Reaching for the skies

I'm resuming work on a timeline/story I'd put aside, and was looking for a few thoughts.

If, in 1876, it became very clear that there was danger in the skies (A mile wide crater blasted out of New Hampshire's White Mountains by a large meteorite, with the blast heard in Montreal and New York) and a determination to do something about it, how soon could people be in orbit? I'm not talking about a Manhattan Project level program, but an American population that supports research into this sort of thing, and 5% of the military budget each year going for research into everything from telescopes to ways to get off the ground. I'm just collecting more ideas for "Reach for the Skies," including what sort of things might be tried.
 
I'm resuming work on a timeline/story I'd put aside, and was looking for a few thoughts.

If, in 1876, it became very clear that there was danger in the skies (A mile wide crater blasted out of New Hampshire's White Mountains by a large meteorite, with the blast heard in Montreal and New York) and a determination to do something about it, how soon could people be in orbit? I'm not talking about a Manhattan Project level program, but an American population that supports research into this sort of thing, and 5% of the military budget each year going for research into everything from telescopes to ways to get off the ground. I'm just collecting more ideas for "Reach for the Skies," including what sort of things might be tried.
Youve really got to have good fuels, metallurgy that can handle the heat and pressures, and electronics sufficient to guide the rocket into orbit.

So, maybe about 1945 or so, really.
 
1876

I'll post some of the timeline soon--as soon as I clean up some revisions.

The timeline starts on the morning of June 6, 1876, when a meteorite blasts out a crater a mile in diameter in Franconia Notch, New Hampshire. The blast is heard in Montreal and New York; windows are broken in Concord, NH, and the majority of the mushroom cloud can be seen easily in Boston. (Aproximately a 3-4 megaton equivalent groundburst...) Eventually, the conclusion will be reached that it was probably a meteorite.

Many thousands are dead, and the devastation is widespread. Meanwhile, the Republican convention is in, IIRC, 8 days, and Maine's Blaine is a leading candidate, Custer rides to Little Bighorn in less than a month, and the Centenial Celebration is here.

Because of where it lands, the economic effects are minimal, but the USA is suddenly very aware that the sky is dangerous.

My tentative plans include a national effort to understand what's out there, and eventually, a desire to GO out there to deal with dangerous rocks--or at least to have a better view of what threats are there, and learn where tnhey'll be coming from, so evacuations can be ordered.

In Europe, the impact will be a short-term wonder, and drop from public consciousness in a month or two, but in the USA--especially in the Northeast--it doesn't go away.

Clearly, something like this has multiple possible consequences, but I'll be going with a USA that goes down the path of serious atempts, publicly supported, to understand and defend against this threat in what ever way is possible.
 
god's wrath

"It is God's wrath! We must [WHATEVER]!"

I do plan on including people thinking that it's a god's wrath or other magical explanations--in this time, there would be a lot of people seeing things that way. But there would also be people looking for explanations that don't involve superstition, and trying to find the logical, scientific explanations and act on them.

Once Meteor Crater in Arizona is also discovered to be an impact crater, things should speed up...
 
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