pad 5 days when the final countdown began at 8:40 am local time (7:40 am in New York, 4:40 am in Los Angeles, 12:40 pm in London and Paris, and 4:40 pm in Moscow). It was the first Ariane rocket. Its payloads? Two. ESA's Cat-1 test satellite and NASA'a Explorer 60, aka Atmosat.

At 8:42,the rocket lifted off with a whine. Ascending into the sky,it looked like a pencil. On its side was written Messager Stellaire, or Starry Messenger (1). Three minutes in,the core stage burned out and fell away. At 8:50,the ascent was complete. All systems looked good,and the payloads were released.

(1)-Totally made up
 
Last edited:

Archibald

Banned
Space-wise,the popular culture of the late 1970s and early 1980s was one of re-evaluation. With NASA well and truly back on its feet after the hard days following Apollo, space culture grew more relaxed. In 1977,the first Star Wars movie,A New Hope,came out. George Lucas exercised control over almost all areas of the film's production,except (notably) for casting. Mark Hamill's performance as Luke Skywalker was hailed by critics worldwide as "top-notch",as was Harrison Ford's performance as Han Solo,Carrie Fisher's as princess Leia,and Adam West's as Darth Vader (1). Two more followed, The Empire Strikes Back in 1980 and Return of the Jedi in 1984. These movies sparked a fanbase that has continued since then, with eight more films (as of 2018. with three more due for release through 2022), and many novels,three TV shows,and merchandise almost beyond count.

The first half of the 1980s saw
:The 1979 film Star Trek I:The Motion Picture
:The 1980 film Stowaway to the Moon
:The 1980 film Moonraker
:The 1981 TV movie Starship Troopers
:The 1981 and 1982 films Star Trek 2:Guardian of the Past (2),Starflight,The Ark Principle,and Moon 0-2
:And in 1983 and 1984, Star Trek 3:The Voyage Home, Stellar Journey,Dominator (based on the 1981 book),Starfall (3),Starraker (4),and the lead-in to Star Trek 4:The Final Frontier

(1)-RIP Adam West

(2)-Based on an idea by Arthur C.Clarke to have the second Star Trek movie be about Klingons interfering with JFK's assassination and Kirk stopping them via the Guardian of Forever

(3)-Not the James Bond film,but based on a 1976 novel about the failed launch of a space-based solar collector

(4)-A sequel to Moonraker involving the proposed space plane of that name (Star Raker)
Star-raker

Oh putain. Adam West as Dark Vador. Putain...

vader_NOOOO.jpg



image.jpg


Moon Raker meet Star Raker. now that's a very cool idea.

GW588H374


Star_Raker_Orbit_alt.jpg


Did they married and got plenty of cute space rakers ?

51xJL5fRJFL._SX355_.jpg
 
Oh putain. Adam West as Dark Vador. Putain...

vader_NOOOO.jpg



image.jpg


Moon Raker meet Star Raker. now that's a very cool idea.

GW588H374


Star_Raker_Orbit_alt.jpg


Did they married and got plenty of cute space rakers ?

51xJL5fRJFL._SX355_.jpg

It's a sequel in that it's set in the same universe and Holly Goodhead is the protagonist. Here, the Star Raker exists to support a NASA/ESA Mars mission in 1998 (Moonraker taking place in 1992). The SR has a cradle module for launching S-IVB nuclear-fueled derivatives.

Starship Troopers is a live action version of the 1988 Japanese anime version (yes,there is such a thing). It's actually a 12-episode miniseries. Mark Hamill plays Johnnie.

Star Wars:West only portrays DV in ANH and ESB. In RotJ, he's portrayed by James Earl Jones like in OTL.

Putain:Shouldn't that be tabernac? Or calisse?
 
I'm not from Quebec but from France, albeit I'm very fond of Quebec slang and accent.



Is it as gory as Verhoven OTL movie ?

No. The Anime focused more on training than actual combat (but its Bugs were octopus brains. These Bugs look like giant versions of Shelob).

I'm surprised you know how the Quebecois curse. Guess you've read TL-191 too.........
 

Archibald

Banned
Not TL-191 but South Park canadians included Quebec and their slang.


Including my favorite line from the South Park movie, when America seeks war with Canada, they say that Canada is guilty of Bryan Adams.
 
Cargp vehicle request?
(Slightest of spoilers ahead)

So what could I use for a space station logistics vehicle (non-Shuttle) in the '90s and early '00s? The station is a joint NASA/Canadian/European/Russian/Japanese platform. NASA is considering having Brazil,India,and eventually China join the station. Orbital altutide is 260 nautical miles,orbital inclination 53 degrees.

This vehicle can be recoverable and/or reusable, but that's not the motivating factor.

List potential logistics vehicle/potential launch vehicle.
 
Top