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Per Aspera Ad Astra: Collaborative Alternate Space Exploration History Timeline

So I have this idea for a coop alternate space exploration timeline that has women astronauts and cosmonauts from the very start. Basically, USAF General Donald E. Flickinger manages to take his idea for a "girl astronaut" program further. The Mercury 12 become formal astronauts and join NASA in 1960.

Here's what I have so far:

1961- The Atlas is finished earlier and John Glenn becomes the first American is space, orbiting the Earth three times. Later that year, Jerrie Cobb becomes the first woman in space.

1969- Apollo 9 (NASA saves two Saturn Vs by completing OTL Apollo 9's LM a few weeks earlier, launching it on Apollo 8 and doing all the flight testing needed around the Moon) lands on the Moon, with Buzz Aldrin and Sarah Gorelick becoming the first people to walk on the Moon.

1972- Nixon opts not to go for the Shuttle program, so NASA is forced to continue Earth orbit Apollo flights. The Soviets manage to successfully launch the N1 on their fourth try!

1973- Skylab is launched with a slightly different design then in OTL, allowing it to be resupplied by modified LMs more easily.

1974- Apollo 18 (the equivalent of OTL's Apollo 20) is the final Apollo lunar mission until 1981. The first black man on the Moon is on this mission as the LM's pilot.

1976- Vikings 1 and 2 (with the Wolf Trap on board) find signs of life on Mars. Viking 2 digs slightly deeper with its sampler scoop then in OTL and finds water ice on Mars! The Soviets launch a military space probe to survey the south lunar pole to test various military space sensors and find water ice on the Moon.

1979- Skylab-B, a six-person, ten-meter space station, is launched. The Soviets use a multi-launch profile to land cosmonauts at the south lunar pole and announce their plans to build a lunar base! President Carter attempts to play down the significance of this, but pledges to go to Mars after the public gets whipped up by a former USAF general's book on how the Soviets could use the Moon to attack the Earth, despite experts saying that is impossible.

1981- Reagan is elected president and continues NASA's plans to go to Mars and build a lunar base.

1989- Athena 5, a six person mission, is the first to land on Mars. Sally Ride is the first person to walk ton Mars!
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