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Cold Star: Part 1

September 1964
Baikonur, Kazakh SSR, USSR


"What? Why?"

Chelomei looked with with desperation at Korolev, clearly wondering if his
rival had gotten the meeting canceled behind his back.

"Khrushchev is just too busy, and I wouldn't worry too much. Word is, he's not
going to last much longer."

"Yeah, sure." Chelomei looked back down at desk and Korolev began to leave. As
he was at the door, he asked,

"How is Glushko's giant engine going, by the way?"

"Fine. I'm not sure of the pentaborane, but even with hydrazine it's
impressive."

Korolev grunted and left.

November 1964
Baikonur, Kazakh SSR, USSR


"And as you can see, UR-700 can be ready years before N-1. And with the
modular design, we can test all the elements before flight. Plus, the upper
half will be ready to fly next year, and could beat the Americans to manned
flight around the Moon. N-1 can do none of these things, but costs just as
much."

Chelomei tried to look Ustinov directly in the eyes as he said this, to keep
from seeing Korolev. Chelomei didn't have the best history with Ustinov, now
Secretary for Defence and Space under Brezhnev. But, since Khrushchev's ouster
nearly two months ago, Chelomei had been full-on campaigning that Korolev's N-1
moon rocket should be replaced by his more practical-minded UR-700. He had
been keeping quiet about UR-700 until the meeting with Khrushchev was
cancelled* in September. Since then, he had acquired most of Korolev's old
allies, and done his best to isolate his fellow Ukrainian. Then, Ustinov
arranged this new meeting to decide the future of the lunar program. It was a
long shot to get his rocket built, but Chelomei was determined to take it.

Ustinov waited for Chelomei to completely finish, paused, and then said, "I'll
have to take it back to Moscow, but my recommendation will be for Korolev to
continue working the lunar spacecraft, but wind down N-1. Chelomei, you will
start work immediately on UR-700, but spend no further time on your lunar
lander. The highest priority is beat the Americans around the Moon and to the
surface. We will not do this by splitting our efforts. Thank you comrades."

As Ustinov left, Chelomei mentally leapt for joy. While he was fond of the direct
lander his Bureau had been working on for UR-700, the rocket was the real
prize. He went to immediately call Glushko.

* The PoD. IOTL the meeting happened, Khrushchev liked UR-700, and then got
kicked out of office.
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