Very late reply, but I'm so incredibly pleased that no one predicted our DEKE SLAYTON WITH A STEEL CHAIR twist.
EDIT: Ninja'd by the very author of that post!
Small Steps, Giant Leaps: An Alternate History of the Space Age
- Thread starter ThatCallisto
- Start date
EDIT: Ninja'd by the very author of that post!
For future reference you could use NASA's Eyes, it allows you to go back pretty far so you could use it to see which landing sites are illuminated at a particular date.
Wonder if the lack of a mutiny meant they'd fly in space again. IOTL Pogue only retired a few months after returning, so perhaps he didn't want to fly in space again, but Carr and Gibson remained with NASA for a few years afterwards, and Gibson in particular expressed intrest in flying again.In this timeline they full-on unionize
To clarify, KAL's thing above was a joke - I imagine there's still some amount of discontent between the crew and the ground on Skylab 4; probably worse, actually, given how rather less outfitted the station is ITTL being a wet workshop. This may be addressed in our Skylab 5 part.
Enjoy some pretty pictures of SSGL's wet workshop Skylab in all its glory, thanks to the magic of Kerbal Space Program!
Even from the outside, you can see some major differences from OTL, such as the S-IVB RCS pods and J-2S on the rear and Roadrunner with its LM derived-cabin.
Even from the outside, you can see some major differences from OTL, such as the S-IVB RCS pods and J-2S on the rear and Roadrunner with its LM derived-cabin.
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I have a bit of a question about Apollo 8. Since it was Schirra's crew that went to the moon here (minus Eisele), did they have the same issues with subordination that IOTL Apollo 7 had? Would this affect their chances at future missions? I know Schirra was planning to retire after his Apollo flight anyway, but what about Swigert and Cunningham? IOTL Swigert's chances at future flights were dashed by his involvement in the Apollo 15 stamp scandal (he was the original choice for CMP on Apollo-Soyuz), and Cunningham was informally promised command of the first Skylab mission too, but once he saw that Conrad got the assignment he resigned from NASA.
Perhaps Cunningham gets command of Skylab 5 ITTL? Swigert on Apollo Soyuz maybe too?
Perhaps Cunningham gets command of Skylab 5 ITTL? Swigert on Apollo Soyuz maybe too?
AIUI the insubordination issue was largely due to them contracting a cold, which either doesn't happen or happens on the ground here seeing as how Apollo 8 was months after Apollo 7. Similarly, the Apollo 15 stamp scandal was butterflied ITTL.
I'll get back to you on the exact crews, to see if my cowriters are OK with spoiling them before the post even though it's a relatively minor plot point. What I can say for sure, however, is that Apollo-Soyuz will feature a meeting between two Moonwalkers
Leonov is definitely oneAIUI the insubordination issue was largely due to them contracting a cold, which either doesn't happen or happens on the ground here seeing as how Apollo 8 was months after Apollo 7. Similarly, the Apollo 15 stamp scandal was butterflied ITTL.
I'll get back to you on the exact crews, to see if my cowriters are OK with spoiling them before the post even though it's a relatively minor plot point. What I can say for sure, however, is that Apollo-Soyuz will feature a meeting between two Moonwalkers
I’ll leave ASTP as an open question as we’re covering it in our next Part, but as KAL said, no postal covers incident - better weather forecasts the days leading up to Apollo 12’s launch means more crowds headed to KSC, which means Horst Eiermann and Hermann Sieger never meet by chance on a bus on their way to watch the launch, and never dream up the scheme. So Dave Scott and his crew (and Swigert, and all the others affected) don’t get hit so harsh. There’s still minor controversy over the Franklin Mint medals (IOTL flown on 14, so 15 ITTL) and the rules do end up tweaked to disallow flying things in PPKs to intentionally make “space souvenirs” for profit, similar enough to OTL.
As for Apollo 8, there’s definitely nowhere near the level of issues as with OTL 7. Schirra does retire after it, yeah. Pete still gets Skylab 2, though, and Walt still resigns over it. Swigert… we haven’t seen the last of him.
hey, we never specified one of ‘em was Soviet! ;D But, in the words of one of my favorite TV shows as a kid, “I mustn't tell you any more, or I shall spoil the next story.”Leonov is definitely one
Awesome as always
Get back to work you!
Randy
An excellent coda to Apollo. If people keep writing stuff this good, I may never have to get around to Fires of Mercury.
Get back to work you!
Randy
Bob Lawrence hasn't flown yet, no. He's under 35 when MOL is cancelled in 1969, though, and thus transfers to NASA as part of Astronaut Group 7 - the first of which flew IOTL on STS-1.
As with OTL NASA, the last astro groups as of where we're at now were 1967 (the so-called "Excess Eleven") and 1969 (Astro Group 7, former MOL astronauts), both of which are as OTL and neither of which included women. It's the 1970s, though, and a much bigger spaceship is on the horizon - stay tuned.