Well, they've gotta judiciously study the mechanics behind rocketry, however, regressing the supposed progress by at least some years behind OTL?
A spacecraft with less complicated interface is sure interesting, though. Could it be skipped to a digital interface already?
That's a good point, IOTL there were various ventures like the V1 rockets which simply haven't been explored here. Maybe weapons researchers would latch onto the technology as a side-effect of arms races? Or, if we want to delve into more extreme forms of speculation, maybe manned spaceflight just isn't something that gets done
at all in the Separateverse and is little more than a sci-fi hypothetical--sure, it's not really as interesting, but if the progress of technology isn't totally linear or deterministic, I could see it remaining a tough nut to crack for decades into the future if rocketry development isn't spurred somehow.
Personally I want to believe ITTL would figure out nuclear thermal rockets/ramjets before orbit-capable chemical rockets. Somewhat because they're mechanically simpler--you only need one turbopump, for starters--mostly because nuke-le-er spaceplaaaaanes.
They haven't figured out nukes either at this point, so it's back to the same issue of putting more effort and scrutiny into researching underdeveloped fields.
With similar complexes everywhere, however, the space race would sure have more participants, with New York and Tokyo being the most advanced in the field. (Haha, I'm literally tempting fate and shitting on the certainly sloppy Drakian space program just to throw them a bone, haha.) Well, it's the merit of their gigantic industries compared to even the newcomer India, of which I suppose to be a rather distant third, even with the independence of the Confederation of East Asia.
Hasn't Japan been pretty screwed by their civil war and the loss of their empire though? The impression I got was that their infrastructure and societal institutions have been severely damaged, so pouring resources into a space race which would be criticized as a boondoggle at the best of times isn't at the top of their priorities. However, I can see it happening in decades to come, and I could have overestimated the degree of damage so it might be less of an issue.
Also, I wouldn't discount India so easily, they've had a pretty good run so far with an earlier independence won at the negotiation table, no Hindu/Muslim partition or the ensuing violent tensions, and a stronger economy. Add to that their ambitions to lead their own alliance and the fact that they helped fight the U.S. to a standstill without sustaining significant damage on their own soil, and I think they're close to being able to go toe to toe with major powers. (Not that it'd be easy, of course, but that's what makes timelines like this so much fun!)
