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Tape One: Harmony In 1991, Skylab was deorbited after 17 whole years in orbit and over 20 successful 200-day crewed expeditions. It’s hard to replace such an iconic station, but NASA and its international partners began that undertaking in the late 1980s as Skylab’s retirement was quickly approaching. Several variations (and a last-minute change) would culminate in the eloquently named Space Station Harmony, to be built cooperatively by the US, Canada, the UK, Europe, and Japan. This station design is larger, and far more advanced than Skylab. However, at least visually, it is very similar to Skylab, including using a truss structure and large sun-tracking solar arrays. Harmony also has a large central module inspired by the Skylab orbital workshop, in fact, it’s larger than the Skylab orbital workshop, by length and diameter. Thus, being such a large and critical component, it couldn’t just be labeled an ordinary module, no, it’s a Supermodule. The Supermodule, given the name Perseverance, is the station's first component and will provide the vast majority of the living and working space for the crew. Connected to its forward area is a section known as the Multi-Node, on all four sides it has “Common Berthing Mechanism” or CBM ports. These ports will be used to connect all of the station’s modules. Unlike with Skylab, the Shuttle’s involvement from the beginning will mean that these modules can be connected through manipulation by robotic arms, thus the usage of berthing (where a station or craft captures an incoming vehicle by some method and connects it to itself) instead of docking (where the incoming vehicle connects itself via its propulsion). While this may seem less advanced, it will allow for easier rearrangement of the station, which will be necessary to achieve the final configuration. Harmony will require at minimum 25 assembly missions, not including regular resupply. Which, speaking of resupply… Since the majority of the Shuttle flights to the station will be assembly missions, Japan has committed to developing an autonomous resupply vehicle, which will be named Kounotori. Kounotori will be launched aboard the new evolution of the country’s H-II rocket, named H-IIA. Through this, primary resupply responsibility outside of the Space Shuttle has been delegated to Japan, a major source of pride for their aerospace industry as they are a key partner of NASA in this project. But one more thing is very much bothering NASA as the Supermodule’s launch grows nearer in mid-1998. They have no solution for an immediate crew return vehicle in the event of an emergency. When the Shuttle leaves, the crew is effectively stuck in orbit. However, ESA arrives with a solution that can be implemented quickly. With some additional help from NASA, they can bring back their Multi-Purpose Crew System, and utilize it as an interim CRV until NASA’s plans for a commercially built return vehicle can be realized. MPCS has not flown since 1994, but several have been kept in good condition in storage, and it could be launched on Ariane 4, 5, or the Space Shuttle. NASA ultimately decides to launch it on the Space Shuttle, and ESA begins modifications to create the MPCS Block III. Since it will launch on the Shuttle, it will need no service module, just a power/data fixture for a remote manipulator to grab it and connect it to the station, and thrusters for attitude control and de-orbit. Block III will have batteries for up to 5 days in orbit solo. With resupply and emergency crew return sorted through international partners, NASA begins the pre-launch processes on June 20th, 1999, when the brand new Pegasus barge brings the Supermodule from its assembly location at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans (the only component of Harmony to be built there) to the offloading point at Cape Canaveral. The Supermodule is then brought into the Stacking and Assembly Building, which with far more reuse now for Orpheus and Magellan, mainly serves as a storage facility rather than an overflow building. However, one of its work cells was converted into a payload integration area, and it is where LTVs and the two halves of the MMETV are integrated into the Jupiter rocket’s payload fairings. It serves the same purpose here for the Supermodule, as it is lifted and secured onto the payload mount and enclosed in the fairings on July 10th, 1999. Meanwhile, stacking of the Jupiter 524-A rocket for the Supermodule’s launch is well underway at that point in High Bay 4. The SRBs, the core stage, and the upper stage are fully stacked by the beginning of July, and umbilical retraction tests are completed on July 6th. With those steps completed, the enclosed Supermodule is transited to the VAB and lifted atop its launch vehicle on July 28th, 1999. The completed stack sits in the VAB for a few more days as further tests are completed. Then, on August 14th, the Supermodule and its Jupiter rocket roll out to LC-39C in the middle of the night, when the Florida weather is calmest. Mobile Launch Platform-1, celebrating 34 years since its completion, is set down at 39C just as the sun rises over a Florida summer day. The launch is scheduled for August 26th, just a few days before the crew of Magellan 2 is returned by Space Shuttle Discovery. The MMETV enters its parking orbit back around Earth after the first human mission to Mars on August 24th, as the Supermodule and its Jupiter rocket continue their pre-launch tests and preparations. Finally, the spotlight is on Harmony, as the Supermodule is lifted into orbit by its Jupiter launch vehicle on the humid morning of August 26th, 1999. Upon reaching orbit over the Canadian province of Newfoundland, the Supermodule deploys its Roll-Out Solar Arrays (ROSAs) and begins sending data to ground tracking stations. The Supermodule will sit in orbit alone for about a month, as NASA ties up the loose ends with Magellan 2’s return. Following the successful return of the Magellan 2 crew, and their historic ticker-tape parade through Pennsylvania Avenue on September 20th, Space Shuttle Challenger prepares with a crew of its own for the first mission to Space Station Harmony. This is Challenger’s first flight since its second Orbiter Maintenance Down Period (OMDP), which installed the “glass cockpit” upgrade that brings the orbiters into the digital age with advanced Multi-Function Displays. General maintenance was also done, replacing a few hundred tiles, several nitrogen tanks, and a few miles of wiring and electrical connections. Challenger was also given a swanky new livery, basically inverting the positions of the red NASA worm logo (which is now NASA’s official primary logo) and the US flag, with the US flag now above the orbiter name on the right wing, and the NASA worm on the right wing by itself. Challenger also had the LRSI tiles on its wings and aero surfaces removed and replaced with the thermal blankets that are present on Discovery and Atlantis. Challenger is the second to receive this upgrade package and livery change after Atlantis was given it following its mission launching the Magellan 2 crew into orbit. The mission for Challenger and the crew is to deliver the Communications and Control Unit (CCU) to the station, as well as the first Pressurized Mating Adapter, and other important pieces of hardware that will be crucial for when the station begins continuous habitation. The CCU is a large block that will house comms equipment, as well as very large gyroscopes to help control the station’s orientation. Challenger arrives at the launchpad on September 18th, and the CCU is loaded into the payload bay on the 22nd. The crew runs through the rehearsals on the 24th, and then the big day comes on the 28th, when Challenger and a crew of 7 lift off into cloudy morning skies, heading for Space Station Harmony. The launch is rather uneventful, as Challenger’s 32nd launch into orbit goes smoothly. The crew takes about 24 hours to reach Harmony in orbit, after which they begin docking operations as they near the station. The docking is somewhat precarious, as Challenger had to first install the Pressurized Mating Adapter (PMA) port while in close proximity to the Supermodule, after which the Shuttle could back up and re-approach for a docking similar to how it docked to Skylab, only with the new style of androgynous docking port. Once this is completed, the crew of Challenger are the first to enter the vast spaces of the Supermodule. Since the Supermodule was launched on such a large rocket, most of its interior is already fitted out, save for a few bits that need to be installed such as the payload racks and whatnot. Therefore, the crew already have access to much better sleeping and hygiene areas than on the Space Shuttle, as the Supermodule has a fully functioning shower much like Skylab in addition to private sleeping areas. The next day, the crew spent their time preparing for the installation of the Comms and Control Unit, as they perform a 6-hour spacewalk installing electronics on the outside of the Supermodule. Flight Day 5 sees the CCU finally connected to the station through a rather wonky procedure, as Challenger’s modified Canadarm separates from the Shuttle, attaches to the station, and lifts the CCU out of the Shuttle payload bay and atop the Supermodule. The next two days are spent tidying up work and outfitting the station with more equipment. On Flight Day 9, Challenger undocks from a now operational Space Station Harmony, leaving its modified Canadarm behind as a temporary measure until the much more advanced permanent system for Harmony arrives in 2001. Challenger lands safely at Edwards Air Force Base the next day, concluding the first Shuttle mission to the station. The next mission carries supplies as well as the MPCS to begin continuous habitation of Harmony. Atlantis launches with a crew of 7, leaving three of them on station. 3 astronauts will be the initial expedition size, increasing back to the Skylab size of 5 astronauts once the station is more established. The next module to be launched is actually two of them, ESA’s Ariane 5 rocket launches the Twin Modules in January 2000 as the new millennium kicks off, which are a set of two identical laboratories that are connected to two of the forward berthing ports on the Supermodule. They are one of ESA’s primary contributions outside of the MPCS and will house more specialized equipment for research. Following the arrival of the Twin Modules, Space Shuttle Discovery visits the station for the first time in April 2000, carrying the first of the four large solar arrays that the station will eventually have. This one is installed atop the CCU, where it has a berthing port. This is a temporary location, and it will be relocated once the truss is fully built and the inner solar array it will be attached to arrives. The deployment of this solar array greatly increases the power output of the station and prepares it for the next phase of assembly. In August of 2000, Columbia launches to Harmony carrying the CORE Truss segment, the CORE segment, as the name suggests, is the centerpiece and core of the Integrated Truss Structure for Space Station Harmony. It is mounted atop the Supermodule on a piece delivered by Challenger on that first Shuttle visit. The segment itself is nothing too notable, but it does mark the beginning of a very important part of Harmony’s assembly. More notable arrivals occur next, as Challenger returns to the station in February 2001 to both collect its old Canadarm and bring the new Canadarm2, which is a much more advanced and somewhat larger version of the Shuttle’s Canadarm. For now, it will walk around the station utilizing the Power/Data fixtures until the next arrival. Atlantis launches on STS-144 in July 2001 bringing the Mobile Base System which is a rail-based system that will allow the Canadarm to move from one end of Harmony’s truss to the other when fully completed. For now, it will only allow more limited movement as the CORE truss is the only segment on the station, but this ability will be critical for relocating the Starboard Array 2 that currently sits atop the CCU. Completing this phase of assembly is the delivery of the Curiosity Module by Columbia in October 2001, which is arranged on the forward part of the Supermodule, meaning the Shuttle will now dock to the Curiosity module. It is around this time, though, that NASA’s funding goes into a mild crisis. President Gore has continually protected NASA due to his belief in the value of its programs for science and protecting Earth’s climate, but NASA requests an additional 3 billion dollars in its budget for 2002, totaling 39.7 billion dollars in today’s money for 2002 total funding. NASA needs every dollar, though. The agency is offloading many costs through commercial programs for Orpheus’ crew vehicle and at last a replacement for the aging and unnecessarily large ALSM lander. Magellan is less of a factor here as it only needs a tanker flight for the MMETV, the two MSVs, and the Shuttle launch for the next mission to Mars, but the price is still quite high as the program is what Congress now likes to call “non-frequent”. At this time NASA’s RLV program is finally kicking into gear as well as the sub-scale Lockheed X-33 is performing atmospheric landing tests similar to the Space Shuttle’s in the 1970s. Couple this with the few probe missions and a handful of Earth-based science missions that NASA funds each year, and every single bit of funding is crucial. NASA though, as mentioned, has a powerful lobby in Congress, headed by President Gore. It supports hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country, and the bigger its operations are, the more money it contributes to the economy, and the less the budget crushers in Congress can complain about the agency. NASA learned to play the political game back in the 70s and 80s, and it’s not an agency to be messed with in terms of its funding. NASA also gets frequent support from the DoD on budget matters, as the two work closely together on many projects, especially nuclear power in space. So, with that powerful lobby in mind and NASA’s plentiful reasons for needing its funding, they manage to win the battle for an extra 3 billion dollars, slated for funding Harmony and keeping several Earth-science projects afloat. Harmony assembly continues in January 2002, as the second Pressurized Mating Adapter is delivered to the station by STS-149 and Space Shuttle Discovery. This additional PMA will allow NASA to forego the previous undocked shenanigans to install certain elements that need to be positioned where the Shuttle is docked, which is much more difficult and risky. Following this in May is Challenger's delivery of the Quest Airlock. The Quest Airlock allows for EVAs to finally be done on the station without requiring a Shuttle to be present so that the astronauts can use its external airlock. This is one of the “Critical Independence” components, as they are essential to the station’s continual function in orbit by itself without the presence of the Shuttle. At this point, Harmony only relies on the Space Shuttle for periodic boosting of its orbit, in the same way Skylab relied on it in that way after the Apollo spacecraft’s retirement. Harmony will eventually receive boost modules so that it can boost its orbit, but that is a later-phase addition. Work on this fourth phase of assembly is continued with the launch of the S1 Truss in July and then the P1 truss in September. The S1 truss is the 1st truss on the starboard (right) side of the CORE Truss, and thus the name. The same goes for the P1 truss, it is the first on the port (left) side of it. These truss segments are not simply just trusses though, not only do they extend the rail for the Mobile Base System, but they also carry the massive triple radiators that will be critical for the station’s thermal management as it grows larger and larger. These radiators are more advanced and modern versions of the ones attached to Skylab’s truss. Columbia then launches to the station in October, delivering supplies and several internal components, and NASA declares that the fourth phase of Harmony’s assembly is completed upon her return to Earth. Phase 5 begins in earnest at the beginning of 2003, as Atlantis delivers the S2 truss in February. The S2 Truss is a more unusual piece, as it is mainly an adapter from the semi-hexagonal shape of the central three trusses to the fully hexagonal shape of the rotating joint base of the inner solar array that has yet to be delivered. The S2 will also be the mounting point for the propulsion modules and external carrier racks as well. In May of 2003, Columbia delivers Starboard Array 1. This array is different from Array 1 as it sits on a rotating joint that allows it to track the sun in two dimensions, with the solar arrays themselves being able to rotate. When Starboard Array 2 is relocated to the end of Array 1 it will be rotated as well by this joint. Array 2’s starboard panel, however, is retracted and deactivated after Columbia leaves the station to allow Array 1 to rotate freely without a potential collision between the two arrays. This leaves the station in a rather odd configuration for the time being, with 3 deployed solar arrays (not counting the 2 arrays on the Supermodule). The next addition is not a contribution from the United States, it’s not even launched by the Shuttle. It is the UK’s big contribution to the station, the UK Lab. This module has a rather interesting story that is worth telling. The UK Space Agency has always played second fiddle in Europe to ESA. Still, they are a major source of national pride for the UK, a country that has seen its global influence significantly reduced since World War II's end. The UK’s efforts in space, similar to the US, unite the country and within the halls of Parliament it is generally a well-supported government endeavour. However, the UK Lab is quite large, and the even larger US Supermodule is part of the station, which led to many of the more fiscally minded MPs in the British government questioning why such a large module is being contributed when a much more modest and specialized module could be contributed. However, the UKSA has made it very clear that they want independent access to space for Britain. Even more members of Parliament have argued that the British could take advantage of a burgeoning private spaceflight industry and that the UK Lab should be large enough for the UK to be able to bring up private scientists and maybe even tourists to bankroll other projects. This, of course, led to a bunch of “spirited debate” in Parliament, but ultimately the UK Lab was ever so slightly downsized in a compromise that left everyone just a little bit upset, but preserved the independent on-station capabilities of the British. In a somewhat painful moment for British pride, however, because the UK Lab is so large, the British Comet rockets cannot lift it into orbit. Britain’s largest rocket at this point is Comet 3A, which can carry about 8 tons to orbit if you push it. But, thankfully, the UK did collaborate with ESA on developing the Ariane 5 rocket, in fact, due to British experiences with Comet, many of the components of Ariane 5’s SRBs are made in the UK. This collaboration has so far been very helpful, allowing Britain to avoid the expense of developing a larger launch vehicle, and it has enabled a proper UK contribution to Space Station Harmony. Ariane 5 launches the UK Lab and its US-built orbital tug into orbit on August 15th, 2003, and it reaches the station on August 17th, when it is grabbed by the Canadarm 2, and berthed to the station. The UK Lab is officially the heaviest object ever moved by the Canadarm 1 or 2, weighing 18 tons in its launch configuration. PMA 2 is relocated to the nadir (earth-facing) port of the UK lab a few days later on the 22nd. The Space Shuttle comes back into the picture a month later in September. Discovery launches to the station carrying the P2 truss, the equivalent of the S2 truss, just for the port side. A few weeks later in October, Challenger lifts off with Port Array 1, attaching it to the station 2 days after arriving at the station, on October 29th. With the attachment of the port array, Starboard Array 2, still atop the CCU, is fully retracted and inactive. It stays this way for about a month, until early December when the capabilities of the Mobile Base System are put to the test, and the entire array is relocated to the end of Starboard Array 1. The Mobile Base System travels with the Canadarm2 and the array to the starboard side of the truss, and the array is successfully relocated on December 3rd, 2003. The arrays are then slowly unfolded the next day, completing the process of relocation. This asymmetrical look of two arrays on one side and a single on the other is not lost on NASA, and side-by-sides of Skylab and Harmony are published on NASA’s now somewhat navigable website. The next phase of assembly, though, is quite intensive. Slated next is the assembly of the Japanese Experiment Module, which will require 3 separate Shuttle launches to fully assemble. The JEM module is very very unique, and it is the crown jewel of Japan’s many contributions to the station. JEM will have an exposed platform and its own smaller version of the Canadarm2, which will allow modular exposed experiment pallets to be connected and exposed to the environment of outer space for however long is desired, and then returned by the Shuttle to Earth for evaluation, or just simply monitored from the station. The JEM module will also have its “hat”, which is a short cylindrical module intended to store equipment and other necessary things for the JEM module and other parts of the station. First, however, NASA is ready to complete Harmony’s truss. In March 2004, Discovery launches to the station, carrying Port Array 2. With its installation and deployment on March 10th to the 11th, the highly complex Integrated Truss Structure (ITS) has finally been completed. The truss structure would not have been possible without the unique capabilities of the Space Shuttle, and it is a testament to what the vehicle is capable of, even now in the twilight of its career. The old Shuttles are still far from done, though, they will complete the station from here, and they have their work cut out for them. Harmony won’t be complete without many small and seemingly insignificant but essential components. One of these is important for guaranteeing Harmony’s independence from the Shuttle, these are the Propulsion Units. They are two moderately sized containers that attach to connector ports on the aft of the S2 and P2 trusses. They have several small RCS thrusters that can control the attitude of the station, but they primarily serve the purpose of allowing Harmony to boost its orbit. The Space Shuttle is currently the only method of boosting the station, and Harmony having its own refuelable propulsion units will allow the station to stay in orbit as long as there is a method of getting more fuel into orbit to keep the PUs topped off. Both of these propulsion units are launched by Atlantis on STS-164 in August 2004. They’re attached to the S2 and P2 trusses by the Canadarm, and then a spacewalk by astronauts Duane Carey and Scott Kelly attaches necessary electrical components and other hardware that fully integrates the propulsion units with the station. Atlantis departs the station on August 30th, and a few days later on September 4th, they perform their first-ever reboost of Harmony’s orbit (the Supermodule has thrusters that performed slight boosts from 1999-2002 but they are no longer used for that purpose). Just a few weeks later, Discovery delivers PMA 3 and supplies to the station, meaning all of the Pressurized Mating Adapters have been installed on the station, allowing for the maximum amount of docked vessels at last. The main part of this assembly phase begins in earnest in December 2004, as Columbia launches on STS-166 with the Pressurized Module and its Remote Manipulator System (RMS) for the Japanese Experiment Module, which is nicknamed Kibō, the Japanese word for hope. The module will only be partially operable for now, but it can be outfitted and worked in without the logistics module and the external platform. The next component of the JEM, the Logistics Module, is launched by Challenger in February 2005. Challenger also carries several other bits on this mission, a second communications dish for the CCU, and the first two External Logistics Carriers. These carriers are capable of carrying scientific or engineering payloads like the JEM external platform, but they can also carry hardware for spacewalks and other station equipment. 4 of them in total will be brought to the station, but this first one was ready in time to be launched with the JEM logistics modules. Kibo is completed with the launch of Discovery with the External Experiment Platform on STS-169 in June 2005. Discovery also carries a litany of external payloads that will be the first ones attached to the platform. The platform is fully set up as Discovery departs on June 19th, and Phase 7 of Harmony’s assembly is complete, the penultimate phase. The final phase, Phase 8, is simply outfitting the station and preparing it for its “Core Complete” status, which is the station fully complete to its 1996 specification. However, there is one more module… JEM may be the crown jewel of Japan’s contributions to the station, but one could easily make an argument for this module instead: the Centrifuge Accommodations Module. This module carries a large centrifuge at its aft, which is capable of exposing experiments to up to 2g of gravity. It was originally considered to put a large centrifuge in the Supermodule, but this was ultimately moved to a special module built by Japan, as the Supermodule was moved more towards living and general working space. The module is launched by Atlantis on November 10th, 2005 on STS-171, and it is the last pressurized element of the station, meaning Harmony has reached its complete habitable volume! With this major milestone, the next Shuttle mission is performed by Columbia, and it carries supplies and another External Logistics Carrier to the station in January 2006. STS-173 is then the final mission of Space Station Harmony’s assembly. Challenger launches in March 2006 carrying the last External Logistics Carrier to the station, and several spacewalks are performed outfitting the station to be fully ready for operations. Harmony’s “Core Complete” mission will now extend another decade, until at least 2016, but the station is in good enough shape to go well beyond that. It cannot be overstated the international contribution to Project Harmony, the official NASA name for the station’s development. NASA simply would not have had the funding or the schedule necessary to develop all of the pressurized modules and components for the station, and they would’ve had to resort to a much smaller design with similar capabilities to Skylab’s orbital workshop. Still, Space Station Harmony, through 15 years of full development and assembly, cost roughly 120 billion dollars adjusted for inflation. Running a Mars, Moon, and new spacecraft program alongside this was extremely straining on NASA’s budget, and things like interplanetary spacecraft suffered greatly due to the focus on human spaceflight. Japan, though, picked up the slack, launching two missions to Venus and Mercury, respectively. Japan is also now collaborating with NASA on a Galileo follow-up mission to Jupiter, and there are finally plans to make a mission to succeed Iapyx orbiting Saturn, which has now been part of Saturn itself for 10 years by the time Harmony is completed. The Shuttle, too, gave the last of its might to complete Harmony. Following STS-173, just five flights remain on the manifest, what NASA is calling the “loose ends” campaign that will see the Shuttle service Hubble a final time, and resupply and rotate the crew of Harmony a few times as well as performing a breakthrough radar topography mission. But, of course, the next generation is well on its way, and as Harmony is being completed, and the Shuttles are preparing for their victory lap and retirement, their much-anticipated successor is getting up and going… Bonus Tape Two: The Reusable Launch Vehicle, is next.

The forums are back at last! I still plan to release the Bonus Tapes and I've taken the time the forums have been down to make considerable progress on them, Tape One will be coming soon!

I may show back up eventually with a new project, probably smaller and more focused. I won't rule it out because I loved writing One Giant Leap and I love spaceflight history.

Funny you mention that! The narrative is over, but I plan to make the "OGL Bonus Tapes" that will cover some of the things that were too into the future to be seen in the story's timeline! Keep an eye out for those. They won't be anything major, but they will cover some notable missions and moments!

The Grand Finale As they hurdle towards Mars, the astronauts of Magellan 2 have become instant heroes for America and the rest of the world. They have been interviewed dozens of times during their journey, pushing the limit of NASA’s communication technology. Not only was their schedule busy with interviews, they spent a lot of time logging their activity in deep space, as this was the first time humans had ever gone beyond Earth’s sphere of influence. Radiation levels were very carefully monitored, as well as the internal and external temperatures of the MMETV. While these experiments were proving immensely valuable, there were still concerns about how the astronaut’s mental state would be maintained in deep space. NASA had done several mock missions of a year in length throughout the 80s, but nothing, not even 200 days on Skylab, could compare to the utter isolation with no chance of rescue that these astronauts were facing on their way to Mars. There were many many unknowns, and they could only be answered during the flight. Four individuals living in a confined space for a 3-year mission, and they would not get to walk normally on their own feet for nearly a year. NASA decided that each astronaut should have a call with a therapist 2-3 times a month in their enclosed quarters, another addition to improve their mental health. As mentioned, things like enclosed quarters were added to the MMETV to give the astronauts some semblance of privacy and comfort. The MMETV habitat is comparable in size to Skylab’s orbital workshop, which allows for many larger amenities and living spaces. NASA consulted with dozens of psychologists to help design the habitat’s interior, as well as the interior of the surface habitat. They wanted the same functionality, but to also provide a stress-free environment for the astronauts. NASA also decided to let the astronauts bring more personal items than usual, as they figured it would help them during the mission. NASA also worked with many of the same entertainment companies they worked with for Skylab to make CDs and CD players that were more hardened for long-term spaceflight. These would carry music, movies, and TV shows for the astronauts to watch when they had more free time, which they would on these missions where there was less research to do. Space movies and interior design aside, the mission was critical for researching Mars, as well. The rover is expected to travel over 5,000 miles (~8000km) of Martian terrain during the 9-month surface stay, and the MSV had to be designed to carry nearly 800 pounds of samples with the astronauts back to the MMETV. The astronauts were trained to utilize very specialized equipment to perform chemical analysis of the Martian soil and atmosphere, as well as to take deep core samples of the Martian crust. All of this equipment was loaded into the MMETV hab before launch, as the supply module is mainly rations, other supplies, and personal items for the astronauts. They are then to be carefully loaded into the Descent Vehicle, and stored on its lower deck. Some instruments will be left behind as they will be used by future missions, but others will be returned to Earth to be broken apart and to see how Mars treated them. NASA was also planning to bring several cultures of bacteria on the mission and see how they handled the Martian environment, but this was ultimately cut for concerns of them “contaminating” the planet. With that out of the way, Magellan 2’s MMETV enters the SOI of Mars on September 5th, 1997. The braking maneuver will take place over about 25 minutes, before, through, and after periapsis. The goal is to insert into a 300x300 km orbit around Mars. This orbit is low enough to be easy to descend and ascend from, but high enough to require less stationkeeping. The Descent Vehicle successfully inserted itself and the Ascent Vehicle into this orbit, and they are now waiting for the MMETV to enter orbit before separating and going their separate ways. On September 7th, controllers in Houston wait patiently for the beginning of the braking maneuver. The astronauts are strapped in with pressure suits for this maneuver in the forward area of the habitat, out of maximum safety precaution. As with Magellan 1, the boiloff of the liquid hydrogen propellant was carefully monitored, and much of the power from the MMETV’s large solar panels goes toward the active cooling systems and the radiators. This power usage though, has paid off as the tanks have remained well within the allowable boiloff, leaving plenty of fuel with the expected boiloff rate for the rest of the mission. While the thought of constantly losing fuel to the Sun is enough to worry some people, it doesn’t have an impact on the braking maneuver, as it begins right on time, and carries right on through to the end. Controllers are dead silent throughout the entire maneuver, as the press patiently waits outside. Once shutoff is confirmed, the celebration begins, as humans are now in orbit of another planet for the first time ever. The astronauts, although they won’t be on the red planet for another 3 months, at least get the change of scenery seeing it below them through the windows, instead of the nothingness of interplanetary space. They spend those 3 months conducting orbital photography and using mapping devices mounted to the exterior of the MMETV. It is a mostly equatorial orbit, but so is their landing location, so they get a good view of the sight dozens of times. Over these three months, the rest of the cavalry arrive and land on the surface. The habitat lands first, plopping down in the foothills on a mostly flat area north of Valles Marineris. NASA selected this area for its proximity to the famous valley, and its interesting geology as indicated by the orbiters sent to the planet. Speaking of those, they will be essential communication relays between Earth and the astronauts on the surface of Mars. When on the surface, the astronauts will be very busy each day, performing outside activities, doing research in the habitat, and building out some small infrastructure for future missions. Speaking of that, NASA has decided that this new base on Mars will be named in honor of the first man to step foot on another celestial body. It shall be called Armstrong Base. Neil Armstrong was at the ceremony where his name was unveiled on a model of the habitat a few months ago, as it was kept a secret during assembly and launch. The astronauts will also be laying a plaque on the surface, dedicated to the astronauts, American and Soviet, that have been lost. They are also represented by the stars in the bottom left of the Magellan patch. The big day finally comes after the New Year's celebrations. CNN, CBS, ABC, and every single possible news station in America, is broadcasting a live feed of Mission Control. Despite some claiming there would be little interest, they are quickly proven wrong, as over 180 million Americans tune in, and with much greater access to live media now than in 1969, Magellan 2’s landing coverage smashes Apollo 11’s record, with nearly 950 million viewers worldwide. The four astronauts transfer themselves into the Descent Vehicle, loading all of their equipment over an hour or so. After all of their equipment is loaded, they help strap each other in, and begin powering up the Descent Vehicle. After another hour, they undock from the MMETV at Martian sunset. They orbit the planet twice, to gain sufficient distance from the MMETV, before the descent orbit is reached. When that fateful orbit begins, Houston holds the most important poll it's ever had to perform. All is well, and both Mission Control and the astronauts are GO for landing on Mars. The four engines of the Descent Vehicle fire up as they cross into daylight, firing for about 45 seconds before shutting off. After which, Eileen Collins pulls a lever that initiates the deployment of the inflatable heatshield. This is a critical component that was demonstrated successfully with the landings of the Ascent Vehicle, Habitat, and EERM, but now it faces its most important test. The heatshield deploys successfully, and the Descent Vehicle rips through the Martian atmosphere, with now over a billion people across the world watching, who are still seeing a 14-minute-old feed due to the communications delay. This is the most difficult part of the landing, the astronauts have to do it entirely themselves, and they will not be able to communicate with Mission Control until they land. All four astronauts have trained for this, and they are now acting on those instincts they have acquired in the past four years of training. After re-entry, the heatshield is ejected by a series of solid rocket motors that propel the heatshield forward and out of the way. The Descent Vehicle’s engines then light up again to bleed off the remaining velocity so that the parachutes can be safely deployed. At 5 kilometers up, the first drag chutes are deployed, and the Descent Vehicle switches to running on two of its engines. These first drag chutes are deployed until 1.5km, at which point they are cut and the engines throttle up momentarily as the main parachutes are released and unfurled. The engines throttle back down, and the Descent Vehicle coasts gently to the surface under three large parachutes. At this point, Mission Control is watching the latter part of re-entry, knowing that the astronauts are actually nearly to the surface. It is a tense time, they know it is entirely up to the astronauts to address problems now, and Mission Control can do nothing to help them. Nevertheless, at 100 meters, the parachutes are released, and the engines throttle up to complete the final phase of landing. It’s now or never, as Eileen Collins carefully watches through her landing cameras to guide herself and her fellow astronauts onto the surface of the red planet. 75. 50. 25. 15. 10. 5. CONTACT. The engines shut off instantly, and the crew hold their breath. The creaking of the landing legs stabilizing stops, and they look out their window to see Martian hills in the distance. They’re speechless, but Collins manages to get herself together and turns on the radio to send home a message. “Houston… Magellan… we’ve uh… made it to Mars. Magellan has landed.” It takes this message 14 minutes to reach Earth, but when it does, Mission Control erupts with cheers and applause like it never has before. The press outside join in as well, the whole world does. For the first time ever, humans are landed on the surface of another planet. At this point, the astronaut's procedure is to wait for Mission Control’s reply, which will give them the go-ahead to begin their first EVA. It comes 15 minutes and 32 seconds later, with CAPCOM Bill McArthur’s voice nearly drowned out by the celebrations. “We hear you loud and clear from 15 minutes ago, Magellan. You’re clear to proceed with your operations. Check-in by 60 minutes.” By tradition, Commander Bob Cabana would be the first onto the surface. However, he decides that Eileen, having piloted all of them to the surface safely, should get the honor of being the first human being to set foot on another planet. With that, Eileen Collins will make history. All of the astronauts get suited up, the new Martian EMUs are a deep blue to help themselves be more visible amongst the rusty orange and hazy grey of Mars. Their first EVA will be a short 350 meter walk to the Habitat where the EERM rover was autonomously parked. They will retrieve the rover to help them unload cargo from the Descent Vehicle, which is packed heavily on its lower decks with everything they’ll need. But of course, like Apollo 11, this isn’t about that. It’s about the symbolism, This is about Eileen’s Step. Eileen Collins would open the Descent Vehicle’s hatch 2 and a half hours after landing. She looks out amongst what could only be described as a windswept plain, hills on each side. She attaches her harness to the ladder steps down the side of the Descent Vehicle, and starts her way down. Cabana flicks a switch in the cabin that unfolds the landing leg ladder that will bring her down to the surface. She steadily climbs, one rung at a time. At the final rung, Collins takes a moment to reflect. Her next step is one for the history book. “Alright, well… Houston I’m on the last rung, and I must say I’ve never seen anything like this place. There’s only so much training in the desert and on Arctic Islands that can prepare you for what this place is like. It’s truly alien to me.” “Guess I can’t keep you all back on Earth waiting any longer. I’m stepping off now.” “...” “I guess I’m not as good with words as Neil was, but I can tell you, that step meant more to me than any other I’ve ever taken.” “Today we’ve accomplished the dream of countless generations. I’m sure Carl [Sagan] would be thrilled to see us accomplish this. I hope those Apollo 11 guys don’t mind us one-upping them either.” As the rest of the Magellan 2 crew reach the surface and deliver their own remarks, they have cemented themselves as heroes, and as icons of space exploration. But their story is just the beginning of Martian exploration, and it is the culmination of the past 40 years. NASA now operates a base on the Moon, a fleet of reusable Shuttles, and is capable of sending people to Mars. The agency has become a testament to what humans can do when we dedicate ourselves to peaceful avenues of exploration, and what our minds can achieve. The world has faced tragedy, and hardship, in the past 40 years, but space exploration has remained a shining beacon of hope for better days. Eileen, Bob, Greg, and Linda would return to Earth on September 1st, 1999. With Space Shuttle Discovery landing them safely at the KSC. In their time away, NASA began assembling the Harmony space station, the successor to Skylab, and the largest multinational engineering project in history. The Soviet Federative Republic would dissolve into new democratic states, including a democratic Russian Federation. The X-33, the forerunner to VentureStar and the next generation of reusable launch vehicles, was now being built, the Shuttles were redeeming themselves in the twilight of their careers, flying regularly to service Hubble, launch research satellites, and assemble the Harmony space station. They were for so many years the great protagonist, but their story, like many, is just one woven into a complex and multi-faceted timeline that has ushered humanity into the Age of Exploration. President Al Gore would be present at the return of the Magellan 2 crew, and he would declare space exploration as one of his administration’s priorities, alongside pursuing environmental safety public welfare. Present also was George H.W. Bush, the man who kept Magellan on the good side of Congress through political maneuvering and consistent campaigning in its favor. Politics and space exploration are interwoven, but it wouldn’t truly be possible without the tens of thousands of men and women who dedicated their lives to advancing technology, to living on the edge of what is known to be possible, and to making great sacrifices for the pursuit of scientific knowledge. This story isn’t meant to be a simple what-if, it’s a showcase of what we can truly achieve as humanity, even through Cold War rivalry and political infighting, we can unite behind the cause of space exploration, the cause of scientific achievement, the cause of building a better world for everyone to live in. This was the first story I’ve ever written, and it’s taken me nearly three years to finish, but it’s taught me so much about how to creatively express myself, how to learn from other creative people, and how to make something you’re proud of. Thank you. Thank you for the support, the kindness, and the words of encouragement. You have been reading One Giant Leap: An Alternate History of Space Exploration.

The Finale is coming! OGL will be wrapping up with the next part. I know I've taken a long hiatus but I've taken some time to reflect on the story and where it needs to end, and I've decided it will be wrapped up neatly with the first human landing on Mars, with the finale coming very soon. Thank you for all of the support over the past two and a half years, it means a lot.

Albert and the Martians “Breaking news from the CNN Election Headquarters. It is currently 10:14 PM and we can finally call it: Al Gore has WON the Presidency; he has reached 270 electoral votes with a victory in Illinois at 100% of the vote in. He is now the first Democratic candidate to be elected to the Presidency since Jimmy Carter in 1976, ending the Reagan-Bush streak of Republican control of the White House.” On Tuesday, November 5th, 1996, Al Gore won the Presidency over Republican candidate Bob Dole. He won the country's vote by campaigning on a staunch platform of addressing social and economic issues, alongside pushing forward science and technology. Gore’s victory though, despite it being the first blue victory since 1976, was not the talk of the country for very long. As four astronauts were preparing to go further than any human had ever gone. They were going to Mars. Robert Cabana, Eileen Collins, Greg Harbaugh, and Linda Godwin are awoken at 5:00 AM on December 2nd to prepare for their launch at 10:00 AM. Space Shuttle Atlantis sits at LC-39A, having been undergoing fueling for the past 3 hours in preparation for launch. Atlantis will launch the crew alongside the two pilots of the Shuttle (John Casper and Llyod Hammond) into orbit, and then perform a rendezvous and docking with the MMETV that sits in orbit now. But this was just one part of a 7-launch marathon to get everything for the first human mission to Mars into space and on its way to the red planet. It began on November 23rd, with the launch of the first half of the MMETV aboard a Jupiter 524-A at 4:26 AM. Following that, the second half was launched on November 28th at 1:17 PM. The two halves then met in orbit and docked together, forming the complete, fully fueled MMETV. Then, on December 1st, the day before the crew's launch, the “MSVs” (Mars Surface Vehicles, the Ascent and Descent Vehicles respectively) were launched together on a Jupiter 544-A, the heaviest variant of the SDLS rockets. The two are launched docked together, with Jupiter’s second stage propelling them to Mars, and then with the Descent Vehicle performing orbital insertion, as it only has to descend to the surface and has greater propellant margins. They will deploy their solar panels and radiators and operate on low power mode until they reach Mars in August of next year, just before the MMETV. That brings us to the morning of December 2nd. At 7:30 AM, the crew reach the launchpad and head up the elevator to board the Shuttle. This will be the last 2 and a half hours they are on Earth until they return in three years. The crew are strapped in by 8:00 AM and ready for launch. Final preparations occur over the next two hours until the crew access arm retracts and the last few minutes of the countdown begin. Upon reaching orbit, Atlantis makes a first OMS maneuver to set up a rendezvous with the MMETV. The catch-up takes about 8 hours, with Atlantis then moving in to dock with the forward port of the MMETV. These docking ports are the first functional flight variants of the IHDS docking port that will be used on Space Station Harmony, and there is no better mission to test them than on Magellan 2. After a successful docking, the crew all work together to move supplies from Spacelab II into the MMETV hab. About half of the supplies and equipment are being brought up on the Shuttle, while the rest will be in the dedicated supply module that is to be launched aboard a Titan IV in a couple of days. Skylab played an essential role in determining the mass and volume of food and water needed for an entire 3-year round trip to Mars; the 200-day missions total supply amount based on crew diets was extrapolated out and adjusted for the additional exercise and work that the Magellan astronauts will be undertaking. With all of the supplies offloaded from the Shuttle, a video conference is held with NASA Administrator Ken Mattingly and outgoing President George H.W. Bush. Although Reagan initiated the Magellan program, HW has seen it through its development and first two missions and has fought hard every fiscal year for the program to get the funding it requires. He has only a few words at this press conference, but he uses them to express his gratitude towards NASA, his appreciation of the Magellan program, and his hope that it will be part of his lasting legacy as President. Pleasantries out of the way, the Shuttle crew return to Atlantis and begin undocking and departure from the MMETV. Atlantis lands the next morning at the KSC and is shuffled back into the OPF for maintenance over Christmas and the New Year. The MMETV crew wait 2 more days in orbit, getting accustomed to their home for the next 9 months. Then, on December 4th, Titan IV rips off the launchpad at SLC-41 carrying the Supply Module. 12 hours after launch, the Supply Module reaches the MMETV and docks on the forward IDHS port. 24 hours pass as the crew continues to get comfortable inside the Habitat, and then, the next night, preparations begin for the most important operation to this point. Trans-Martian Injection. This maneuver has been calculated by computers the size of a room multiple times over the past couple of years. It is the most efficient trajectory to Mars available in the 1996 transfer window and will give the MMETV the most fuel for orbital insertion and return to Earth. At 8:49 PM on December 5th, the seven nuclear thermal rocket motors of the MMETV start up and begin the 16-minute burn to send 4 astronauts on a mission to Mars. 16 tense minutes pass, controllers sit idle in their chairs, watching in utter silence as the velocity graph steadily follows the pre-determined outline on the main screen of the Mission Control room. ABC, CBS, and CNN have cameras in the room as the event is broadcast live on television to millions of Americans. The astronauts sit with their suits on in the forward flight chairs as the slow 960 seconds pass. But eventually, the motors shut off, and Houston erupts in cheers and applause. A nominal trajectory is confirmed, and Bob Cabana, Eileen Collins, Linda Godwin, and Greg Harbaugh are on their way to Mars. Three days later, they become the first humans to leave Earth's sphere of influence and the first humans to enter interplanetary space. Over these three days, the final two chapters of Magellan 2’s departure from Earth are completed. On December 6th, the Magellan Habitat is launched aboard a Jupiter rocket on a faster but less efficient trajectory. Following this, on December 8th, as the MMETV leaves the Earth-Moon system, the EERM rover, adapted for operations on Mars, is launched aboard another Jupiter rocket on a similar fast but less efficient trajectory to Mars. The habitat and rover will be the first spacecrafts to perform aerobraking at Mars to minimize the propellant needed for orbit insertion. With Magellan 2 now on its way to Mars, 1997 begins with the ball drop in Times Square. A few weeks into the year, on January 20th, Al Gore takes the Oath of Office to become the 42nd President of the United States. As humans make their way to another planet for the first time, and a new face in government takes leadership of the country, America looks towards the new century with optimism. A New Era Has Begun.

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

When The World Held Its Breath January 1st, 1988. The inevitable final year of President Reagan's administration is being kicked off under less-than-optimal circumstances. The Polyus satellite -despite the DoD's belief that it has encountered several faults and requires on-orbit repairs- continues to loom overhead, almost taunting the nation and gloating about presumed Soviet superiority. But America doesn't take this lying down, although Polyus has been in orbit for 7 months now, a response is finally ready for flight. As discussed previously, this response is the High Output Carbon Dioxide Orbital Defense or HOCDOD. This satellite is smaller and less powerful than Polyus, but its systems are more advanced and it could still easily take out Polyus. Thus, HOCDOD is an adequate counter to the now-infamous Soviet weapon. Entrusted with its launch is Space Shuttle Discovery, now operating from the West Coast in place of Enterprise, which is preparing for its first launch from the Cape since 1983, carrying the Spacelab-N2 mission. Shortly after it, 2 days later, will launch Challenger with TDRS-G. But the Cape operations aside, Discovery is poised for the first night Shuttle launch from the west coast. The dark skies acting as the perfect cover for this top-secret mission. Onboard will be a small crew of 3 veteran Air Force astronauts, entrusted with one of the most important payloads the Shuttle may very well ever launch. The launch was planned for 4 AM, but a valve leak in the TSM has to be fixed by the ground crew, which delays the launch about 2 hours, to 6 AM, and then, a GSE leak causes another hour and a half delay. But finally, the HBOIs fire off at 7:30 AM, and Discovery takes flight with a spacecraft to match the Soviet's orbital weapon. The Soviets do respond on January 3rd, with a statement that although it does not directly say that Reagan is lying, it is implied by their wording. But in secret, the Soviet higher-ups know he isn't bluffing, Floyd has an eye on Polyus for roughly 65% of its orbit, and the Soviets believe that the US will launch another, meaning that even if Polyus destroys Floyd in a first strike, a second could immediately respond and destroy Polyus. Never mind the fact that Polyus is currently non-functional. They are in check, and all they can do is accept the situation, and finally come to the negotiating table. A summit is scheduled for February 1st in Geneva, but until then, Reagan takes a visit down to Cape Canaveral, to see Enterprise take flight from the Cape for the first time since 1983. This flight, STS-111A, is also known as Spacelab-N2, and it is the second joint US-Japan Spacelab mission. Aboard is Mamoru Mohri, who will be the first Japanese person in space. The research for this mission is primarily focused on research in the Low Earth Orbit environment. But not just that, there is also a set of three telescopes right behind Spacelab, which will be used for astronomy. This action-packed mission kicks off on January 18th, 1988, with Challenger on 39B, awaiting the launch of TDRS-G on January 21st. Sunrise on February 1st, 1988. Handling this heavier topic in this part, in a story that has generally been light-hearted, has not been lost on me. I've tried to write this part with the utmost respect for the 14 people who lost their lives in the Challenger and Columbia tragedies. They should be forever remembered, they were great people who inspired many, and we will not soon forget any of them. Thank you all for reading. Hail Challenger, and Hail Columbia.

I See A Red Moon Rising "My fellow Americans, thank you for joining me tonight. 3 months ago, the Soviet Union performed one of the most provocative, and aggressive moves in the history of spaceflight. By launching a space-based laser weaponry satellite, which they call the Polyus. In these past three months, the Soviet Union has been unwilling to negotiate a deal that would result in the deorbit of the Polyus satellite. Thus, we face a threat to our national security, as well as the largest threat to the peaceful usage of outer space ever seen. I ask you, my fellow Americans, to recognize the reality of the Soviet condition. This is a maneuver orchestrated by the sword-rattling military bureaucrats of the Soviet state, they have resorted to jeopardizing a long agreed-upon peaceful boundary, where our nations can come together peacefully. Aggression of this kind simply will not be tolerated, and I call upon General Secretary Gorbachev to take action, and agree to our terms that ensure the peaceful use of outer space." "We will not allow outer space to become another victim of Soviet aggression, it is the final frontier that is shared by all mankind. It has united us in the darkest of times, it has been the catalyst for peace and prosperity in the modern world. We, all Americans, and all peoples share a vision for the peaceful exploration of the cosmos, and it should not be jeopardized by blatantly provocative acts such as this very one taken by the Soviet Union." "I call upon all Americans, and all peoples, to support our national efforts in space, and the efforts of our allies. And I call upon the Soviet people, to protest this terrible action, to fight for your freedoms and rights that you deserve, for we support you in these trying times." "The United States of America will not be pushed around by tyranny, and if the Soviet Union cannot meet us in the middle, we have no choice but to take defensive actions that we have prepared." "Thank you, goodnight, and God Bless you." We pick up 3 months after the inaugural launch of Energiya, and the deployment of Polyus. It has been a time of rapidly growing tension between the world's two superpowers. What sparked Reagan's address to the nation was that up until the day prior, Polyus had not fired its laser once. That changed on August 15th, when it destroyed a Soviet test satellite launched by Zenit the day prior. Debris scattered across the sky, and even resulted in a NOAA satellite having to divert its trajectory to avoid a cloud of orbital debris. Through the tension and the worry, NASA has been preparing for Orpheus 3, amongst a litany of other activities. Space Shuttle Enterprise has returned to Cape Canaveral after 3 years serving as the West Coast Shuttle, a role that will be fulfilled now until 1990 by Discovery. Enterprise will fly for the first time under NASA insignia since 1983 at the start of next year, with the second joint US-Japan Spacelab mission, Spacelab-N2. Discovery rolls into Vandenberg under darkness on the night of August 26th, with the Air Force insignia now on the side of her payload bay doors. With the launch of Polyus back in May, the DoD has accelerated work on one of their SDI projects, to counter the Soviet weapon. Known primarily by its garbled acronym, the High Output Carbon Dioxide Orbital Defense, or HOCDOD. Many engineers prefer to call it by the name of one of their coworkers who originally envisioned its design, Floyd. Whether you want to call it HOCDOD or Floyd, it is truly a revolutionary spacecraft. Although not as powerful and large as Polyus, it can (effectively) destroy any Soviet spacecraft, including Polyus. Its existence is one of the most closely guarded secrets of the Department of Defense, and it will be the first thing Discovery launches from the West Coast, at the beginning of next year. This silent conflict is not over, and likely won't be for some time. But in the midst of that, there's a mission to the Moon ready to go. Orpheus 3 is another major step, the final mission before the construction of Virgil Base begins (the name was changed in July) and the crews settle down in Amundsen Crater. This mission will be visiting Amundsen Crater, and as discussed previously, scouting out the final location for the base within the crater floor area. Orpheus 3 will also be testing several changes to the mission profile. Which will all be fully implemented for Orpheus 4. The most important of these changes is with ACOV's launch and deployment. Super Centaur will no longer be used, and instead, ACOV will loiter in orbit until the LTV and ALSM are launched. Then it will dock to the ALSM, and be taken to lunar orbit by the LTV. This is seen as a more effective solution, and will also eliminate the safety hazards of Centaur in the Shuttle, and the need to refuel ACOV at Tranquility. Now you may think this leaves America's lunar station in limbo, with its primary purpose obsolete. However, that is not the case, because of another change we will discuss when the time comes. Enough chit-chat though, let's escape from this chaos a little and take a ride to the Moon. September 20th, 1987 "9, 8, We have a GO for Main Engine Start... 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... ZERO." "LIFTOFF OF ATLANTIS, AND THE ORPHEUS 3 MISSION TO THE MOON!" After a successful launch, ACOV is deployed and sent on its way to the Moon. Then, on the foggy morning of September 21st, the ALSM and LTV are launched together. The LTV then boosts itself and the ALSM toward the Moon about 90 minutes after launch. As per usual, both spacecraft arrive in a polar orbit around the Moon just a few hours apart on September 24th. ACOV then performs a successful rendezvous in the early hours of September 25th, docking to the ALSM at 04:00. The crew, consisting of Charles Bolden, Guy Gardner, William Shepherd, and Tamara Jernigan, then transfer themselves into the ALSM, and 2 hours later, begin their descent to Amundsen Crater. "Alright, pitch 'er over." "800 feet." "Landing site acquired. Bit rocky but we can make it work." "We're on the way down, 600 feet. Nominal descent rate." "400 feet." "200." "100." "50." "25." "10." "5." "CONTACT LIGHT." "Shutdown." "Solar arrays out." The EERM, which launched on September 22nd, follows not too far behind. But first things first, the crew goes on EVA to plant the flag and deploy surface instruments. The crew is then allowed a few hours of rest after completing EVA 1. Then, they awaken to begin EVA 2, which is the traditional march to retrieve the EERM. Now only landing 400 meters away! Their brisk walk cut down to 25 minutes, the crew arrives and returns the EERM to the rocky landing site, having to park further away because of this. Their work is mostly confined to exploring Amundsen Crater, rather than doing research. They log geographic features, and on Expedition 7, they finally located the ideal spot for the base. A flat, smooth area 9 km away from the ALSM. It is logged and heavily photographed, the crew then takes their remaining 3 rover expeditions to do some research work around the crater floor. Then on October 20th, the crew make for lunar orbit to rendezvous with ACOV, in a different manner than usual. The descent stage is coming along for a little ride. Tranquility's purpose, from Orpheus 4 onwards, will be to refuel the ALSM and prepare it for another surface mission, making it a reusable lander. This will further decrease the cost of each individual Orpheus mission, and allow for Tranquility and Virgil Base to grow into larger facilities for manned lunar research and exploration. On this mission though, they just want to test out how getting to orbit with the descent stage will work before ditching it. Essentially. the ascent stage's motors will start up after the remaining fuel in the descent stage is depleted, and carry it the rest of the way to orbit. It will still be able to separate for abort and safety purposes, but in a nominal mission case, it will not. Successfully returning back to ACOV, the crew transfer themselves, their samples, and equipment into their spacecraft, before ditching the ALSM's ascent stage. They then rendezvous with Tranquility the next day on October 21st, refueling and then heading back to Earth. Then on October 25th, screaming through the atmosphere, down over the dry lakebed of Edwards Air Force Base, ACOV descends to a landing, concluding another successful mission to the Moon. "50 feet." "25 feet." "Landing motors on." "15." "10." "5." "Touchdown! Welcome home Orpheus 3!" While the crew receives a hero's welcome back in the US, there is a flurry of activity in the deserts of Kazakhstan. The Shuttle's Soviet Cousin has arrived. «У нас есть запуск двигателя-ускорителя!» "Старт корабля ВКК и ракеты "Энергия"!" «Отключение основных двигателей и номинальное отделение «Бурана». Unlike STS-1, this flight is uncrewed and has a primary payload. Where Enterprise just carried some experiments, Buran is delivering its docking module to Mir, without a crew. The Soviets are going all-out to demonstrate the capabilities of their own Space Shuttle and make a message to the world that they haven't gone anywhere. 12 hours later, Buran is approaching the station. Not only was the launch boasted about just hours after reaching orbit, and has spread across world news. But the automated docking to Mir is now being broadcasted live across the world. The Soviets may not be the ones landing on the Moon every year, but they are still making impressive feats of their own. After a day on station, Buran undocks, and returns to land at Baikonur. Trailed by MiG interceptor jets, coming down towards its runway on a gloomy December day, Buran lands back at Baikonur, concluding the first flight of an orbital Soviet spaceplane. The mission sends shockwaves through NASA, it is clear that the Soviets managed to get their hands on the designs of the Space Shuttle. Not only has it been a breach of security, but they have managed to make a vehicle that will bolster their in-space capabilities, and pose an even greater threat to US national security. With the DoD believing that Buran's next flight may be manned, to service a believed fault in the Polyus spacecraft, the time to respond is now. Discovery will launch America's counter-weapon on January 1st. Полностью успешный первый полет 1.01, ожидаем первый пилотируемый полет следующим летом.

This will be fun!