Small Steps, Giant Leaps: An Alternate History of the Space Age

[ThatCallisto]

Before we kick things off, a quick teaser...

---

So, I had an idea last year for a timeline centered around the Apollo Program - basically, what reasonable changes could've happened so that more landings occurred. Nothing too complicated. What started out as a small timeline, however, quickly became much more than that, with plenty of prodding from @KAL_9000 - I'd originally planned to end it some time in the '70s with the end of Apollo. Try adding about 5 extra decades on, and you've got the monstrosity of a spaceflight timeline-to-be that is:

Small Steps, Giant Leaps: An Alternate History of the Space Age​

A spaceflight timeline brought to you by @ThatCallisto, @KAL_9000, and @Exo - with quite a bit of help along the way. (Patch by Zarbon44 on Twitter!)

Alternate titles include:

• Small Steps, Giant Leaps: How (Almost) Every Apollo Astronaut Made it to the Moon [the original title]
• Small Steps, Giant Leaps: The Sandwich Strikes Back
• Small Steps, Giant Leaps: How Callisto Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Shuttle
• Small Steps, Giant Leaps: Starring God-Tier Internet Shitposter Pete Conrad
• Small Steps, Giant Leaps: This is a Spaceflight Timeline, I Swear

There's no real posting schedule - I'll just write up what I can, when I can, and post it here once I'm satisfied with it.

 

[KAL_9000]

@ThatCallisto is giving me far more credit than I deserve - this was almost entirely their idea and I just came up with a few cool rockets. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy what we've got planned.

 

[Kloka]

Grissom intensifies

Also,shitposter Pete Conrad? Ye gods,this’ll be good. His granddaughter Christa is one of my Facebook friends:I’ll have to send her the relevant post whenever it goes up.

 

[e of pi]

Very interesting summary, looking forward to seeing what this turns into!

 

[ThatCallisto]

Small Steps, Giant Leaps - Part 1: 'Go Fever' Breaks​

---

December 29th, 1966

Problems, problems, problems. Project Apollo hadn't even flown a single man in space yet, but already it was running up against some pretty serious roadblocks. With hardly 3 years left to accomplish the late president Kennedy's goal, many within the halls of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration had begun to wonder whether it was truly possible.

The Apollo Block I Command Module for the first manned test flight, Command Module-012, had arrived at Cape Kennedy in late August, bringing with it hundreds of engineering changes needed before it was flight-ready.[1] With those completed, the capsule was mated to a Service Module inside of Kennedy Space Center's altitude chamber for combined testing of the spacecraft's systems, both uncrewed and crewed. This testing revealed even more problems - a leaky Environmental Control Unit in the Command Module had to be removed and fixed twice before actually working, and the Service Module had to be separated from the CM and removed from the chamber for inspection after a tank in another SM had ruptured during testing at North American.[2]

[The crew of AS-204/Apollo 1 enter the capsule inside the KSC altitude chamber, October 18, 1966. Image credit: NASA]

---

Finally, though, by late December, all these problems had been fixed, and the spacecraft had been reassembled and put back in the altitude chamber. The final crewed test in the chamber, performed by the backup crew of Walter Schirra, Donn Eisele, and R. Walter Cunningham, was set to take place the next day, December 30th. Before that, however, one last uncrewed test to verify the capsule - a "dry run" before the backup crew came in tomorrow.

It was getting on in the evening - just after 6:00 - as the test finally got underway, following the craft's reassembly and re-installation. This would be a repeat of earlier testing, nothing too complex; just slowly reduce the pressure in the chamber to near-vacuum conditions, verify all systems were working properly, re-pressurize the chamber, and call it a night. At least, that was the plan.

The first, unnoticed sign of trouble came around 6:20. For a moment, barely a second, the instruments monitoring the spacecraft's power systems indicated an increase in AC Bus 2 voltage before returning to normal. This went unnoticed by the technicians monitoring the spacecraft systems at the time - it was hardly a blip in the radar, only found after the fact in data analysis. The altitude chamber was only about one-third of the way depressurized at this point; nobody wanted to accidentally damage the spacecraft systems by rushing the test, and add unnecessary extra days of repair, refit, and re-testing, especially after the headache that the last few months had been.

The next sign of trouble, this one very plainly noticed by the technicians, came about 20 seconds later, as the internal cabin pressure suddenly began to rise exponentially, accompanied by a similar spike in temperature. The technician watching these indicators sighed as the needles shot upwards, exasperated by what seemed to be yet another problem that'd need fixing. "I've either got an equipment failure or some kinda gas leak here, fellas. Pressure and temperature are going wild."

Suddenly, there was a muffled bang - it could've easily been mistaken for someone in another room dropping something heavy, had it not been accompanied by a bright orange glow, now visible through a small, round porthole window in the altitude chamber. At this point, it was abundantly clear what had gone wrong.

"We've got a fire!"
"Jesus, get a team in there!"

The room fell into chaos for a moment as the technicians scrambled to re-pressurize the chamber, grab fire extinguishers and emergency gas masks, and pull the fire alarm. One technician rushed up to the chamber window to see the extent of the fire, and glimpsed what he would later describe as "... a jet of flame, erupting from the side of the capsule like a flamethrower."[3]

It took approximately 15 seconds for the chamber to quickly re-pressurize, after which the door could be opened and the blaze could be extinguished. From there, it took another four frantic minutes for the capsule's complex double-hatch to be disassembled and opened. By this time, however, it was far too late - the Command Module was all but destroyed, the interior surfaces caked in soot and the charred remains of various equipment; and sporting a large, charred hole and a trail of soot obscuring the flag and the black "UNITED STATES" painted onto the capsule's grey exterior.

---

In line with NASA policy written in the aftermath of Gemini 8's dangerous in-flight failure earlier that year, a review board was put together to assess the cause of the fire. This board included, among others, all three members of the crew planned to fly on this mission - Command Pilot Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Senior Pilot Edward H. White, and Pilot Roger B. Chaffee - along with spacecraft designer Maxime Faget, and Langley Research Center director Floyd L. Thompson chairing the board.

The Apollo 204 Review Board's final report, issued in April of 1967 after extensive disassembly and inspection of the spacecraft and other Block I spacecraft like it, concluded that the cause of the fire was a combination of damaged wiring, a leaking coolant line, an excess of flammable materials in the capsule, and the pure oxygen atmosphere which the capsule was pressurized with. The report also concluded that the Block I Apollo Command Module was unfit for spaceflight, and that more changes would need to be implemented for the Block II spacecraft to be considered safe for crewed flight, including a quick-opening hatch, a new cabin atmosphere at launch, and the addition of new insulation on various plumbing and wiring.[4] Revelations about the crew's concerns with the spacecraft, raised with (and dismissed by) Apollo Spacecraft Program Office Manager Joseph Francis Shea in the months preceding the fire, led to Shea's reassignment (and eventual resignation from NASA entirely) and replacement with George Low in April of 1967. Gus Grissom is alleged to have nearly gotten himself fired after a contentious phone call with Shea in the days following the fire, allegedly telling him "We need a man on the Moon before 1970, but a dead man on the Moon won't accomplish a damn thing."[5]

---

The failure of AS-204/Apollo 1 to get anywhere close to flying was seen initially as another major setback in the timeline for the Apollo Program. In its aftermath, however, a new sense of determination seemed to emerge. It took over a year for the recommended changes to be implemented for the Block II CSM, during which time three uncrewed test flights took place - Apollo 4, the first launch of the mighty Saturn V rocket that would propel man to the Moon; Apollo 5, an uncrewed test flight of a Lunar Module in Earth orbit; and Apollo 6, a second uncrewed Saturn V flight.[6]

By the autumn of 1968, Project Apollo was ready, finally, to fly its first crew. With the nearly two-year delay between AS-204's unfortunate end and this new planned mission, Grissom, White, and Chaffee had plenty of time to learn the ins-and-outs of the newer, more complex Block II spacecraft, and so the crew were selected to fly this first mission in place of their original planned flight. [7]

Apollo 7, as the mission was designated under the new numbering system, would be an extensive check-out of the Apollo Command and Service Module in low Earth orbit over the course of ten days in orbit. To help in distinguishing between the crew, in line with new NASA policy, Grissom, White, and Chaffee's official "positions" on the mission changed - Grissom went from "Command Pilot" to simply "Commander", White became "Command Module Pilot", and Chaffee was named "Lunar Module Pilot", despite the lack of a Lunar Module on Apollo 7's flight.[8] At the recommendation of backup Commander Walter Schirra, Grissom elected to name the Apollo 7 spacecraft "Phoenix", in reference to the fire which Project Apollo had overcome. This tradition of naming spacecraft carried over from Project Mercury, and was a reversal of an earlier NASA management decision (after Grissom nicknamed his Gemini 3 capsule "Molly Brown", in reference to a Broadway musical) to disallow astronauts from naming their capsules; this reversal was in part because future Apollo flights would have two separate spacecraft, which would necessitate different callsigns for each to avoid confusion.[9]

Apollo 7 launched successfully on Saturday, October 12th, 1968 from Launch Complex 34, after a launch scrub the previous day due to unfavorable wind conditions.[10] The Saturn IB rocket carried Grissom, White, and Chaffee to orbit aboard their spacecraft, Phoenix, which spent the next 10-and-a-half days in orbit, during which the crew rendezvoused with their spent S-IVB upper stage, tested the spacecraft's Service Propulsion System, and conducted the first live television broadcast from an American spacecraft. Despite a schedule that Grissom would describe in the post-mission debrief as "more than a bit overfull", Apollo 7 accomplished all of its major mission objectives, and proved that the Apollo Program was well on track to its goal of landing a man on the Moon before the end of the decade.

---

Thank you for reading! The notes are as follows:
[1] and [2]: this is, as it's before the POD, exact to our timeline. As per Wikipedia, 113 incomplete changes from North American were completed after arrival, and 623 new engineering changes were requested and made at KSC. Yikes.
[3]: as a note here during this scene, I haven't the foggiest idea what altitude chamber testing would actually look like at NASA circa 1966, nor do I know the names of any technicians who'd be doing that testing. I fully welcome any and all input there.
[4]: the changes to the Apollo CSM in the aftermath of the fire can be assumed to be the same/similar enough to IOTL that it's not worth going into the details. The Apollo spacesuits are likely changed as well to be less flammable - again, the same as IOTL.
[5]: This quote is all @KAL_9000 - KAL wrote up a post about how Grissom might react to his capsule exploding during an uncrewed test, given his previously expressed concerns about the spacecraft, back in November when this timeline was coming into being; at some point I may post that, as sort of a "beta" version and/or an alternate perspective.
[6]: Apollos 4/5/6 can be assumed to be similar to/the same as IOTL - between Apollo 4 and Apollo 6, both missions revealed the issues with the Saturn V that were fixed before OTL Apollo 8 (pogo oscillations, ignition line damage, spacecraft adapter issues, etc.).
[7]: since OTL's Apollo 7 crew was the backup crew for Apollo 1, I figured if the Apollo 1 crew lived, they'd have flown on 7. We'll see how this affects crew rotations down the road.
[8]: Same as Apollo 7/8 IOTL, using "Block II" titles for the crew since they're flying on Block II.
[9]: Schirra wanted to name the Apollo 7 capsule "Phoenix" IOTL, but NASA management rejected it - since the fire wasn't deadly ITTL, it's less of a black mark on NASA's record, and I figure Grissom could pull some strings as a well-loved Mercury astronaut and get his way.
[10]: Apollo 7 launched on October 11th IOTL, despite unfavorable wind conditions. Schirra wanted to scrub the launch, but managers waived the rule. ITTL, Schirra and Grissom's concerns are heard, and the two of them together is enough to convince NASA management to delay the launch.

 

[Kloka]

If I took anything new away from this,it’s that the From The Earth To The Moon people didn’t make up that little drama about launch winds in the 3rd episode.

Can’t wait to see where this goes,and watched.

 

[ThatCallisto]

If I took anything new away from this,it’s that the From The Earth To The Moon people didn’t make up that little drama about launch winds in the 3rd episode.

Can’t wait to see where this goes,and watched.

the conflict over the launch winds is actually part of why Schirra was mad at Mission Control from the start - the head cold he and the crew got on-orbit didn't help either, nor did the scheduling issues.

Glad you like it!

 

[Kloka]

the conflict over the launch winds is actually part of why Schirra was mad at Mission Control from the start - the head cold he and the crew got on-orbit didn't help either, nor did the scheduling issues.

Glad you like it!

You should read the discontinued A Thousand Small Steps. It has a similar PoD to this.

 

[ThatCallisto]

You should read the discontinued A Thousand Small Steps. It has a similar PoD to this.

I believe I've read that one, yeah! I've always wanted to see more "Apollo 1 crew lives/Apollo 1 fire doesn't happen as IOTL" timelines, hence my making this one.

 

[ThatCallisto]

As a little bonus, a couple vignettes I couldn't find the space to fit into Part 1 that get their own little post here. They're one little divergence, and one big divergence, respectively.

Small Steps, Giant Leaps - Interlude 1: Reflexes​

---

Edwards Air Force Base
December 8th, 1967

Two Air Force technicians leaned against the large open doorframe of a hangar, watching the horizon. Out above the desert, a Lockheed F-104 screamed through the clear blue California sky, coming in for a steep landing. Right as it flared back on final approach, however, the technicians watched with surprise as the jet's canopy exploded off, and in quick succession, its two pilots ejected. With no pilot to correct course as it barreled towards the runway, the plane slammed into the ground hard, its landing gear crumpling as it caught fire. The ejected pilots, thrown safely away from the fireball, fell to Earth far too quickly for their parachutes to deploy fully.

The technicians jumped into action at this sight, one running off to the nearest phone to call for medical and fire services, while the other grabbed an emergency first aid kit and ran out into the desert to go find the pilots. Not much later, as Fire Protection crews arrived on the scene to begin dealing with the F-104's wreckage, the technician, first aid kit in hand, ran up to the first of the two pilots he could find - thankfully, he saw, still moving.

"Holy shit, you alright?"

The pilot lay on the ground, his grey flight suit and white helmet covered with sand and dust. He tried to sit up, wincing in pain as he moved, before thinking better of it, and simply reaching up to detach his mask from his helmet. "Well," he sad matter-of-factly to the technician who now knelt next to him, sifting through a first-aid kit, "I've definitely busted a couple ribs. Don't think I'm bleeding anywhere."

The technician nodded, still a bit bewildered that the man on the ground before him was alive. "That was quite the lucky eject."

"Yeah," the pilot agreed, flashing a small smile. "I was flying backseat. Royer flared too late - I pulled the eject, got us out."

"Quite some, ah..." the technician paused, scanning the airman's flight suit for an indication of name and rank. Spotting it, he continued, "Quite some reflexes there, Major Lawrence."[1]

---

Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles
June 5th, 1968, just after midnight

The kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel was unusually packed for this hour of night. Most nights when the Ambassador hosted big events in its ballroom, everything wrapped up much earlier, and the staff could go about cleaning and getting home. Tonight, however, was different - Bobby Kennedy's campaign had the hotel absolutely packed with supporters and media, in pretty much every ballroom the Ambassador had to offer. It was a surprise, then, but not a huge one, when the maître d'hôtel led Kennedy through the kitchen, surrounded by a swarm of press, campaign aides, and two big bodyguards. The Senator, still flushed red after giving a speech and navigating the crowd, stopped throughout the kitchen a number of times to shake hands with the staff. On one such stop, Kennedy paused in a narrow hallway to shake the hand of 17-year-old Juan Romero. The young busboy was happy to congratulate the Senator - He'd brought Kennedy room service the day before and wished him luck, and it seems that luck had paid off; Kennedy had won the California primary.

As Juan shook the Senator's hand, he caught some movement out of the corner of his eye, and reflexively glanced to his side - time working in a busy hotel kitchen had given him an awareness of his surroundings, months of avoiding coworkers carrying hot pans and trays full of plates.[2] What he saw this time, however, was a short, unfamiliar man, stepping from behind an ice machine and pulling out a gun as he moved to push past the maître d'hôtel. In a moment of panic, Romero attempted to jump out of the way, inadvertently tackling Senator Kennedy to the ground as he did so. Shots rang out - it was clear that this man, whoever he was, was attempting to kill the Senator and his entourage.

The scene turned chaotic at once - the would-be assassin fired wildly as two of Kennedy's bodyguards and a reporter lunged forward to disarm him, shooting one of the bodyguards in the chest. Kennedy took a bullet in the arm as he went down. In the ensuing struggle, 6 people were wounded - Kennedy, his bodyguard, two reporters, a campaign volunteer, and Romero, who was shot in the lower back while shielding Senator Kennedy before the gunman was disarmed.

As the scene was rushed by reporters and photographers, Kennedy looked to the young man who now sat on the floor beside him, leaning up against the wall and breathing heavily. Juan Romero looked back at the Senator, and asked, "Are you OK? Is everybody OK?" to which Kennedy responded, "Yes, everybody's OK."[3]

---

And that concludes Interlude 1! You can probably see why I wanted to include these - a couple deaths not happening as they did IOTL can really change things, in small and big ways.

notes:
[1]: For those who don't immediately know who this guy is and who don't mind minor spoilers for things to come, here's his Wikipedia page.
[2]: I worked in a large kitchen for a little less than a year, and this absolutely happens - you start to become aware of things in your periphery, especially when there's people walking around with hot pans and knives and such.
[3]: This is a reversal of IOTL, where busboy Juan Romero cradled a dying Kennedy on the kitchen floor, and Kennedy asked him "Is everybody OK?" to which Romero responded "Yes, everybody's OK." I imagine Romero lives, though we probably won't touch back on him specifically - but expect to hear more from Bobby Kennedy.

 

[jammci]

Ah excellent another apollo timeline to add to my collection. Timely too with the current day apollo struggling to get off the ground.....

 

[Kloka]

I think if Robert Lawrence had lived,he likely might have transferred to NASA with the rest of the MOL selectees who did and he might’ve flown a Shuttle mission or two. I have an idea for a vignette someday where John Young is off on another assignment in April 1981 and Lawrence commands STS-1,still flying with Crippen.

 

[Kloka]

I believe I've read that one, yeah! I've always wanted to see more "Apollo 1 crew lives/Apollo 1 fire doesn't happen as IOTL" timelines, hence my making this one.

There’s another one on the Alternate History Wiki, called Reach for the Stars:

Reach for the Stars

Apollo 1 was the first manned flight of the Apollo program, but was not without the fire on the pad during the plugs-out test. However, the CSM had the "Blow-Hatch function" from the Mercury capsule, which had initially been eliminated following the sinking of Liberty Bell 7, though concerned...

althistory.fandom.com

Apollo program (Reach for the Stars)

The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, is the primary United States human spaceflight program carried out by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). First conceived during President Dwight D. Eisenhower's adminstration as a three-man spacecraft to follow the one-man...

althistory.fandom.com

 

[ThatCallisto]

Been stretched a touch thin lately, but expect Part 2 to come rolling out some time this coming weekend. 1968 ends, and 1969 dawns, with Jack Kennedy's deadline fast approaching...

 

[KAL_9000]

Been stretched a touch thin lately, but expect Part 2 to come rolling out some time this coming weekend. 1968 ends, and 1969 dawns, with Jack Kennedy's deadline fast approaching...

We should be going over Apollos 8 and 9 in the next part, so stay tuned!

 

[ThatCallisto]

Small Steps, Giant Leaps - Part 2: De la Terre à la Lune​

---

Sunday, August 11th, 1968

Deke Slayton was not a happy man. At least, not at the moment.

While the Apollo program had been chugging right along with unmanned test missions for the last year or so, all was not well. Apollo 4 had beaten all expectations last November when the mighty Saturn V had performed flawlessly on its first flight, and while Apollo 5's January test flight of the Lunar Module wasn't without issue, it'd been declared a success and another repeat test had been cancelled in favor of moving on to manned testing. Apollo 6 is where things really got concerning, however - the second unmanned test of the Saturn V, launched this past April, had experienced severe pogo oscillations during its ascent, damaging the spacecraft adapter, rupturing fuel lines and causing three engine failures - two on the S-II second stage mid-ascent, and one on the S-IVB upper stage when it tried to re-ignite for a simulated Trans-Lunar Injection. These issues would've resulted in an aborted mission, had they happened on a manned flight. This alone jeopardized the whole program, if the rocket it rested on continued to have such serious issues.

Worse than all that, the LM continued to suffer from chronic production delays and issues. LM-3, intended for Jim McDivitt's test flight on Apollo 8, had arrived at KSC back in June, and, like many a spacecraft before it, was riddled with issues that'd take time to fix. Manned Spacecraft Center Director Bob Gilruth and his team had concluded that there was, as it'd been put to Deke in a phone call, "No way in hell" that LM-3 would be ready to fly before 1969. This jeopardized the next two flights - Apollo 8 and Apollo 9, intended to test the LM in Earth orbit - and pushed the timetable back so far that it'd be November of 1969, ideally, when the first man walked on the Moon. This was too thin of a margin to risk, given how many delays could happen in the 14 months of time between now and then.

The solution to these problems, hopefully, had been proposed in a meeting two days ago by George Low, Manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office. He'd figured that, hey, CSM-103 would be ready a few months before LM-3, so why not send a CSM-only mission to the Moon? This'd skip ahead in the timeline, and allow NASA to test some of the lunar landing procedures in December of 1968, rather than holding off until Apollo 10, which, assuming the previous timeline, wouldn't have been until maybe July of 1969. Bob Gilruth, George Low, Flight Director Chris Kraft, and Deke had all flown down to Huntsville this past weekend and spoken with the team there, and they'd all considered it feasible, pending approval from NASA Administrator James Webb some time in the next week. The next Saturn V could be ready by December 1, and both KSC Director Kurt Debus and Wernher von Braun assured the group that the issues experienced on Apollo 6's flight would not be repeated.

---

Deke had called both Jim McDivitt and Frank Borman yesterday to let them know that their crews - Apollo 8 and Apollo 9, respectively - might be flying a lunar mission, and to schedule meetings with them today to discuss it more thoroughly in-person. He'd met with McDivitt first, since his crew was slated for Apollo 8. It'd been a short conversation, with Deke laying out the basics - CSM-only mission, flying to the Moon and back - and Jim, after a moment of thinking, laying out why he figured it'd be better for his crew to hold off, so they could fly a mission with a Lunar Module. While this'd been a disappointment, it was by no means the end of the world - there were still options.

Now it was Borman's turn. He sat in a chair across from Deke, hands clasped together beneath his chin, as if in prayer, as he considered the offer that'd just been presented - he'd take Apollo 8, and fly around the Moon, while McDivitt and his crew would be swapped to Apollo 9 for the LM test.

After a good 30 seconds of quiet contemplation, Frank spoke up.

"Deke, I appreciate the offer, but I'm really not sure about it. My crew's been training for a mission with a LM, and I phoned both of them yesterday; Jim doesn't mind much, but Bill didn't like the sound of being a LM pilot on a mission with no LM, and I'm inclined to agree. If I turn this down, are we still square to fly a LM test? It'd be 10, wouldn't it, if this moon flight pushes it all back one."

Deke sighed a bit, but nodded. "Yes, you'd be on 10 if you don't fly 8. It'd be a longer and more intensive mission, but you'd have a LM, and I trust your crew is fully capable of that mission. I've got other options for this one, if you're certain."

Borman nodded curtly in response to this, and after a few more minutes of talk about mission logistics, he shook Deke's hand, thanked him, and left.

While it was a bit of a stretch, Deke hadn't been lying - he did have one last option for a CSM-only mission to the Moon. After stepping out to grab himself another cup of coffee, he turned to head back to his office, to schedule a meeting with Apollo 7 backup commander Walter Schirra.

---

December 21st, 1968 - Apollo 8 MET 2 hours, 27 minutes

The Apollo CSM was damn roomy, at least by Wally Schirra's standards. His two companions on this voyage had no metric by which to judge, having never been to space before; but for Wally, this was absolute heaven. The Mercury capsule on his first, nine-hour spaceflight had been little more than a metal broom closet, and Gemini was hardly any better. Apollo, by comparison, felt like a five-star hotel, with room enough for three men to live in space for over a week.

The training for this mission had been a whirlwind - he and his crew had been pulled off of 7's backup with only months to spare, and he'd lost his original CMP when Donn Eisele's affair was leaked to a Houston tabloid back in October, so he'd only had 2 months to train with his backup CMP originally from the Apollo 7 support crew, Jack Swigert. He'd settled in well enough, though, and Wally had gained a respect for Swigert's work ethic in the time they'd trained together.

Launch day had proceeded as expected - President Johnson was in attendance at KSC to watch the launch of course, but the real star of the show had been President-Elect Kennedy; He'd joined the crew for breakfast (steak and eggs, as was tradition) early that morning before touring his brother's namesake Space Center while the crew suited up and prepared for a launch just before 8AM. He was a humble fellow, quieter and less charismatic than Jack Kennedy had been when Wally had briefly met him back in 1961, but with a gentle kindness to him. The launch itself had been, all at once, both spectacular, terrifying, awe-inspiring, and surprisingly smooth - both Atlas, which had launched Mercury, and Titan, which had launched Gemini, were converted from ICBMs never intended to carry humans, and rode rough because of it; the Saturn V, meanwhile, was intended from the start to launch man to the Moon, and was much smoother. The first Earth orbit after launch had so far consisted of checking out the spacecraft's systems, before heading onwards.

Wally took a moment of quiet to contemplate all this, the adrenaline of launch still wearing off, before there was a crackle over the comm, and CAPCOM Neil Armstrong's deep baritone voice.

"Jules Verne, Houston."

"Go ahead, Houston." Schirra responded, resisting the urge to do so in a comically bad French accent - something he and the crew had picked up in training after choosing their ship's name, after the French author of a fictional voyage around the Moon.

Armstrong's next words pushed that thought from his mind, however:

"Jules Verne, you are go for TLI. Over."

The capsule went quiet as the three astronauts listened; Schirra responded after a moment.

"Roger, understood. Apollo 8 is go for TLI."

At the call, Wally looked over to Jack, meeting his eyes with a grin. From below them, Walt Cunningham's head poked up from the lower equipment bay. Looking to his rookie crewmates, Schirra declared with a smile, "Gentlemen, we're going to the Moon."

---

December 24th, 1968 - Apollo 8 MET 86 hours, 5 minutes

"... and as we're coming over the Sea of Tranquility, you can start to see the long shadows from that stark lunar sunrise, those deep craters really standing out."

Walt Cunningham held the TV camera facing the CSM window, looking out on the stark lunar horizon and narrating for the viewers back on Earth what was passing by. Out of earshot of the broadcast, Wally waved to grab Walt's attention, holding up his copy of the laminated mission procedures.

"We're gonna read the thing and wrap up, Walt."

Cunningham nodded, holding the camera steady with one hand and continuing his narration as he reached for his own laminated notebook floating nearby.

"Alright folks, we're now approaching the lunar sunrise over Tranquility, and we'd like to close with something special for all the children watching and listening back on planet Earth."

He paused, looking down to his script, before continuing:

"'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there."

At this, Jack piped in, reading from his own book:

"The children were nestled all snug in their beds;
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads..."

And so the three crewmen traded off, each reading lines from the poem, with the Commander closing the broadcast with the final lines:

"... But I heard him exclaim, as he drove out of sight—
'Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!' --
And from the crew of the good ship Jules Verne, on Apollo 8, we close with good night, a very Merry Christmas, and peace for all of you on the good planet Earth."

[The iconic Earthrise image, captured by Command Module Pilot John "Jack" Swigert Jr. on December 24th, 1968. Image credit: NASA/NBC]

---

Thank you once again for reading! Things are starting to get exciting - RFK's won the election, and the Apollo program's crew selections have started to diverge from OTL in a way that'll ripple through the whole program. Feel free to ask any questions, and KAL and I will try our best to answer anything that isn't a spoiler. Next time, we'll take a look at Apollo 9 and possibly 10, and maybe even find out who the crew will be for the first landing...

notes for this time (no in-text notations this time to fit the more narrative style):
- The 1968 election was RFK v. Nixon v. Wallace, and RFK beat out Nixon by a pretty decent margin - I'll probably post the map and some details as an appendix at some point if y'all want.
- The issues with Apollo 5 and 6 are the same as OTL.
- Deke Slayton really did offer McDivitt the circumlunar mission, and he really did turn him down in favor of swapping to Apollo 9.
- IOTL as ITTL, Bill Anders really didn't want to be a Lunar Module Pilot on a mission with no LM.
- Donn Eisele's affair didn't go public IOTL until after he flew on Apollo 7, but given the months of delay ITTL I figure he'd have more time to accidentally slip up.
- The whole idea of giving the Apollo 7/8 CSMs names came from @KAL_9000 as did the name Jules Verne for the 8 CSM.
- The famous poem they read at the end of the broadcast, Clement Clarke Moore's A Visit from St. Nicholas, can be read in full here.

 

[Kloka]

Wally at the Moon? Two words. ‘Aw’ and ‘Yiss’

 

[ThatCallisto]

Wally at the Moon? Two words. ‘Aw’ and ‘Yiss’

This now means that ITTL, the first two flights of Apollo have included a Commander who's flown on all three programs. Wild how that goes, and how IOTL the only man to do so was Wally.

fun fact: I almost shifted Wally & co. to 10, given the backup-becomes-prime-crew-three-missions-later rotation from OTL, but I realized that he had an all-rookie crew, and NASA probably wouldn't have liked that. In that earlier draft of SSGL, they'd have named the CSM "Fred Flintstone" and the LM "Barney Rubble", as Wally apparently knew of/was a fan of the show - he referenced it in-flight on 7 IOTL.

 

[e of pi]

I like it so far! Hopefully Wally manages to avoid a head-cold this time around.

Is LM-3 delayed over OTL? I'm trying to recall when exactly Grumman had which delays, but Nov '69 seems late...or is this LM-3 being delayed to about the OTL March '69 timeline and then everything else falling back from there, solved by inventing the circumlunar test and putting it before LM-3's test?

 

[KAL_9000]

Hope you guys enjoyed Apollo 8! Tomorrow, I'll be posting an interlude that takes us to the other side of the Iron Curtain!