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Restructuring and Redesign: A Short Story of Budgetary Chaos Congratulations! You are the Administrator of NASA in the year 1996. It’s a pretty cool job, but it comes with a lot of responsibility, and maybe a bit of headache. Regardless, every year your agency comes under the scrutiny of Congress as you politely ask for funding. The President has already asked for them to give you a lot of money so you can continue to send people to the Moon, and Mars, and start building that brand new space station with your friends from Europe and Japan. But Congress has a lot of priorities, ones that aren’t always aligned with yours. While they recognize that you’re knee-deep in exploring the Moon and Mars and trying your best to do it cost-effectively; this new space station is quite complicated and very expensive. So Congress would like you and your friends to work together and redesign the station to be cheaper and simpler, even though you’ve already designed it. That is the situation NASA finds themselves in at the start of 1996. While the agency was preparing and looking forward to the launch of Magellan 2, the first human mission to Mars, at the end of the year; Congress sideswipes the agency with a denial of the budget plan for Harmony Space Station. It was discovered during a Congressional budget hearing last fall that NASA’s original cost assessment for the station was extremely inaccurate, and the station would be nearly two times more expensive. Although a PR disaster is mostly avoided, it is a bad look in a crucial year for the agency. This comes at a time when the federal government is fighting the Bush administration in its final year over tax cuts and budget overspending. Therefore, during the process of planning the 1996 budget, Congress requested NASA present a revamped design for Space Station Harmony alongside a new cost assessment. Somewhat fortunately, ESA also wants to revamp its part of the station. ESA has been facing a slow series of budget cuts over the decade, and their large twin modules will be too expensive if they wish to maintain their existing programs. Therefore, they now plan to make smaller modules more in line with the design of the US modules, still in a pair of twin modules, but smaller and easier to build and launch. For Britain’s part, the UK Lab is their major project at the moment, so they are willing to fork out the expense to keep it as designed. Japan would also decide to not alter its module. Therefore, NASA, ESA, NASDA, and the UKSA come together to redesign the station over the spring and summer months of 1996. The design team has their work cut out for them. NASA plans to stretch out the Habitation and Service Module into a much larger module, without any propulsion. This would be the new core of the station where the truss section would be mounted, similar to Skylab. One of the US segment modules would also be removed, as it would be redundant with the remaining modules and the massive space of the new Supermodule as it is called. By August, the team has completed the redesign, and it is presented before Congress alongside the new cost assessment which was done extremely carefully. The Supermodule can be finished by late 1999 for a launch at the start of 2000 aboard a Jupiter rocket, costing about 1.5 billion dollars. This means the station’s assembly is pushed into the new century, which many already expected. The new cost assessment also plans for the station to be completed by 2006 at around 50 billion dollars. This plan is accepted, and it is brought in as part of the final amendment for NASA’s FY1997 budget. NASA appropriates the rest of its FY1996 funds to then begin work on the Supermodule. On top of this, a name we haven’t heard in a while is roped into all of this. Tranquility Station, now sitting abandoned around the Moon, was brought up as an example of overspending and optimistic timelines to push NASA into revising Space Station Harmony. Tranquility’s failure is the primary reason why the ALSM is still expendable, and the LTV is just now being reused; and with such massive importance placed upon science in Low Earth Orbit, NASA and its international partners must get it right with Harmony. The new station is much more straightforward, clean-looking, and cost-effective (on an annual scale, it will still be the most expensive thing ever put in space). With RLV continuing as well, it may very well be the case that a new spaceplane will be the vehicle to complete the station. But that’s far in the future, and with a multi-month-long crisis for NASA finally over, they can focus on what they’ve been anticipating for 20+ years. Sending humans to Mars.

Timelines RLV as a program was met with both excitement and criticism. To many, including the remaining stalwart Shuttle skeptics, it seemed like what they’d already heard before in the late 60s and early 70s. A repeated promise of a cheap spaceplane to get cargo and people to space. But to some on that side of the aisle, the promise rang a little more true, with another two decades of experience and technological advancement, many believed that the Reusable Launch Vehicle program could deliver where the Shuttle had not. But RLV is going to take time, quite a bit of it. Magellan still accounts for a large portion of NASA’s budget and will be a heavy expense until Magellan 3 and beyond when the MMETV can be reused. Space Station Harmony has now superseded Orpheus in terms of annual expense, but it still takes money every year. RLV will only need more money as well. This means the remaining 5 years of the decade (and century) are going to be spent on development and subscale testing. On February 16th, 1995, Boeing drops out of RLV, and NASA selects Rockwell, Lockheed, and McDonnell Douglas to develop subscale versions of their designs for atmospheric and orbital testing to begin by 1999. Lockheed’s version will be a 40% smaller version of VentureStar with 2 engines instead of 4. Rockwell’s version will be a 50% smaller version of their design, with a single Space Shuttle Main Engine for propulsion. McDonnell Douglas will be reusing their DC-X prototypes but modified for NASA’s needs. All three vehicles are dubbed “X-33” prototypes and receive funding for design and assembly. The goal is for the subscale prototypes to eventually determine the RLV winner, but it is unknown if all three prototypes will make it that far. For each of the companies though, there is much at stake. For Lockheed, after rebuilding their company’s image throughout the 80s and early 90s, they are staking their return to spaceflight on VentureStar. An incredibly advanced vehicle with multiple development failure points, Lockheed’s stock even dipped slightly following its announcement. They are determined, however, to make the most of this opportunity. Martin Marietta and Rockwell have dominated the aerospace sector for 15+ years, and Lockheed is hellbent on changing that. Rockwell is an established leader in the aerospace industry and a trusted contractor for NASA. They are responsible for Apollo, ACOV, and the Space Shuttle. But Rockwell may be biting off more than they can chew. It’s partially why Martin Marietta dropped out, they simply have too much on their hands. To top it off, their full-scale vehicle requires the performance of a tri-propellant engine, of which the only usable one is a Soviet engine, the RD-704. Rockwell contacted FNKA officials to create an export version, to a surprising success. But NASA and Congress are wary of this, and Rockwell has staked a lot on a simple engine choice. For McDonnell Douglas, this contract is a must-win. Poor financial management and internal issues have brought a titan to its knees. Their reputation in the civilian sector is poor, and although the Delta II rocket has kept their favor with the DoD, NASA largely does not work with them anymore, spare their collaborative work on the Magellan Ascent/Descent Vehicles with Boeing. The company desperately needs a victory, and DC-X may be their only remaining shot at one. But NASA stands the most to gain and to lose from RLV. The Shuttle remains popular in the eyes of the public, and if replacing it goes wrong, it could be a disaster. But if they succeed, they will have the spacecraft to define a new generation, and thus they must choose very, very wisely. Circling back to Space Station Harmony, it has now been 4 years since Skylab plunged through the atmosphere, ending a record of continuous human presence in space (slightly extended by the presence of a Soviet crew aboard Mir for a couple more weeks after de-orbit). The first truly international home for humans in orbit is coming closer and closer to fruition, and on June 30th, at a joint press conference between ESA, the UKSA, NASA, and NASDA, the assembly timeline for Space Station Harmony is officially announced. The first module, the US Habitation and Service Module, is set to be launched aboard a Jupiter rocket in 1998, followed by a Space Shuttle launch to deliver the International Core module as well as the Shuttle docking adapter. The assembly of the massive truss is then set to begin in late 1999/early 2000. The entire station is anticipated to be completed by 2004. On top of this, a new docking system called the International Harmony Docking System (IHDS) is intended to be used on the station. This docking system is the only completed contribution of FNKA and the Soviets to the program. FNKA provided APAS-89 docking systems (used by Buran to dock to Mir) to NASA for adaptation to the Shuttle and other spacecraft as well as the station. Despite FNKA leaving the project, the IHDS was already designed as well as its passive station version by that point, leaving it as the only sign of their early work on the station. Despite the Soviet absence, Harmony will be a truly international station, with modules built and launched by all members of the program. It has created a strong Western (and Eastern) coalition of space-faring nations for the 21st century. Speaking of space-faring, Magellan 1’s MTV finally arrives back at Earth on August 29th, 1995. The MMETV has spent 3 years in space and is the first spacecraft to return from another planet. The vehicle is intended to be examined by a Space Shuttle mission next year before Magellan 2 begins., followed by a controlled de-orbit into the Pacific Ocean. Next up, Orpheus is truly back in business to wrap up the year. On November 19th, the 3rd module of Virgil Base is launched to the Moon. It is a close copy of the second module, with a solar tower atop it, but with an additional radiator on the roof and some re-arranged external and internal components. The module is successfully landed right beside the base and is connected through the hydraulic docking ports. On December 7th, Orpheus 8 launches to orbit aboard Columbia with much fanfare. This will be the first time an ACOV capsule flies three times, and the first time an LTV is reused. The LTV from Orpheus 7 was refueled by an autonomous tanker a few days prior, and the ALSM was launched on December 6th, squeezing back into its launch position and being latched in. The ACOV undocks from Columbia and docks with the LTV 5 hours after launch, and the crew begins a 40-day mission to the Moon. The mission is an all-around success. They spend much of their time setting up Base Module 3, but they also embark on the longest rover trek in the EERM yet and collect samples that they analyze with new lab equipment placed in Module 3. The base components still have yet to be individually named, but it is being taken more and more into consideration. On January 16th, ACOV departs the Moon and lands back on Earth the afternoon of January 19th, 1996. The landing on the flats of Edwards concludes Orpheus 8 and rings in the new year for NASA. This new year though, is far from any normal year. Because this winter… Humans are going to Mars.

Future! On a cold, but clear, Kazakhstan afternoon; Buran, the first Soviet space shuttle, sits primed on the launchpad for its first launch since the fall of the USSR. It is carrying in its cargo bay the next component of the Mir space station. The construction of which has turned from a planned 3 or so-year affair into nearly a decade-long struggle to launch every module. But with only 2 more modules to go after this one, dubbed Nastavnik, the long road finally has an end in sight. 3 cosmonauts sit aboard Buran for this mission, and they take flight after a short delay from upper-level winds. The flight is a resounding success, and although there is some difficulty getting Nastavnik out of Buran’s payload bay and docked to the station, it is nevertheless completed. Buran undocks from the station on February 2nd after 5 days aboard and returns to land at Baikonur the next morning. FNKA, the Soviet Federative Republic’s space agency, is starting to find its footing. Although it is unlikely Buran and its sister ship Sarma will ever be able to fly as much as NASA’s Space Shuttle, they are determined to make them fly as much as possible. As tensions between the US and the SFR continue to rise following an intervention in Georgia’s ongoing political crisis from both sides, the two Soviet shuttles could find themselves in increasingly military-based applications. For NASA though, 1994 is a much calmer year. Orpheus will return to normal operations at the end of the year, and the long-awaited debut of Spacelab II is set to be the first major event of the year. Spacelab II is an evolved design of the original ESA-built Spacelab module, which was destroyed on Enterprise’s final flight. The module has a flat top to allow crew traversal inside the payload bay during an emergency and is fitted with updated electronics and hardware to allow for the most advanced in-orbit experiments. This first mission will be a continuation of last year’s Cardiolab mission on the Spacelab Mini-Module, studying the effects of zero gravity exposure on the human cardiovascular system. The mission will also be going for a Shuttle endurance record, aiming for an astonishing twenty days in orbit. After a rainstorm clears the morning of March 8th, Space Shuttle Discovery launches into orbit with 7 astronauts and Spacelab II. By this point, Discovery, with 23 launches to her name, is showing signs of wear. The red NASA worm logo on the wing has faded, and scorch marks line the wings. The shuttles are continuing to age; although the SIP refits have brought several benefits to their turnaround and cost-effectiveness. They remain immensely complicated machines with a massive infrastructure network supporting them. Every mission requires months of preparation, which has made many people wonder, what if we made a vehicle that doesn’t require that? ' Nevertheless, the first Spacelab II mission begins in earnest as the 7 astronauts exercise on adapted treadmills designed for Skylab, take vital readings, and perform other studies on their heart rate and blood pressure. While the astronauts perform all their research, the Shuttle’s OMLET power module is finally flying again with the Space Shuttle on this mission. It has sat in storage since it was used on a Spacelab mission in 1986 and had to be examined and to some extent rebuilt with a new solar panel before it could fly on this mission. With solar-generated power, the fuel cells can generate less electricity, and thus go through less of the stored hydrogen and oxygen. On March 26th, the crew celebrate breaking the 17-day endurance record set by Enterprise in 1983, they join President George H.W. Bush, now in his second term, on a video conference from orbit at NASA headquarters. Discovery spends two more days in orbit, and returns to Earth on the afternoon of March 28th, setting a record of an impressive 20 days in orbit. Upon landing, Discovery sets a new first as well, this mission is the first to use the Shuttle's new drag chute, a decently sized parachute that deploys from the base of the vertical stabilizer and helps slow the vehicle down more quickly upon landing. It helps preserve the Shuttle's brakes and allows for shorter landings. The demonstration of the drag chute is a complete success and concludes DIscovery's flight. As 1994 began though, NASA began to fall into the realization that the Shuttle will most likely not be viable in the 21st century. It still has not returned to pre-1988 costs or flight totals, and SIP, although certainly effective in some regards, could not fix the unsolvable issue that lies in the Shuttle’s design. The Shuttle will be a nearly 40-year-old design by 2000, and the Shuttle themselves will be 20-plus years old. But also, the Shuttles need crew for every single mission, which makes them unable to perform automated cargo missions on a more routine basis that could bring down costs immensely. Therefore, on April 2nd, NASA announces the Reusable Launch Vehicle program, which would incorporate existing studies from companies and NASA themselves into one program to develop a Shuttle successor for the 21st century. RLV begins with studied designs from Lockheed, Rockwell, Boeing, and McDonnell Douglas. Martin Marietta was initially considered but they dropped out before the program was announced. Rockwell has been studying a vehicle of similar size to the overall Shuttle stack, capable of launching to orbit in a single stage, using Space Shuttle Main Engines and hydrogen fuel. Boeing proposed an enormous design that would be akin to the bimese designs of the 60s and 70s for launching large solar power satellites or Mars vehicle components (Boeing is trying to make the MMETV and LTV obsolete, as they are built by their main rival Martin Marietta.) McDonnell Douglas proposed a modest vehicle, of an interesting conical design that would be focused on cargo but could be adapted for humans. It would launch and land vertically. MD had already been working on this project with the DoD and was seeking NASA support. But Lockheed, now having fully absorbed Convair and returned to its original branding, came out of the gate swinging with a truly revolutionary design. The Lockheed X-33 “VentureStar” Of a rather foreboding triangular design, this vehicle would incorporate extremely new and unproven technologies. A massive risk for such a potentially game-changing program to secure for your company. But Lockheed had grown out of sensibility. When they merged with Convair in the 70s, it was seen as a folly, that would sink their company. But it didn’t, Lockheed absorbed Convair’s useful assets throughout the 80s and was now developing the YF-22 stealth fighter jet for the Air Force. They had silently taken over the defense aerospace industry as Martin Marietta ate up everything above Earth’s Atmosphere. Lockheed was finally ready to put its foot back in the door of spaceflight and change the game. The VentureStar spacecraft is a lifting body design, just like the Shuttle. It would be fueled by Hydrogen and Oxygen propellant, but it would utilize a new linear aerospike engine design. Dubbed the XRS-2200 for the small-scale development version. Aerospikes are unique in their ability to remain efficient at all altitudes, and this linear design would be pushing the limit. VentureStar would also utilize new composite tanks which had only been demonstrated for solid rocket booster casings at this point. It is a truly revolutionary design, and despite being met with much skepticism from RLV program managers, it was certainly eye-catching, and the potential payload abilities with a bimese or cargo-focused version gave a sense of optimism for the technical challenges it presented. VentureStar could be built with no cockpit for a cargo-variant or with a spacious crew cabin capable of carrying 8-10 astronauts for 15 days in solo flight. VentureStar could also go much higher than the Shuttle thanks to its more robust heat shield and its primary engines and control thrusters for orbital maneuvering and de-orbit. VentureStar caught the eye of every single person related to the RLV program, and concept art for it was on the front pages of every science magazine over the summer. It had stolen the spotlight, but it was still uncertain if the immense technical challenge would be taken on by NASA, or if they would choose one of the more sensible designs. Moving on, the present was still full of optimism, as the Orpheus program returned to normal operations with the Orpheus 7. Intended to launch in 1993, but delays with the Shuttle’s SIP refits and LTV assembly kept the ALSM waiting for another year as lunar night came and went. But finally, NASA astronauts returned to the Moon in December of 1994, where Virgil Base played good host until early February 1995. It was a routine mission, and yet more delays with the base’s assembly meant Orpheus 8 will see the next base component addition. Lunar operations though, are finally becoming more and more routine, and NASA hopes that the 2000s will be full of lunar ferries and nonchalance about the whole operation. But the 2000s are still a ways away, and NASA must remain steadfast in its focus on the present. As Magellan 1’s MMETV departs from Mars on November 2nd, everyone knows that the next time one of those vehicles returns to the Red Planet… Humans will be aboard.

Starman When you look up into the sky at night, there are hundreds upon hundreds of little points of light glittering above you. Each one is a star fusing elements, supporting planets, and maybe other forms of life. But some of those points of light are a bit bigger, and they aren’t just stars that might as well be forever away. They are the planets of our solar system. Mars, glowing just enough to see it, with an orange-ish hue, sits above the horizon. It's sat there for billions of years. We’ve looked at it first with our own eyes, and then through telescopes. Now, we can look at Mars through the camera lenses of our spacecraft. None of these spacecraft more extraordinary, than the ones heading toward the Red Planet right now. Magellan 1 is just hours from entering the orbit of Mars, and there is controlled chaos back on Earth at JSC in lieu of this moment. You would be forgiven for thinking that they had just discovered alien life with how many people flooded in and out of each building. Press vans zip through the parking lots, reporters rushing to affix the right lenses to their cameras as they are hurriedly ushered inside. For them they had waited months for this opportunity, it took almost a herculean effort to get press access to Johnson Space Center on this day, the 2nd of May, 1993. Some had waited outside since before sunrise to get a front-row seat at the coming press conference. The press weren’t the only ones being eroded away by the stress and monumental nature of the day. The controllers at JSC had nearly pulled an all-nighter as a series of errors with the MMETV’s star trackers nearly made it forget its own location in space. The primary star tracker had been improperly targeted onto the star Canopus, which nearly resulted in several errors during an attitude control adjustment. On top of this, one of the computer units in the MMETV had experienced an integer overflow as it was trying to assume the spacecraft’s rotational velocity. This took some time to resolve, and the other 5 Redundant Computing Units (RCUs) had to take over during that period. With all of the drama and stress, the press and those working in the control room at JSC were awaiting some good news as the Orbital Insertion Maneuver began at 1:23 PM. It would last a total of 11 minutes, as the series of nuclear thermal rockets on the MMETV slowed the behemoth craft down enough for it to be captured into an orbit around Mars. This orbit is different from the intended future ones, as future missions aim to have flybys of Phobos and Deimos, which are not objectives for Magellan 1. The seconds slowly ticked by at JSC, everyone sitting in utter silence as they watched the expected velocity change graph be followed by the real time telemetry line. Closer, and closer to a nominal insertion. 11 minutes felt like 110, if it had been any shorter amount of time some in the room may have tried to hold their breath all the way through. But alas, they wouldn’t need to. At 1:33:24 PM, the MMETV sent back a telemetry packet that perfectly correlated to the expected orbital velocity. Everyone in JSC erupted into cheers and applause. Those in the control room who had been working for hours and hours felt victorious and liberated from the seats they had been glued to since yesterday afternoon. 3,388 days had passed since Ronald Reagan and John Young announced the Magellan Program on the steps of the National Air & Space Museum. In those 3,388 days, NASA had achieved insurmountable progress and put themselves a lot more than one small step closer to landing humans on Mars before 2000. This was simply the beginning. But the mission was far from over, a herculean effort to demonstrate the critical components of a successful crewed Mars landing lay ahead. A few weeks would be given for a dust storm on the surface to clear, and then the automated landing demonstrations of the Ascent and Descent Vehicles would begin. Those few weeks would prove to be rather uneventful, and as the dust storm cleared, the Ascent and Descent Vehicles had arrived in their joint pairing just a few days before the MMETV (they were launched on a higher velocity trajectory) and had stayed linked together until the dust storm cleared. The Ascent Vehicle undocked and made its way to the surface without issue, and the Descent Vehicle performed a rendezvous with the MMETV as it would on crewed missions to retrieve the crew for the landing on the surface. The components that were not to be demonstrated on this mission, the rover and the habitat, would also be landed beforehand on future missions. Once the Descent Vehicle docked to the MMETV, a “simulated” crew transfer would take place. Essentially just waiting an amount of time that was predicted based on crew training would be needed for a full crew and equipment transfer. Once this was complete. The Descent Vehicle undocked, waited another orbit, and performed a de-orbit burn to land on the rocky plains of the Martian equator. "2,000 feet, nominal descent rate." "1,000." "800." "500." "200." "50." "25." "10." "CONTACT!" "CONFIRMED LANDING ON THE MARTIAN SURFACE." On this descent, there would be some issues that had been seen during the landing of the Ascent Vehicle that were also seen on the Descent Vehicle. Most notably, the landing legs. They had to be deployed individually by an emergency command from the guidance system (with a 20+ minute delay to Earth, the guidance system has to be as redundant and self-regulating as possible, as any commands from Earth will be practically pointless) after the altitude trigger did not work. Then, upon a thankfully successful landing, the landing pads did not level out to the terrain and stayed at a rather uncomfortable upward angle. The cause of this was unknown, but it may lead to a new landing leg design for Magellan 2. Despite these landing leg issues, it was still a successful landing, and NASA could breathe easy that the guidance system performed beautifully and handled issues quickly and effectively. The successful landing was met with thunderous applause and cheers in Houston, and the pictures of the surface from the landing cameras covered the front page of TIME the next day. NASA had at last, reinvigorated itself, with a new bold spirit that was determined to put people on Mars and to push beyond what it had already achieved. NASA was finally, truly, ready to go beyond Earth with humans. Even further beyond, NASA’s deep space robotics program finally had some funding freed up with the completion of the Mars collection, and they were ready to make some headlines. On October 3rd, 1993, at a JPL press conference, the Pluto Fast Flyby mission was announced. The mission would be targeting a 2000 launch window, with a backup in 2001. It would be a quite small and light spacecraft so the launch vehicle required would not be the same one required by components of the MMETV. The spacecraft was intended to carry two cameras, a high-resolution black-and-white alongside a lower-resolution color camera. On top of a suite of spectrometers, a magnetometer, and a small mapping camera. The instruments would actually be a significant portion of the weight of the spacecraft. Pluto Fast Flyby was truly intended to be a bang for the buck mission, and NASA’s new leadership wanted bang for the buck in many areas to preserve funding for human exploration. With NASA under the new leadership of Administrator Ken Mattingly, who had retired from the Astronaut Corps in the late 80s, and was selected by President Bush upon his inauguration to replace John Young, who had finally taken his long overdue retirement from NASA. Young had steered NASA through one of its most tumultuous, controversial, and successful eras. He had preserved the integrity of the organization as contractors and internal feuds threatened to pull it apart. Mattingly would be facing similar challenges, alongside balancing and preserving the international partnerships Young had built. But Mattingly was more than up to the task, he had garnered the same respect from astronauts, the higher-ups, and the public alike. He would be the man who would bring NASA to Mars at last. On top of Pluto Fast Flyby, NASA’s flagship Iapyx mission received a 5-year mission extension at the same press conference. It has uncovered dozens upon dozens of details about Saturn and its moons and was still operating in good health with plenty of propellant, so the extension was given. With all of these developments centered around beyond-Earth exploration, 1993 caps off as a truly exciting year. 1994 will see a return to normal operations for Orpheus, the return of Magellan 1’s MMETV to Earth, and perhaps… The beginnings of America’s next manned spacecraft.

Hello everyone, it's been quite a while. I've taken a few months' hiatus as completing this AH hasn't been my biggest priority since the end of last year. But I'm starting to get more motivated and hope to get back to a regular schedule of new chapters sooner rather than later. Thank you for all of the support.

Prelude 1993 is set to be an action-packed year for the world of spaceflight. Magellan 1 will arrive at Mars, and Orpheus 7 will take flight. NASA plans to finally unveil its Skylab successor to the public, and NASDA plans to send the first lunar mission by an Asian country. America kicks off the year with a presidential inauguration. George H.W. Bush, in light of the recovering economy and total victory in the Gulf War, managed to hold off Bill Clinton in the general election last November. It is a rather mundane time for American politics, but some mention is given to NASA and Magellan in Bush’s inauguration speech. Overall, America heads into the new year with a positive outlook. For the Soviet Federative Republic, though, it is an exceptionally difficult time. Economic woes continue to batter the young Soviet successor state, which has directly affected the space program. FNKA still has, somehow, managed to kick themselves into gear, as they finished up work on the second VKK orbiter, named Sarma, after the river and wind that flow through Lake Baikal in Russia. This new orbiter is heavily improved from Buran. Where Buran had a lot of odd switch and control positions Sarma has a cockpit more similar to the US Space Shuttles. Where Buran had many issues that inhibited pre-flight preparations Sarma has had hundreds of systems reworked or removed entirely. Although FNKA has an abysmal amount of funding at the moment, they are determined, and Sarma's completion and first flight are at the center of it. So on January 29th, 1993, OK-2K1 takes flight. It is, by most metrics, a successful mission. Uncrewed, just like Buran’s first flight, but with a series of scientific payloads being carried to bring some external value to the flight. Some issues with the… rushed completion of the orbiter pop-up. For example, there are hydraulic leaks before launch and after landing. As well as several onboard systems shutting down and rebooting themselves in orbit over random errors. Despite these hiccups, the main objectives are still completed and Sarma lands on the runway of Baikonur in the early morning hours of February 2nd, the first-ever night landing for a Buran shuttle. Moving to the east, Japan is on the rise as a spaceflight power. The new H-II rocket has greatly enhanced their capabilities and given them independence from America, who they previously licensed rocket designs from. Taking advantage of this new ability, Japan has been working on a mission to the asteroid Vesta since 1989. Dubbed “Besuta” which means Vesta in Japanese, it weighs just under a ton. It was designed and built entirely in Japan, although it is using a purchased US Star 48 kick motor that will insert it into orbit of Vesta. The ascent trajectory is unique in that it will be a continuous burn, with no parking orbit. The core stage will utilize all of its fuel to get Besuta on this fast 2-and-a-half-year cruise. In the afternoon of April 3rd, H-II’s engines ignite, and it takes flight for the second time from Tanegashima. It is a beautiful launch and a flawless ascent from H-II. Besuta is safely sent on its way to Vesta, set for arrival in late 1995. For NASA then, as winter gives way to a blooming spring. There is much focus on Magellan 1 getting closer and closer to Mars, but also on a major announcement set for April 10th. It is finally time for NASA to announce the successor station to Skylab. It has been in development since 1988 and has finally reached a mature design that is expected to be the final one. The name has also been decided, a focal point of the announcement. So on the 10th, a group of NASA representatives take the stage at Johnson Space Center to unveil the next great laboratory in space. Harmony Comprising twin modules from ESA, a UK Lab, and a full Japanese module package along with several US modules derived from those aboard Skylab, Harmony is a beast of a station. Its backbone is the massive first module, the US HabLab as it is currently called. It will be the primary propulsion and power module for the station until the massive Skylab-derived truss begins assembly. The truss will have a set of "boost" modules that can be attached and detached for return to Earth for refueling every year or so. The truss will also have a rail system for the robotic arm to allow it to move all around the station. One interesting thing of note is that the rumors of Russian cooperation have turned out to be untrue. Although NASA did admit they submitted a concept to the Soviets in 1991 just a few months before the nation collapsed; it included a Russian segment that sat underneath the US HabLab. But, the Soviets rejected it to focus on Mir and because being a junior partner on a "Western" space project didn't sound like too much fun. The US then tried to approach FNKA in June 1992, to which they were rejected, simply because the only way they could afford it would be to essentially dock Mir to Harmony, which would not work (or look) all too good. Regardless though, the station has plenty of international cooperation and will be assembled pretty much entirely by the Space Shuttle, minus the launch of the HabLab which will fall to a Jupiter rocket. This program, Harmony, is a massive win for the Shuttle program, which has still continued to struggle to get to pre-1988 flight rates. Harmony will need every Shuttle for at least 5 years of work, which is set to begin in 1998. The start date for assembly has continued to be pushed back as Harmony is just another challenger in the war for funds between Magellan, Orpheus, and the exploration programs. With that aside now, NASA's focus can shift to the biggest matter at hand. Magellan 1 is approaching Mars...

Thank you to both of you for the kind words! To answer your questions: 1: It is quite a bit, the events are quite spread out but if you just want an idea of where it began you can read the parts from 1977 (The Last Dance and But How? on page 3) and 1984 (Orwellian Year and My Collection, at the end of page 4 and the start of page 5) 2: I do have some ideas for what to do with China and of course a plan for the SFR, so keep an eye out.

Into New Waters 1992 is the most important year for NASA since 1969. After 8 long years, every single component for Magellan 1 has been designed, built, and delivered. The launch window to Mars occupies a space between the beginning of August and the end of September. Magellan 1, although an all-up test of the Mars mission profile, is different from future missions. Since there is only one MMETV for it, the ascent vehicle and descent vehicle will be tandem launched aboard a Jupiter SDLS rocket. The descent vehicle will then perform orbit insertion at Mars following the 9-month trip. They will then go their separate ways. For Magellan 2, both will be carried by a second MMETV dedicated to carrying cargo. Despite this “simpler” approach, the amount of infrastructure usage so late in the year means that Orpheus 7 will not happen until next year. This is just another episode in a long-standing rivalry between the two programs. Not only for public attention but for Capitol Hill to give them the funding they need. Magellan has, since around 1989 when Virgil Base was finally set up, begun to win both of those battles. No matter what each program says though, they need each other. Just as Magellan needs the Aris program, which rather non-ceremoniously closed down on December 20th, 1991. Orpheus was the beginning of implementing many of Aris's developments, and this chain passed on to Magellan. The programs are both vital to deep space exploration and NASA’s continued success in the public eye. The Orpheus program managers continue to maintain that the “one-a-year” path is necessary for a steady infrastructure buildup at the Moon, however. Nevertheless, NASA wants to focus solely on Magellan 1 with no chaos of two deep space missions in such a small timespan. Though the buildup is just beginning, with the assembly of the MMETV to begin in August, with Trans-Mars Injection at the end of the month. With many months to come, NASA has other priorities. Most notably, what in the world is going on with the Space Shuttle? It’s been 4 years now since the Enterprise incident, and the Space Shuttle has been slowly trudging its way back to a smooth flight pace. The return-to-flight (RTF) costs for the program ballooned far beyond the agency’s expectations and caused a minor funding crisis on Capitol Hill for both 1989 and 1990. The Space Shuttle, even as it takes a back seat in the public’s view to Orpheus and Magellan, is still essential to each of those programs. ACOV is being used as the crew launch and return vehicle for both, and still solely launches on the Space Shuttle. The Shuttle’s pacing issues have also put the West Coast operations on a hiatus until further notice. The Air Force has its CELV Titan IV and Delta II rockets fully operational at this point, and no longer needs those Shuttle flights it fought NASA tooth and nail for over the past decade and a half. But it is going to fly one (1) mission for the Air Force this year out of Cape Canaveral. The Shuttle will also debut a hot new feature that will hopefully get it back on track. On the West Coast, as you may know, the Shuttle utilized a different version of the SRBs that had composite casings instead of the traditional steel ones. In their unpainted form, they presented a striking black-and-white look to these secret California Shuttle missions. After taking a year to modify the MLPs for the changes in loads and weight distributions, they will finally debut from the Shuttle’s primary launch site. There was some debate about painting them white, but ultimately they decided there was no reason to. So the Shuttle from now on will fly with the black and white SRBs. This debut mission is set to be flown by Space Shuttle Atlantis, carrying a series of commercial satellites. A mission like this used to be normal for the Shuttle, but it is seeming less and less likely that there will be any more “Shuttle Rideshare” missions as the new Ariane 4 rocket is dominating the foreign satellite market while Titan IV and Delta II take up the US market. Regardless of all of this, the Shuttle is still generally viewed admirably by the public, after all, it is what re-sparked the public interest in spaceflight in the first place. Yet as NASA thinks more and more about the future, and starts to confer with aerospace contractors about a next-generation crew vehicle, the Space Shuttle takes to the skies on June 18th, 1992. The mission is another flawless performance by Atlantis, and it has now flown 20 times itself. Over in the former Soviet Union, the fresh-on-the-block “Federal Space Agency” or FNKA has taken the place of the decentralized and loosely bound Soviet space program in the Soviet Federative Republic. It has been a rocky few months as the new nation is trying to find its footing in a post-Soviet and generally post-Communism world. However many within the new government hope getting back to normal operations in space will be an easy public victory. The economy remains under severe strain, as a lot of Soviet debts are still being carried. However, with a freer market, there is hope for Russia and its sister states in the SFR. NASA and FNKA aren’t the only ones beginning a new, or first, chapter though. Japan’s space agency, NASDA, has finally completed the development of Japan’s very first fully domestic launch vehicle. Dubbed “H-II” it borrows heavily from knowledge Japan has gained in working with the Space Shuttle program. But that doesn’t mean they didn’t do heavy lifting internally no, no, no. They developed their own hydrolox engines, their own large SRBs (the first country to develop an SRB of that size besides the US) as well as their own avionics and well, everything! With the help of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, NASDA developed a vehicle capable of delivering 15 metric tons to LEO, as well as 5 metric tons to trans-lunar injection (at least) which is a very impressive feat. The first flight, with a dummy mass simulator payload, takes place on the afternoon of July 11th, and it is a success despite a late ignition of the second stage. It wasn’t all perfect the first time around, but Japan has a vehicle capable of finally lifting its ambitious goals in space exploration. For NASA, as July begins, they are in controlled chaos mode at Cape Canaveral. Magellan 1 will require 3 Jupiter rockets. Harkening back to the complicated days of Advanced Apollo; they are working around the clock to meet the tight deadlines for launch. Because of these tight deadlines, the Shuttle has had to give up one of its high bays, the one that is dual use, for the third Jupiter rocket. The first two Jupiters are intended to launch the two halves of the MMETV. The first carrying the propulsion module and the first Liquid Hydrogen tank alongside communications arrays and the solar arrays. The second carries the second Liquid Hydrogen tank which sits underneath the large crew habitat. The third and final Jupiter rocket, the first ever Heavy variant with four SRBs, is launching the Ascent and Descent Vehicle stack straight to Mars. It was decided previously that it wasn’t necessary to launch ACOV aboard the Shuttle for this test flight, so Magellan 1 will simply consist of these components launched aboard Jupiter. With all three Jupiter rockets fully stacked by August 3rd, the first two roll out to LC-39C and D respectively, to begin their pre-flight preparations. The third, the 544H carrying the AV/DV stack is relocated to High Bay 4 for final processing work. The first, a 524-A, successfully gets through its pre-launch campaign by August 18th and is primed for launch on the 21st. The new era truly begins. “All systems are go for launch this afternoon.” “T-12, 11, 10, 9, 8, GO for core engine start…” “6, 5, 4, 3, we have engine start..” “1.. ZERO.” “LIFTOFF! LIFTOFF! THE NEXT CHAPTER OF EXPLORATION BEGINS WITH MAGELLAN 1!” The launch, in all its glory, is a total success. The MMETV Propulsion Module is deployed just off the coast of Africa into orbital sunset; its solar arrays unfurling as it goes behind the planet and into darkness. A few days later, on the 24th, the second module (the Hab Module) is boosted into orbit by an identical 524-A. The launch is yet again flawless. Because the Hab Module only has lateral and rotational thrusters and no other propulsion, it is up to the Propulsion Module itself to perform rendezvous and docking. This is a different approach than normal, but it is nevertheless a successful one. Over the west coast of Africa, the two modules become one, and the first-ever Martian spaceship is fully assembled. The focus then shifts to the big boy, the 544H rolls out to LC-39C on August 12th and is ready for launch on the 28th. Although it is not radically different, the core stage is slightly stretched on the H variant, alongside the four SRBs instead of two. The two payloads combined are roughly fifty metric tons. Thus necessitating the upgrade of the ride to orbit. There are concerns about the structural loads on the core stage with the four boosters, but it was designed with that maximum load in mind. The general structure at this length and longer is designed to handle four five-segment boosters. Nevertheless, the true test comes on launch day. As the five main engines roar to life, and the boosters ignite, NASA’s Mars ambitions soar into the morning sky. Despite a tenuous ascent, the second stage enters orbit with just enough fuel to boost both vehicles to Mars. A few hours later, both the MMETV and the AV/DV stack begin their 9-month trips to Mars. The Magellan program has finally begun...

Leap of Faith With the decommissioning of Skylab, NASA has fully set foot into a new era. Endeavours beyond Earth will shape this new chapter of its history. These will bring not only America but humanity as a whole into a great new part of its history. But there's a long way to go until then, and the attention NASA has so enjoyed for these past few decades is beginning to dwindle. Criticism over the costs of Magellan and Orpheus on top of the Shuttle's severely reduced flight rate since the Enterprise incident has left the agency in a constant start of warring with Capitol Hill. The top executives at NASA are firmly of the belief that Magellan 1 is their way to turn opinion around, it must succeed. For the world, it is a time of intense turmoil. The Gulf War concluded with a coalition victory, and the Soviet Union is facing an absolute crisis. Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia have all voted in favor of independence. What was once a country that many considered stronger than America has deteriorated severely. The cracks in the hammer and sickle are showing more and more as time passes, and the strain may not be bearable for much longer. But of course, politics shmolotics. We're here for space exploration. There is plenty of that for the rest of 1991. After nearly 2 years of being confined to the Earth. Sokol and Buran-Energia are geared up for their return to space. The Zenit booster issues have been resolved and operations can resume at last. Those operations will begin with the long-awaited launch of Merkuriy 91, intended to be the first spacecraft to orbit the innermost planet. Sokol-K is being entrusted with the launch on the late night of May 2nd, 1991. The launch is a perfect success and a much-needed victory for the Soviet space program. But that's not all, following that up in July is the much-awaited return to the assembly of the Mir Space Station. As the sole space station in orbit, as ESA's Coelus Program is between Lab units, Mir has sat changeless since the summer of 1989, but at last, it will receive the portside experiment module dubbed "Zakat". This launch will see the debut of the Sokol-KM variant, which is the standard launch vehicle without the Zenit boosters. Launch and rendezvous are successful. However... as Zakat begins to approach its docking location on the port side of the behemoth Gavan module, its RCS systems suddenly deactivate. Multiple attempts are made to reactivate them and get the docking back on track, but they are unsuccessful. They deliberate on what to do afterward for another hour or so. Ultimately, controllers in Moscow make the decision to have Mir dock to Zakat. It is not an easy operation, and the station has to expend more propellant than controllers would like to equal the velocity difference. The station slowly lumbers over to Zakat and safely docks with it 2 and a half hours behind schedule. Hectic docking operations aside, Mir's assembly is at last back on track as the next module is set to be delivered late next year. As summer turns to autumn, NASA embarks on an ambitious mission as the Sun gets closer to rising over Virgil Base. The second component of the base is here for delivery. This second cylindrical hab is mostly identical to the core module, with the notable exception of its large angled solar array at the top. This array, which can turn and be angled with the use of several electric motors will power the station as it continues to expand over the next few years. Inside, the module is home to dedicated sleeping quarters for the crew, giving them some much-needed personal space. The module successfully lands itself right next to the core, and with a bit of a shimmy of the engines and extending lockers on the connection ports the two modules are successfully connected and their internal pressure equalized. NASA's home away from home has begun to expand, with the next module to be delivered before Orpheus 7 in 1993. The base itself will remain in low-power standby mode until the sun rises in October. Orpheus 6 then kicks off on November 1st, with the launch of a refueling tanker for the returning LTV and ALSM. Starting with this mission, both the LTV and ALSM will be reused. Most of the mission-specific equipment was packed into the new base module, so it will be there on the Moon for them when they arrive. Following ACOV's return to Earth, the LTV performed a rendezvous with the empty ALSM, which retracted its landing legs and docked back into place autonomously, despite needing a few attempts and being bumped around a little. The LTV then spent its remaining fuel to return to Earth and place itself and the lander in a parking orbit, awaiting the refueling tanker. It arrives after a successful launch and 12 hours of catchup in orbit. The tanker is essentially of the same design as the LTV, minus the nuclear engines, and with more maneuvering thrusters alongside tanks and a refueling boom for the ALSM's hypergolic propellants. After the successful fuel-up, the tanker de-orbits itself over the Pacific Ocean, with a job well done. This successful demonstration comes at a time when NASA has come to the realization that the ALSM is far too large and overkill for its new role of simply being a ferry to and from Virgil Base. This is why, in a few years, they plan to open up a commercial competition for a smaller replacement lander. It's not simply a matter of cost but a matter of technical complexity, and also the lander occupies a lot of space when landed near the base. It will serve for at least 5 more missions, however. Future landers aside, Columbia takes flight with ACOV on November 3rd, with a successful deployment 4 hours after launch. The now oldest Shuttle in the active fleet returns to land at the Kennedy Space Center on the 5th, concluding its 20th mission. ACOV is also being reused for the first time on this mission. The capsule for this mission was previously used on Orpheus 4 and is set to demonstrate the first-ever reuse of a crewed space capsule. Docking with the ALSM and the LTV 18 hours after launch and 14 after deployment, the mission is smoothly on its way to the Moon after a successful trans-lunar injection 8 hours later. The cruise phase is relatively smooth, except for an unexpected communications blackout 2 days in that lasted for around 3 hours. That scare aside, the crew arrive safely in LLO on November 7th. However, at this point, another problem presents itself. The ALSM has a landing radar that is important for clearing large objects on the surface, and in this case, making sure they don't land right on top of the base. Before departing ACOV to begin the descent to the surface, the crew has a (very long) checklist to run through to make sure the lander is go for landing. One of these is powering on the landing radar and cycling it to make sure it works as intended. It does not turn on. The crew relays this information to Houston, who are perplexed by the issue. The radar has one of the most redundant power systems onboard, connected to the emergency power bank and with 2 sets of wiring connections in case of an electrical issue on one of them. Houston instructs the crew to open up the floor panel that has a lot of the wiring connections to the radar, but they find nothing. They try several more times to get the landing radar to turn on, and at this point, the landing is in jeopardy of being full-on canceled. The crew checks every connection they can get access to, every backup power reroute, everything, but still no shut-on. Until Houston instructs them to try one last thing. In a floor panel, there is a set of switches for isolating and cutting off the 3 power buses onboard the lander. The radar is connected to bus 2. Wouldn't you know it, right underneath the label "BUS 2" the black hand switch is turned just a bit towards off, and it feels rather loose. After further speculation, it seems that during all of the bumping around as the ALSM tried to dock to the LTV, the bus switch, which didn't have enough tension on it to be locked to "ON" got thrown out of that position and cut itself off. Then because the bus was "manually" switched off the auxiliary power system didn't think it was an emergency issue or failure. With a small crisis concluded, and the mission now being firmly behind schedule, the timelines are altered and they are GO for landing. Then in just a short 45 minutes, after several hours of fiddling with power systems, the crew of Orpheus 6 arrive at their home sweet home for the next 35 days. From there, the mission is mercifully boring, dedicated to further research and exploration of Amundsen Crater. Most notably, the crew recovered the first ice samples from the crater, which is a massive step forward. They are sealed in sterile cold containment boxes as NASA wishes to preserve them as much as possible, bringing two back to Earth with the crew. 35 peaceful days on the Moon well spent, the crew of Orpheus 6 then return to ACOV, and cruise their way back to Earth, ice samples in tow. After an unexpected splashdown for Orpheus 5 which made that capsule likely unable to be reused, this time around it's all sunny skies at Edwards as they come to a gentle stop on the lakebed. But that's not all... Buran is back. On December 16th, in the face of continual protests in Moscow, and political turmoil around the crumbling USSR. Buran provides a bit of hope for everyone in the country, as it flies for the first time to perform a crew rotation at Mir. Sadly, this hope would be short-lived, as this would be the last ever mission to space flying under the red banner of the Soviet Union. On December 26th, 1991, Georgia and Azerbaijan officially declare their independence from the USSR. The next day, Mikhail Gorbachev, and the leaders of the 5 Central Asian SSRs sign the official document dissolving the USSR, resigning from their posts, and reforming the 6 remaining Soviet states into the new Soviet Federative Republic. The Cold War has ended...

Goodbye, Old Friend. Some would call it bittersweet, but others may call it just bitter. As the date turns over to 1991, the main thing on the minds of those at NASA is the imminent de-orbit of Skylab. After nearly 17 years of service to the country and its space agency, it has finally reached the end of its life and is to be de-orbited into the Pacific Ocean. But not before a series of events to ensure everything of value (that can be returned) is removed from the station. On top of this, Space Shuttle Discovery, which is set to launch to recover the astronauts of Skylab 30, will bring an automated "Skylab Deorbit Vehicle" or SDV which will use its thrusters to ensure a clean deorbit into the target area over the Pacific. Discovery will launch with just 2 astronauts, leaving 5 empty seats for the crew onboard the station for their return home. Once the Shuttle has arrived and is ready to dock, the MPCS will undock, and the SDV will be released from the Shuttle's payload bay. The Shuttle will then dock at the MPCS port, and the SDV will maneuver to the other side of the station to dock at the Shuttle's standard docking port on the aft of the Multi-Purpose Laboratory. On January 14th, 1991, STS-95 takes flight with 2 astronauts, Charles Bolden, and Curtis Brown. "LIFTOFF! LIFTOFF OF SPACE SHUTTLE DISCOVERY TO DECOMMISSION THE SKYLAB SPACE STATION." "Nominal booster separation." Discovery will take a day to reach Skylab, meanwhile, the crew onboard the station prepares the MPCS for departure upon Discovery's arrival. They also continue to remove hardware and place it in storage containers that will be loaded into the Spacelab Mini Module, which is being carried in Discovery's payload bay alongside the SDV. Much of the external hardware has already been brought back by the last two Shuttle visits, including everything on the external payload carriers. In many ways, it has felt like a home being moved out of for not only Skylab 30 but also 29. Less research and more just general work to decommission the station. It has begun to show its age since around 1986, and there was work to keep it going, but ultimately it is of early 70s design and construction. But NASA has learned greatly from Skylab, and there are already plans in place for a new space station to begin construction before the new millennium. At 1 PM on the 15th, Discovery comes in sight of the station, as the MPCS undocks and moves away to a safe distance. the SDV is then released from Discovery's payload bay. It moves over to the MPL docking port and safely puts itself in position. With the SDV in position, Discovery moves to dock at the MPCS port. Originally the Shuttle used to dock at the station here at this port, until the MPL was added as the final component of the station and provided a better location for docking. Nevertheless, both vehicles are successfully docked to the station. Then, for the final time, the ceremonial meeting inside the Destiny module of the two crews is completed. President George H.W. Bush holds a teleconference with the astronauts and congratulates them and all of the astronauts who have worked and lived aboard the station for their service. 3 days are spent docked to the station, as hardware and other cargo is loaded into the Spacelab Mini Module as well as the Shuttle's mid-deck. On the 19th, the crew of Skylab 30 enter the Shuttle and close the hatch to the station for the last time. NASA broadcasts the final Shuttle departure from Skylab on national television, starting just as undocking procedures begin. "On behalf of everyone who has stayed aboard, thank you Skylab, for your years of service to our country in space, and for being a home in space to all of us. Godspeed you hunk of junk." As the astronauts back away, some of them get a little teary-eyed. Bolden has stayed aboard the station twice, it felt like a home away from home to him. For O'Conner, his first flight into space was to Skylab. To go to Skylab was an incredible opportunity for any astronaut, not just American ones. The station had played host to 16 international visitors. It had seen the retirement of Apollo-Saturn and the rise of Shuttle-Jupiter, it had become a multi-generational constant in space, but its time orbiting our home planet had come to an end. That afternoon, while orbiting over Central Asia and China, the SDV performed its nearly 10-minute-long de-orbit burn for the station. The final commands sent to the onboard guidance computers inside the Prosperity Orbital Workshop were to orient the station upwards, for maximum drag effect. 16 years, 8 months, and 20 days in orbit. The drag effects hit, and the station is spun around, as the S3 truss is pulled off by the g-forces. Maritime onlookers see a series of bright flashes, and then plasma trails streaking across the sky. One final bright flash, as the temperatures become too much even for the rugged Prosperity core module, the original Skylab orbital workshop itself. ... Godspeed, Skylab.

A Changing World: Part Two There's not much in the way of "quantity" for the second half of 1990. The year that begins a new decade was certainly front-heavy, but that doesn't mean we don't have some interesting stuff to cover here. To kick things off, work continues in preparation for Magellan 1, which is still slated for the 1992 launch window to Mars. At Michoud, the MMETV is finished with its primary assembly and will have its engine section and nuclear thermal rocket motors mounted over the winter. Its manufacturing and assembly have been relatively smooth, which has helped the mission stay on schedule. As for the other components of the mission. The twin Ascent/Descent Vehicles are under construction at the KSC to save space in Michoud. They are the items most lagging behind, and they will likely be delivered just in time if the schedule holds. There is debate about whether Magellan 1 can be modified from its "all-up test" mission profile should they encounter severe delays. But for now, NASA is not entertaining that idea. Another important development arrives in August, as Space Shuttle Atlantis rolls out for its first mission to space since late 1987. It is the first orbiter to use the new Ethanol/Hydrogen Peroxide fuel mixture for the Orbital Maneuvering System and RCS. This flight will be carrying a series of commercial satellites, alongside performing tests with the new propellant systems. Atlantis takes flight on August 19th, 1990, into clear afternoon skies. The new propellants perform flawlessly, and Atlantis returns to land at the Cape 4 days later. Without the need for protection equipment or hypergolic purging, the turnaround to get Atlantis back to the OPF is far quicker. Although this is the only flight for Atlantis this year, NASA has set forth a test to see if it can be turned around and ready for flight in less than 45 days. We will come back and see how that holds up. As for the rest of the year, all eyes are on Orpheus 5. With Virgil Base now set up, this mission will be dedicated to exploration and research. In September, an EERM is launched to be the base's permanent rover. It arrives safely and parks up automatically on a nearby hillside so its solar panels can acquire charge. Although the second base module won't be added until Orpheus 6, there is a second complementary mission launching. It is the first British mission to the Moon. That's right, in cooperation with the Orpheus program, the UK Space Agency has developed its own lunar radar satellite dubbed LuSoRa (Lunar Sounding Radar) that is now poised for launch aboard Comet B. It is not a large spacecraft, only weighing in the neighborhood of 300 kilograms. But it has a very powerful compact twin-radar system developed by British Aerospace, who also built the rest of the satellite. On October 29th, Comet B takes flight from Scapa Flow carrying LuSoRa. 5 days after a successful launch, LuSoRa ignites its 2 thruster packs and slows down into a low polar orbit of the Moon. It is the first non-American/Soviet probe to orbit the Moon. Not even ESA has made a lunar spacecraft yet. On November 19th, the LTV and ALSM are launched, and the next morning, Challenger launches with ACOV and its crew in tow. Three hours after launch, ACOV deploys from the payload bay of Challenger. 6 hours after that, ACOV successfully performs rendezvous and docking to the ALSM. The LTV departs Earth, arriving in lunar orbit on the 24th. The ALSM and ACOV separate from the LTV, and the crew wait for another 2 orbits before entering their lander and undocking from ACOV to begin their descent to Virgil Base. "1,500 feet and nominal descent rate." "Shift 'er over a tad." "We're in a clear spot here just watch that slope." "Right on our base landing zone." "500 feet now." "350." "200." "100." "50." "20." "10, 5..." "CONTACT LIGHT." Right on the money. The 5 astronauts aboard the ALSM are then given an hour or so to rest and prepare for the first EVA. Unlike most other first EVAs this will be to simply walk over to the base. However, upon egressing their lander the crew discovers that the old flag planted by Orpheus 4 had been knocked over. so they stop for a short while and replant it closer to the base. Then taking advantage of a little photo opportunity, as the Earth is perfectly positioned above them in the lunar sky. The rest of the 8 total EVAs are intended to be rover trips, although EVA 3 is repurposed shortly before it begins to perform some repairs to the solar array field's batteries. The EERM handles extraordinarily well in the rugged terrain of the lunar South Pole, and the crew manages to cover 332km in their 35 days on the lunar surface, more than any other mission thus far. ' On December 30th, the crew leave their gifts for the crew of Orpheus 6 and return to the ALSM, departing the lunar surface. From this point on there's a bit of a change in plans. Weather reports come in, and heavy storms are expected to be over Edwards on the landing date. So ACOV will have to perform one of its good old-fashioned Pacific Ocean splashdowns. The Navy always keeps a few ships on standby in case of situations like these, and they are sent out and waiting as ACOV comes ripping through the atmosphere on January 3rd, 1991. A safe splashdown, concluding the fifth Orpheus mission to the Moon. The Orpheus program has, so far, managed to hold itself together and mostly deliver on its promises of lower costs. Although issues with ALSM and ACOV reusability have caused delays for those respective projects, the missions themselves are returning valuable scientific data, and have finally put a home for humans on another world. Before we wrap things up here, I mentioned the "turnaround test" for Space Shuttle Atlantis. So how did it do? 37 days. Отчет комиссии, поступивший 10 января.

A Changing World "We apologize for interrupting our normal programming here on this New Year's Day, but we are bringing you another CBS Special Report from Kiev in Ukraine. It appears that the Ukrainian SSR has finally voted on independence, and it has passed in an overwhelming majority. This marks the second departure of a Soviet member state, with the first being Armenia 2 years ago. We will continue to bring you updates on this developing situation, but for now, we will return to normal programming, and we wish you a happy New Year at the start of this new decade." A bolder, new world emerged out of the 1980s. Discontentment with the government? Just a little maybe. The fall of communism? On the horizon, it seems. At the center of it all, space exploration has somehow managed to remain a major part of global culture. The 80s were tumultuous and not easy at times, but these are fresh waters we're diving into. Music, politics, and society in general, it's all at a crossroads. We begin these divisive times with... what do you mean they're changing the naming scheme? Maybe to prevent mass confusion, maybe to alleviate the headache. The STS alphanumeric mission naming scheme is being abandoned, in favor of the original one starting this year. A mission by Columbia will have the honor of bringing back this original scheme. The objective of this mission is to retrieve the long overdue for return LDEF. It seems as if NASA just cannot bring it back on time. Launched for a second time back in 1985, it was intended to be returned in 1988, but after the Enterprise incident, it was left to orbit for 2 more years, and it is now just a few weeks away from de-orbiting... again. This isn't the only noteworthy part of the mission, however. The right SRB is partially painted with a new anti-fungal (yes because Florida) material that is black in appearance, this will be used on the FWC Carbon Composite SRBs when they begin use for missions from Cape Canaveral in 1992. With that out of the way, the Shuttle begins its second (full) decade of flight early in the morning of January 9th, 1990. STS-90, as it is called (despite being the 89th Shuttle mission) is a complete success. Columbia lands at Cape Canaveral, LDEF safely stowed in the payload bay, on January 16th. On January 30th, NASA holds a press conference to discuss the finalized plans for Skylab's deorbit, slated for February of next year. The crew about to launch on STS-92 in June, Skylab 30, will be the final operational 200-day mission aboard the station, wrapping up nearly 17 years of service in space. STS-95 will launch with only a crew of 2, to retrieve the 5-person crew of Skylab 30, and they will then set up the Station Deorbit Vehicle (SDV) that will be carried in the Shuttle's payload bay on the Multi-Purpose Laboratory's docking port. The crew will then depart in the Shuttle, and just a week or so later, Skylab will deorbit into the Pacific Ocean. The successor station, intended to be a collaboration between the US, Europe, and Japan, has been pushed back by several years, as the Magellan program remains the top priority. Pessimists may say it won't begin assembly until the turn of the new century, and it is to be seen if they are right. Nevertheless, the station gap will be filled by the arrival of Spacelab II, so the Shuttle will be flying far more research missions than it has been in the past. This in turn means the OMLET mission extension kit may finally be of some use for longer missions of this type, even though it only flew once way back in 1983. There have been several studies and proposals for a small "Interim Station" to be built in cooperation with ESA, but these have ultimately been rejected as it will only be useful for a very short amount of time, and Spacelab II will be ready sooner. On February 20th, Space Shuttle Atlantis finally returned to the Cape, having become the first orbiter to be fully fitted with the new Ethanol and Hydrogen Peroxide OMS/RCS propellant systems. Atlantis also received the rest of the smaller SIP upgrades that the other Shuttles have, but this is the biggest piece of the puzzle. The rest of the Shuttles will get this upgrade during their scheduled Orbiter Maintenance Down Periods (OMDPs) that occur regularly. Every Shuttle should be using the E-HTP propellants by 1993. Then, on March 11th, NASA holds another press conference, having (finally) completed their architectural plans for Magellan, just 2 years before Magellan 1 is slated to fly. The Mars Ascent and Descent Vehicles will now be of the same design, and they have been contracted out to Boeing. The habitat will be similar to the Virgil Base core to some degree and is being built by McDonnell Douglas. Martin Marietta is responsible for the MMETV, which is already under assembly. With these major components now contracted out, work can finally kick into high gear to meet the 1992 deadline for the first mission to Mars. As we move into April, in the midst of chaos within the Soviet Union, they are preparing to launch a triumphant robotic mission to a new unexplored world. Tserera 1 is finally poised for launch at Baikonur aboard Sokol-K. It should arrive at Ceres sometime in 1992 if all goes well. The launch is broadcasted internationally, as the nation could really use some good PR right now. «Запуск первой в истории миссии на Церере!» The flight is proceeding nominally. Until a sudden pressure drop in one of the booster tanks. "Что?" Tserera 1 is lost in the subsequent explosion of Sokol. It may have not been the best idea to broadcast the launch worldwide after all. But to make matters worse, Soviet engineers are completely dumbfounded by the failure. The Zenit boosters have been a very reliable system so far, and this failure means that not only is Sokol grounded, but so is Energiya and Zenit, and by extension, Buran. OK-1K4 was just about to roll out to Site 110, but yet again, the stack has to be disassembled and the Zenit boosters are hauled off to be checked and investigated. If they want to launch Merkuriy 91 next year, they will have to figure things out and implement a fix quickly, or else they will be waiting a couple of years for another launch window. While this is going on, in the wake of Ukraine's secession, Gorbachev launches a massive set of economic reforms within the USSR, designed to bring it into a more moderate and hybrid socialist economic standing. He claims this is the only way for the union to survive, but he is facing a lot of opposition from the party hardliners, it remains to be foreseen what will happen to the decaying Soviet Union. To juxtaposition back to the US at our conclusion here, the Orbital Sciences corporation has reached a massive achievement. Orbital's brand new air-launched rocket, dubbed Pegasus takes its first flight on April 9th, 1990. This is the first privately developed launch vehicle to achieve orbit. And it has caught the attention of both NASA and the Air Force. It remains to be seen how this "commercial market" may develop over this new decade. Finally, to round things out, in May, NASA officially waives Rockwell's proposal for a Shuttle orbiter to replace Enterprise. Even with the spares, it simply isn't worth it. Instead, many within the agency are beginning to look towards the new century, and what it may hold for new options. A New Shuttle, perhaps? Отчеты должны быть представлены к июлю.

Back in Black As Columbia is lifted into High Bay 3, NASA has returned to its usual busy form. 20 months have passed since STS-111A, and the Shuttle has emerged safer and better. With Atlantis undergoing SIP upgrades at Plant 42, Challenger being prepared for Orpheus 4, and Discovery having been returned to the Cape temporarily. The fleet has lost its oldest member, but nobody in the program has lost determination. The same may not be able to be said about NASA management, whose unwavering faith and support of the Space Shuttle has been diminished. The program's costs have exploded in the past year and a half, proving how much the Shuttle's low cost was supported by its forced high flight rate. These costs have filled a gap in a budget that for the first time since 1980, shrunk just a little. Mainly due to a program from the new Bush administration to restructure the government budget. With Orpheus, Magellan, and the Shuttle all needing funding, NASA has had to delay several spacecraft projects further into the 1990s, to the benefit of some of them as they will get better launch trajectories. Nevertheless, the Shuttle isn't quite first up here, as the following events from Buran's canned launch and the destruction of Polyus soon follow from where we left off. As I mentioned, the Energiya launcher from that mission, OK-1K3, is now refitted (and repainted) for the launch of the long-awaited and significantly delayed mega module for Mir. This module, named Gavan, will be the first payload to use the "Buran-T" payload container for Energiya. The size of Buran-T allows for very large and sensitive payloads that could not be directly side-mounted to Energiya like Polyus was. Gavan will be the primary propulsion and habitation module for the station after its addition, and it takes flight in the early afternoon of August 6th from Baikonur. On September 2nd, Columbia rolls out to LC-39A to begin a 3-week long campaign on the way to the Shuttle's Return to Flight. Even though costs have ballooned to over 1 billion dollars, for this flight, and over 2 billion for the whole program since January 1988, the Shuttle program has remained persistent and is finally ready to return to space. Things kick off with a Flight Readiness Firing (FRF) on September 9th. This 20-second firing of the 3 SSMEs validates that the Shuttle is ready for flight. With the Shuttle now back to flight status, the focus shifts to the mammoth task of Orpheus 4. This mission is the most important one to the Moon since Apollo 11. As the crew will be establishing the first lunar outpost. Virgil Base is finally ready to begin assembly, and things will kick off on this mission with the core module. A circular hab packed with instruments and equipment, designed to be sustained on its own. It will be joined by 3 other modules in the bases' final design, as well as a field of solar arrays for power generation. On December 14th, a Jupiter 524-A lifts off with America's lunar outpost. A soft landing on the dry lakebed of Edwards later, and this crew of 5 pioneers are back home. Although they missed Christmas, they find themselves in a new decade. Welcome to the 90s.

The Old And The New 1989 is a year of new things, a new presidency, new launch vehicles, and new ideas. With the Shuttle still grounded, Skylab has had to rely on ESA's MPCS to keep going, with the crew of Skylab 28 now aboard the station. This has brought NASA and ESA even closer, as they begin to cooperatively work on Skylab's successor station this year. This first half of the year is uneventful for NASA specifically, but not for the rest of American spaceflight. However, it's not too uneventful, as construction of the first Multi-Mission Exploration Transfer Vehicle begins at the newly completed second campus of Michoud Assembly Facility. This will be the MMETV for Magellan 1, slated to launch in 1992. But that aside, the year kicks off with the first of 3 new launch vehicles to debut in this first half of the year. It is the next in the long line of Delta rockets, the largest and most capable yet, still sporting that lovely teal paint job. It's Delta II. "Liftoff of the first Delta II rocket and a new GPS satellite!" It is a successful first flight for the newest Delta, which will hopefully become a workhorse for the Air Force, and maybe even for some of NASA's smaller payloads that it hopes to fly in the coming decade. But this is just the first of the two CELV program rockets to debut this year. This next one is the much-discussed and anticipated successor to Martin Marietta's triumphant Hercules rocket, which has retired with 52 flights in 12 years of service. It is an evolution upon both Hercules and Titan IIIE, adequately dubbed Titan IV. Bringing back the kerolox propellant of Titan I, as well as massive changes to pre-launch processing to make it faster and cheaper. Most notably moving vehicle assembly entirely to the launchpad, as opposed to having the SMARF and SMAB buildings, which will now be used for storage and payload processing. For these first few flights, it will use 7 segment UA120 boosters, due to delays with the planned Solid Rocket Motor Upgrade (SRMU) boosters, but they will debut at the end of next year hopefully, on the variant dubbed Titan IV-B. This flight then, is a Titan IV-A, with an IUS third stage, carrying the 14th Defense Support Program satellite. "Liftoff!" The Air Force sees Titan IV and Delta II as the solution that they've needed to the never-ending battle with NASA for flights on the Space Shuttle. With their aging launchers replaced, they can breathe a sigh of relief, and in the end, both parties come out happy. Finally, last but not least, is the next evolution of ESA's main-line Ariane rockets. They have been wanting a major upgrade of the Ariane family for a few years now, which lead to a redesign early on in the development process that has pushed the maiden launch back by about a year, but this new modular lifter will suit the growing needs of both ESA and the commercial market. Its maiden flight will be in its heaviest configuration, with a third stage mass simulator and dummy payload equating to about 9t of payload, to be boosted to Geostationary Transfer Orbit. Enter Ariane 4. "Décollage!" The flight is a complete success much to the delight of ESA, and wraps up our 3 part maiden flight extravaganza here in 1989. But that's not all for this first half of the year. You see, even as Floyd keeps itself trained on Polyus, effectively putting the whole space laser situation in a stalemate, the Soviets aren't giving up on their mighty space weapon, and with Buran now having demonstrated manned flight, it is time to head up there and bring it back to fully functioning status. The situation has been made more urgent by the failure of the orbital engines board Polyus at the start of last year, which means its orbit is just days from decaying as 4 cosmonauts board Buran for its third trip into space, and its first night launch as well. The countdown proceeds as normal, with Energiya and its boosters being fueled up, and the crew configuring Buran for flight. However, as the aero surfaces are being tested just a few minutes before launch, they seize up. The hydraulic pumps have completely cut off, and there is no data from the hydraulic systems onboard. As the control team and the crew try to sort it out, matters are made worse as one of the APUs burns itself out and a small fire spreads to another one. The situation is increasingly more chaotic and ground control decides to allow the crew to egress. The crew are carried away from the launchpad in vans, and wait for another hour in their suit-up building, wondering if they'll have to go back as teams try to recycle for a launch at sunrise. But alas, detanking of Energiya begins, and ground control bitterly abandons their launch attempt. Buran does not have the same pad infrastructure as the Shuttle, so any major repairs or work mean it has to roll back to the assembly building and be taken off of Energiya. This means at least a few weeks of delays, time that Polyus may not have. And it doesn't. On July 6th, 1989, as Buran is being worked on in its hangar, the Soviet satellite Polyus re-enters over India and Pakistan. The terror from above is gone, and Floyd remains in orbit, now in the situation its counterpart was 2 years before, the sole weapon in space. The Energiya launcher intended for Buran is refitted, and the long-delayed mega-module for Mir, dubbed Gavan will be launched on it in August. Meanwhile, Columbia rolls into the VAB on July 29th. The Shuttle's Return to Flight campaign begins.

Where Do We Go Now? "Thank you for joining us with a CBS Special Report this evening. We bring you news from the Caucasus region of Southern Europe, the Armenian SSR, a member state of the Soviet Union, has declared its independence, officially forming the Republic of Armenia. There are unconfirmed reports of combat between the Soviet military and local militia, but this is denied by the Soviet government. This comes as protests in the Ukraine have ramped up and have spread to other member states. General Secretary Gorbachev has objected but has stated that he will not interfere with the will of the Armenian people. While he begins to push internal economic and political reforms within the Soviet state, citing them as necessary for the nation's survival." On the 16th of April, 1988, the Republic of Armenia is formed. The Soviet Union is facing a crisis, internal turmoil, and economic stagnation have driven Armenia to independence, and it seems as though Ukraine will follow suit eventually. Gorbachev is beginning a series of reforms to preserve the state, which may lead to a completely new Soviet Union in the coming years. But politics shmolotics, we're here for some space exploration. On that front, there is still a lot going on in the rest of 1988. For NASA, their plans have had a wrench thrown in them, as the Shuttle is now grounded at least until next year after the Enterprise incident. That mission has revealed some long-standing issues that NASA has otherwise ignored or tolerated. A Congressional hearing on February 10th has much of this come to the surface. Nobody is taking this lightly, it was a miracle that Challenger was supposed to launch 3 days later and was ready to fly. Had it not been, the crew would've had no chance of rescue. This is the first time NASA's faith in the Space Shuttle has been shaken. The Congressional hearing brings a heap of information against the Shuttle, with one particular bit being how long it has been since the Operations & Safety Manuals were updated, with the last minor revision in 1985, and the last new edition in 1982. Even that edition still contains much from the original 1977 manual, for Saturn-Shuttle. John Young has done his best to keep everyone in line, but he has found himself fighting a losing battle since around the end of '84. Those below him have run wild and although he has managed to keep the agency functioning well, a lot has slipped through the cracks. But this is a chance to right the ship and get it heading on the right path as it heads into a new decade. Seizing that chance, the Space Shuttle Future Committee is established, to determine the path forward for NASA's Space Shuttle. Different teams from both NASA and Rockwell are allowed to present their plans. But one stands out amongst the sea of pro and anti-Shuttle plans. A plan that will keep the Shuttle going, better than ever, and pave the way for a future successor down the line. This plan was originally outlined back in the January 1984 Space Shuttle Technical Report, from Dryden and Ames, but it has been presented to the committee now as a solution to the uncertain future of NASA's winged icon. It is called the Shuttle Improvement Program, or SIP. Although some of its ideas are a bit outlandish and unnecessary, it has many good solutions to the common problems the Shuttle faces. Mostly to do with the high cost of processing and maintaining it. But it also has many suggestions to improve operational safety and procedures. The committee eventually agrees to a revised version, with some removals and additions. The core components of it are changes to the TPS tiles for easier maintenance and access to the hardware behind them, and a new propellant for the OMS and RCS systems. That propellant is a mixture of Ethanol and HTP, affectionately named E-HTP. This change also means new APUs to finally rid the Shuttle of toxic hypergolic propellants. With all of these changes, Shuttle processing should become much cheaper and easier, as well as quicker. With the SIP team estimating 30-day turnarounds being possible. On top of the SIP program, NASA decided to extend the grounding of the Shuttle program until the autumn of 1989. This is to allow for a massive amount of maintenance and upgrade work to the Shuttles, which have fallen behind on upkeep due to the demanding flight rate. With only 4 Shuttles now in the fleet, and only 3 at the Cape, they need to stay in top-tier condition. They will all, besides Columbia, receive their first major round of upgrades during this extended fleet grounding. All of this means that Orpheus 4 has been delayed a whole year. But no worries, it gives more time to prepare all of the necessary hardware on the bright side. As well as giving NASA more time to review their operational safety and change things up. In June, a major step for the Magellan program is completed. The expansion of the Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana is completed. A new "second campus" of sorts that will be dedicated to LTV and Magellan MTV construction. Speaking of the Magellan MTV, its design has been finalized, and it has been publicly announced as the "Multi-Mission Exploration Transfer Vehicle" or MMETV. It is a single-core design, and it will use 7 of the same NTR motors used on the LTV Mk2. Optimized for carrying 50t to Mars and back, two will be used on a normal Magellan mission. NASA is committed to launching Magellan 1 in 1992, and it is to be foreseen if that target holds. Now let's talk a little about the aftermath of the Enterprise incident. In the weeks following, Enterprise was slowly recovered from the dry lakebed of Edwards Air Force Base, with major pieces being flown back in the Super Guppy. The recovery was made difficult due to a puncture in the OMS pods that had hydrazine leaking everywhere, but that was cleaned up, and the rest of the propellant drained, as it miraculously didn't explode. Nevertheless, after returning to the Cape, the components were laid out in one of the Shuttle maintenance hangars at the Cape for inspection and assessment. About 70% of Enterprise was able to be recovered, so NASA has not ruled out the potential for a reconstructed display at some point. But for now, Enterprise will be contributing to studying the Shuttle's structure under the conditions it faced, to help with SIP. On top of Enterprise, Spacelab was also damaged beyond repair, but both NASA and ESA have been talking about a brand new "Spacelab 2" of sorts for use between Skylab's de-orbit and the beginning of the successor station. That idea has been accelerated with the destruction of Spacelab. It will be similar to its predecessor, but with a flat top, to finally get rid of an emergency procedure issue the original always had. If the astronauts had to go out on EVA and manually close the payload bay doors, they would be stuck in there throughout re-entry with the original Spacelab, as they could not get back to the airlock. This will be fixed with Spacelab 2. With NASA sorting itself out for the rest of the year, the spotlight goes onto the Soviets, and wait... Japan?? That's right, Japan makes a thrilling announcement in September, that they are beginning work on their first domestic launch vehicle, moving away from licensed versions of Thor-Delta. Not much else is revealed, other than that they're starting work on it and they hope to have it ready around 1993. So not too thrilling, but certainly interesting. Otherwise, the spotlight is on the Soviets, as they take flight with Buran for the second time, with crew. That's right, with Igor Volk and Aleksandr Ivanchenko at the helm of the Soviet's shiny new Space Shuttle, they take flight on a 2-day solo mission, with a scientific payload in the back, to demonstrate manned operations. This mission takes flight on November 10th, 1988, the same day Orpheus 4 was planned to land on the Moon. Buran lands under a clear night sky at Baikonur 2 days later, with this mission again making headlines around the world. The Soviet Space Shuttle may have just arrived on the scene, but its making a name for itself even ahead of the Soviet propaganda surrounding it. With a second one now under construction, to be named Sarma, it looks as if the Soviets are committing to this fancy new spaceplane. The year wraps up with the 1988 Presidential elections, to replace Ronald Reagan, as his 2 terms are up. It comes down to his VP, George H.W. Bush, against the Democrat nominee Michael Dukakis. Bush wins in a landslide. As Reagan's VP, he championed both the Orpheus and Magellan programs since their inception and has stated throughout his campaigns his intention to continue the pro-space exploration policies of Reagan, and even expand on them. Another good administration for NASA, to be foreseen about the country. Рейс 3 в Полюс