Yep. American Launch Services (ALS) appeared in Part-II Post #17 and were covered again in Part-III Post #3 with their stable of Peacekeeper-derived solid rockets, the Caravel and the Carrack.
Yep. American Launch Services (ALS) appeared in Part-II Post #17 and were covered again in Part-III Post #3 with their stable of Peacekeeper-derived solid rockets, the Caravel and the Carrack.
And very much like OTL, where NASA goes, the rest follow it would seem. And all for the very simple reason of money, only NASA has the money to move in a given direction while the others have to really prioritise to make full use of whatever funding they do have.
While TTL's Mir is showing its age now, albeit not to the same extent as OTL's Mir which was forced to operate well beyond its design life - as its constant brushes with Death will testify.
And I do wonder what the Europa 5 lineup looks like.
While TTL's Mir is showing its age now, albeit not to the same extent as OTL's Mir which was forced to operate well beyond its design life - as its constant brushes with Death will testify.
And I do wonder what the Europa 5 lineup looks like.
I suppose there's no reason not to post this now. I reserve the right to make any changes, but that's roughly the way it's going to be. (Note that the Europa 5 version of the Aurore-B takes advantage of the empty slots on the thrust structure to use a variable-position nozzle extension and boost its ISp another bit further.)
Just for fun, anyone want to suggest a name for the Europa 5 core?
Interesting new developments. Can't say I'm too familiar with Ann Richards of OTL, but I'd be interested in hearing about her plans.
Well it's British BAE Systems Built, and names they used were Gamma (Black Arrow), Blue Streak (IRBM/Europa), & Griffin (Europa 4) so as ideas for names:
Sabre (Taken from the SABRE Engine for the Skylon SSTO RSP IOTL)
Kestrel/Merlin/Falcon (From Species of Birds native to the UK)
Or maybe just swords in general. Like a mainstay stage core could be called 'Sabre', a small side-booster or upper-stage could be called 'Rapier', and a lovely big extended stage that could come later for a manned rocket could be 'Claymore'
Mrs Richards of OTL had a very dork spot on her past.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Garrett
Still, better than Bush.
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Her Wikipedia page doesn't feature the word "murder." Care to elaborate?
Also, she apparently died in 2006. The stress of the Presidency might put an end to her before that--will she even live out her first term as President?
Her Wikipedia page doesn't feature the word "murder." Care to elaborate?
Also, she apparently died in 2006. The stress of the Presidency might put an end to her before that--will she even live out her first term as President?
I believe that was a reference to Richard's support of the death penalty during her term as Texas governor.
If all three stages were built in Scotland you could always name them:- Claymore, Dirk and Skean-Dubh for first, second and third stage in that order.
Her Wikipedia page doesn't feature the word "murder." Care to elaborate?
Also, she apparently died in 2006. The stress of the Presidency might put an end to her before that--will she even live out her first term as President?
She died from cancer. She might actually benefit by being the US President. The President's health is so closely watched that the cancer might be detected earlier, and early detection is the key for surviving cancer.
This is why I try to minimize Politics as much as possible for ATL Space timelines.
That was not an option we could take, due to the Bush singularity. To wit: We knew from before Part II started that we were going to have astronauts landing on the Moon in 1999. This would obviously be good for Florida. Florida was carried by Bush by a tiny number of votes. It's hard to tell how the changed space program would affect that, but it certainly would. Hence, we decided to sidestep Bush and Clinton altogether (but not Gore, in the event, though we considered several figures). We didn't want to bring actual politics into it, particularly, so we changed politics earlier to allow us to focus on space.
As far as Texas conducting executions under Ms. Richards...well...Texas. Seriously. This stuff happened under Richards, Bush, and Perry, and it will happen under Abbot, I guarantee you. There's nothing in the slightest notable about Texas executing someone, even an innocent man, and certainly nothing requiring the shock statement that Ms. Richards was a "murderer," which tends to imply that she personally killed someone or had someone killed, rather than simply being in charge of a state which killed people.
The case of Johnny Garrett is the perfect example why capital punishment is a perversion of justice. Also, Mrs Richards deliberately negated hard evidence that Garret was not guilty and made statements that he was "rotten human junk" when even the pope tried to intervene.
Yes, I know the "special" conditions of Texas about capital punishment - but even then it was her duty to review any evidence.
Her acts were as close to homicide as can be.
Still, I agree this is the wrong forum for this discussion and should be not understood as any form of critique to this timeline, which I greatly enjoy.
Yes, I know the "special" conditions of Texas about capital punishment - but even then it was her duty to review any evidence.
Her acts were as close to homicide as can be.
Still, I agree this is the wrong forum for this discussion and should be not understood as any form of critique to this timeline, which I greatly enjoy.
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Hmm. We'd like to avoid too much name confusion with certain other vehicles which Falcon might engender, but I've always been a fan of Peregrines. Wikipedia says they're native to the UK, and they're fast, so we're going to go with that. Internet points to Bahamut and torten.
As far as Artemis 5, we will be covering all the remaining Artemis missions in more details later in the TL--Artemis 5 in particular turns up making its landing at Mare Smythii in Post 6. It's making a bit of a cameo here just to lay out the relative timing of things.
This makes sense, and I appreciate the explanation of your thinking.
My own sense is that the changes to the space program you detail would not have sufficient butterflies to alter the dynamics of the 1992 election in any appreciable way. One can never be sure, of course; butterflies can have all sorts of effects down the road that are unexpected, especially over longer timeframes. It just seems unlikely to me, given that Clinton won the nomination fairly handily, and won the presidency fairly handily. The only real threat he ever faced was, briefly, from Ross Perot. That being the case, it *is* arguable that NASA's trajectory here would have enough pro-incumbency effects in Florida to put Gore over the top in 2000, and that strikes me as the first point in time where a different space program could actually alter political outcomes in some real way. I think that kind of timeline would have been entirely defensible (I say this as someone with no love for Al Gore).
But what you have chosen here doesn't diminish my enjoyment of the timeline at large, which has been top shelf for plausibility (and artwork).
Archibald
Banned
To think that, in the fall of 2000, Florida carried two huge events that would change history forever.
First, of course, was that Bush versus Gore troubled thing. But it should also be reminded that 9/11 hijackers were (unknown to anybody) already training at Venice flight school huffman aviation
While of course NASA was flying its Shuttles out of KSC not too far away.
Who knows, had poor STS-107 Columbia blown away three years earlier (STS-107 was on the pipeline since 1998, with Goresat to be carried at some point in history) the space program might have tipped Bush versus Gore one way or another. Never underestimate those pesky butterflies.
Seriously: there might be some interesting space thriller to be made on such background.
Imagine: in the fall of the year 2000, a young Florida astronaut wannabee is taking flight lessons at Huffman aviation, while its parents wonders about Bush or Gore vote
Meanwhile a flawed STS-107 is readied at KSC, with Triana / Goresat on the payload bay...
But I digress.
First, of course, was that Bush versus Gore troubled thing. But it should also be reminded that 9/11 hijackers were (unknown to anybody) already training at Venice flight school huffman aviation
While of course NASA was flying its Shuttles out of KSC not too far away.
Who knows, had poor STS-107 Columbia blown away three years earlier (STS-107 was on the pipeline since 1998, with Goresat to be carried at some point in history) the space program might have tipped Bush versus Gore one way or another. Never underestimate those pesky butterflies.
Seriously: there might be some interesting space thriller to be made on such background.
Imagine: in the fall of the year 2000, a young Florida astronaut wannabee is taking flight lessons at Huffman aviation, while its parents wonders about Bush or Gore vote
Meanwhile a flawed STS-107 is readied at KSC, with Triana / Goresat on the payload bay...
But I digress.
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Good morning everyone! I'm glad there's been some interest in the configuration of Europa-5, because that happens to be the topic for this week's illustrations. First, a look at the launch preparations for the new vehicle's maiden flight in 2000:
Here's an overview of the various booster configurations:
Here's an overview of the various booster configurations: