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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

A Subtle Reminder 1987 is, well, it's sleepy. Besides Orpheus 3 at the end of the year, this is a pretty standard 12 months for NASA. Although the importance of Orpheus 3 should not be understated, it is the mission that will scout out Amundsen Crater for the exact location of the upcoming lunar base, which we will talk about shortly. The EERM will be essential for this task, and it will require up to 7 expeditions throughout the planned 25-day surface stay. Once the proper location within the massive crater has been found, ideally close to the permanently shadowed regions which contain water ice, it will be mapped out, surveyed, and will be incorporated into all future planning for the lunar base. Amundsen was chosen as the location for NASA's lunar base because of its (relatively) shallow sides, and very flat crater floor, it also has permanently shadowed regions which, as previously mentioned, are home to considerable amounts of water ice. These favorable characteristics were identified in the early 70s, and since then it has been the #1 choice for NASA. But let's talk about that lunar base. NASA has been "planning" a lunar base since the beginning of Apollo, but a singular design and plan emerged, beginning in 1980. After some delays as Magellan begins to get more and more of the budget for its Martian ambitions, the base is finally a completed design, with funding underneath it and a proper roadmap to its construction laid in front. The base will consist of "common modules" that are linked via pressurized hallways, with each module being outfitted for different purposes. They will be landed by a "sky crane" lander of sorts, the same one that is in the works for the EERM. The base's name has been kept a total secret, for many years at this point. It's a name that has been decided on by both NASA, its Administrator John Young, and the collective Astronaut Corps. But finally, on January 10th, 1987, in a press conference held at Johnson Space Center, the name of America's lunar base is unveiled. Lunar Outpost Virgil In honor of one of the greatest astronauts who ever lived, Virgil "Gus" Grissom, who tragically lost his life in the Apollo 1 disaster. This name pays homage to a man who inspired every astronaut in the Corps today, and a man who John Young himself flew with on the very first crewed Gemini mission over 20 years ago. The name is loved by the public, and NASA further announces that the first module is set to launch in 1988, with Orpheus 4. It is in fact now in assembly at Marshall Space Flight Center and is expected to be delivered to the Cape in the spring of next year. The Space Shuttle gets off to a pretty normal year starting in February, with Columbia delivering a new crew and supplies to Skylab on STS-101A. That mission is also the second in recent years focused on minor refurbishment of the station in its final years, with now under 4 years left until America's space station is de-orbited into the Pacific Ocean. Then in April, the beginning of many joint US-Japan Shuttle flights, Atlantis launches the Sutāraito (Starlight) spacecraft in April. It has been heavily delayed, originally intended to launch in 1984, but it has finally made its way to space. Sutāraito is designed to make observations of star clusters and observe our Sun as well. NASDA remains heavily interested in robotic spacecraft, and potential exploration missions, and they continue to negotiate with NASA on potential joint spacecraft in the coming years. However, in March, just as Enterprise returns from a classified West Coast mission, she is flown back to the Cape just for a little while, to bring all 5 Space Shuttles together as NASA celebrates the 10-year anniversary of STS-1. Reagan gives a speech, as well as John Young, Bob Crippen, and Story Musgrave, who were the crew of that historic test flight. On top of this, the occasion is marked by the opening of the Space Shuttle Pathfinder display at the Smithsonian. The structural test article which performed tests at both Vandenberg and the Cape for the launch sites, and was essential in the development of space-worthy orbiters. It is on display with the prototype Spacelab that was presented to NASA in 1976 by ESA, as well as some components recovered from the S-IC boost stage by a diving expedition. That expedition occurred in 1985, and the Smithsonian scrambled to get them for the display and anniversary celebrations. With some early spring festivities out of the way, NASA settles down for a calm year of Shuttle flights. But meanwhile, it is no standard year for the Soviets. The bear has awakened again. After 10 years of arduous, and costly development, the Soviets have their replacement for the failed N1. This rocket has quite literally taken the Space Shuttle's STS stack, and given it a characteristically Soviet spin, a rocket whose name simply means "Energy" and a rocket that will propel the aspirations of a reforged Soviet Union for the coming decades. All Hail Energiya. But what's scarier, is what it carries on this first flight. In fact, it is so scary, there is an emergency meeting of the top Pentagon and NASA officials alongside President Reagan. A spacecraft carrying a one-megawatt carbon dioxide laser, capable of destroying any US satellite at will. The Soviets call it Polyus, and it has, quite literally, put the US in check. They may not be going to the Moon again anytime soon, but the Soviets are still here, and they're still a threat, and they cannot be ignored any longer. Reagan will get his Star Wars.

Hubbleing, Launching, and Landing The second half of 1986 is set to be one of the busiest in NASA's 28 year history. It is packed with 3 major scientific missions, and the whole Orpheus 2 mission which will take up the first 3 weeks of December. It's not just an important time for NASA either, as the Soviets will launch the second module of Mir, and make final preparations for their most important year of spaceflight since the N1 first took astronauts to the lunar surface in 1970. ESA is also preparing to launch the second Coelus Lab at the start of 1987, upgraded and improved from its original predecessor. For NASA, this busy schedule kicks off with the much anticipated launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis. The venerable Orbiter, once the newest in the fleet but now one of the most experienced, is rolled out to LC-39A on August 10th. Several rehearsals and countdown tests with the crew (consisting of Story Musgrave, Charles Bolden, Bruce McCandless II, Steven Hawley, and Kathryn Sullivan) are performed before Hubble is loaded into the payload bay on August 16th, 4 days before launch. The crew are interviewed by CBS on August 18th, with NASA's own press conference taking place on the 19th. The crew are on the cover of every major American newspaper the morning of launch, as millions tune in from work and school to watch Atlantis take flight with the largest space telescope ever built. "T-12, 11, 10, 9, We have a GO for Main Engine Start." "6, 5, 4, 3, We have 3 engines running, 1..." "Solid Rocket Booster ignition and liftoff! Liftoff of the Shuttle Atlantis and the Hubble Space Telescope, ushering in a new era of space-based astronomy!" Upon reaching orbit, the crew are given a few hours of rest, until they spend the last bit of Flight Day 1 working on experiments brought up with the Shuttle, as well as speaking with President Reagan. Flight Day 2 begins with operations to extend the Canadarm, and deploy Hubble. However, a few minutes in, they quickly run into issues with the Canadarm's primary pivot joint. It appears to be severely jammed, and unable to move further upward. On top of this, the elbow joint appears to have rattled about quite a bit during launch, and has sustained damage, making it inoperable too. The Canadarm is (supposedly) necessary to deploying Hubble, and after several hours of troubleshooting to no avail, the crew and teams on the ground are stuck between a rock and a hard place. The Shuttle isn't balanced to return with Hubble, and the telescope wouldn't take too kindly to it either. Therefore, there is only one viable solution. The latching mechanism holding Hubble in the payload bay will be released, and the Shuttle's RCS will be used to move the Orbiter away from Hubble, allowing it to deploy its solar arrays and power up. The Shuttle will station keep during this process, before moving away following full deployment. So at the start of Flight Day 3, majorly behind schedule, the latches are released, and the Shuttle's RCS begins a ballet to guide Hubble out of the payload bay. With some absolute mastery of the manual controls, and proper assistance from Houston, Hubble is safely deployed and powered up, opening its telescope door for the first time 3 days later, to begin calibration and testing before scientific operations begin at the start of 1987. As Hubble floats free in orbit, Atlantis comes to a stop at Edwards on Runway 22, concluding STS-91G. With Hubble finally in orbit after many years of development, the autumn rush begins to truly kick in, as the final 2 spacecraft of the Mars Collection, and Orpheus 2, are preparing to take flight. These final two spacecraft of the Mars Collection will complete an incredible program, that is paving the way for Magellan and future exploration of the Red Planet. The spacecraft, Hardrada, an exact copy of Erikson, and MaSORN (Mars Sounding Orbital Radar Network) will be launched aboard Jupiter 423-A, and Jupiter 500-A, respectively. Hardrada is up first, and is launched on a chilly Florida night on October 11th, and is successfully boosted on its way to Mars with the TMI maneuver 2 orbits after launch. "Liftoff of the Jupiter rocket and the Hardrada mission to Mars!" Hardrada will arrive at Mars in July 1987, hoping to land on Mars once again, although preferably this time with a working camera. MaSORN follows up this launch on October 26th, 15 days later. This launch is in quite the opposite conditions, it is a humid, warm Florida morning, as Jupiter 500-A rises into the skies on those beautiful nearly transparent hydrogen plumes. "We have liftoff once more of the Jupiter rocket, as another mission to Mars gets underway!" Although spectators left with many mosquito bites, covered in sweat, and maybe a little bit of a sunburn, they were treated to quite the spectacle, and MaSORN is now on its gentle coast towards Mars, slated for an early August arrival at the Red Planet. With these 3 major science missions now in space, the focus is solely on wrapping up the year with Orpheus 2. This will be to an area near the South Pole, but not quite in the geographic area of it, still firmly in the sunlit areas of the surface. Orpheus 2 is also scouting this location as a potential place to set up a robotic outpost, which is one of the potential long term goals of the partnership with the UKSA. It all kicks off on November 26th, as Space Shuttle Challenger takes flight with ACOV once again, with a veteran crew in tow. The 5 crew aboard ACOV are successfully boosted on their way towards the Moon, while Challenger returns 2 days later to land at Kennedy, concluding STS-91H. The next day, on the 27th, a Jupiter 524-A launches the ALSM and accompanying LTV Mk2. ACOV arrives around the Moon on November 29th, with the ALSM arriving the next day on the 30th. Once their orbits are aligned, ACOV sets up for a rendezvous on December 1st. But on the 30th, the EERM is launched aboard a Jupiter 423-A once more, an Orpheus mission simply isn't complete without the lunar chariot for its astronauts. Early in the morning hours of the 1st, the ALSM comes into visual contact with ACOV, docking at 6 AM Eastern, as they move into orbital nighttime. The crew are given 2 hours to rest, before they begin transferring their equipment, and themselves, into the ALSM. Commander John Blaha receives the GO for undocking at 10 AM, and at 11:16, the 2 descent engines of the ALSM fire up, beginning the descent to the lunar surface. Millions watch live, as the 5 astronauts slowly descend to the surface of the Moon, the atmosphere in Houston is calm, but tense. At 1km above the surface, the lander pitches over, and acquires its landing sight about 200m to its northeast. Dancing across the lunar skies, the ALSM gracefully touches down at 11:33, to applause and cheers from Mission Control. 3 hours after landing, Blaha steps foot on the lunar surface, as his fellow astronauts follow behind him. As there is a non-American on this flight, that being Swiss astronaut Claude Nicollier, the flag of both the US and Switzerland is planted at the landing site. EVA 1 is then spent as usual, setting up surface instruments and obtaining some early samples of the surrounding area. Once they are back in the ALSM after 4 hours outside, Nicollier is interviewed by a Swiss television network, which is broadcast back in his home country to his 6 and a half million countrymen. The next day, the crew embark on the same journey as did the crew of Orpheus 1, their glorious march to the landing site of the EERM, which has safely touched down half a kilometer north of them. They are very pleased when they hear of the relatively short distance they must walk, as opposed to the 2 kilometers for the aforementioned Orpheus 1 crew. Reaching their rover after a brisk 30 minute walk, their 6 wheeled chariot carries them back to the landing site, where they complete their work started on EVA 1 by deploying the last surface instruments that remained stowed away. The general Geologic Expedition plan is similar to Orpheus 1, five total trips, each covering roughly 60 kilometers total. Over the span of their 19 day stay, the crew cover a total of 303km in their mighty lunar rover, collecting 500kg of samples, and obtaining valuable data. On top of this, they find a prime location for the previously discussed robotic outpost, located 5 kilometers away from the ALSM's landing site. Data is shared heavily with the UKSA and ESA, the former of which concurs on the prime location discovered. But all lunar missions come to an end, and Orpheus 2 is no exception. After a very bountiful 19 days on the surface, the ALSM makes for orbit to rendezvous with ACOV on December 20th. Arriving just 4 hours later, the crew transfer their samples, equipment, and themselves once again into their spacecraft, and depart from their lander to make for Tranquility to refuel. During the summer lull, Tranquility was in fact refueled by an ALRV vehicle launched aboard a Jupiter 424-A, these hypergolic propellants are happy in the lunar environment, which allows Tranquility to be refueled at practically any time. Refueled and ready to go, ACOV performs its Trans-Earth Injection maneuver, and begins the 4 day coast back to Earth. The crew will arrive home just in time for Christmas. "We have 3 good main chutes." "Feet deployed." "Good start on all landing motors." "Confirmed soft touchdown, we welcome home the crew of Orpheus 2!" With a gentle touchdown on a dry California lakebed, Orpheus 2 is concluded, and so is the year 1986. One of the busiest years in spaceflight for the world as a whole. The rise of a new space station, 5 major scientific missions launching, and major steps taken towards the future of exploration once again. 1987 may not be as action packed, but it is still filled with excitement across the board, especially for a country that is now ever-changing, and facing many dilemmas that it must solve if it is to survive the next decade. Завершена окончательная сборка 1.01, машине присвоено рабочее наименование «Буран», сейчас она проходит испытания в МИК ОК. Мы придерживаемся графика и ждем окончательного отчета от руководства «Энергии».

A Busy Year 1986 is set to be one of the most action-packed years for spaceflight in a long, long time. There are 3 major science missions set to launch, a moon mission, and a new space station to begin assembly. On top of that, there are several major announcement coming that will determine many key components of the next decade of spaceflight. Kicking off the year, NASA makes an important announcement regarding Skylab. In a press conference on January 5th, the final extension of Skylab is declared. The station will be visited for the last time at the end of 1990. This will be followed up by a controlled de-orbit into the Pacific Ocean early in 1991. At that point, the station will be 17 years old, and the Prosperity OWS is already showing signs of aging. After Skylab's retirement and de-orbit, Low Earth Orbit science will be in a limbo phase, but there are already concept studies in the works as to how to move forward through the rest of the 1990s. The first quarter of the year is rather slow in terms of spaceflight, with the Shuttle getting off the ground for 2 flights in January as Enterprise launches on another classified mission from Vandenberg in February. ESA also launches the first 100 day crew to Coelus Lab on February 10th. On the government side, a sense of hope for better relations between the US and Soviet Union is brewing after the development of friendship between Reagan and Gorbachev following the Geneva Summit at the end of last year. There are still many points of contention, including Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative program, derogatively nicknamed "Star Wars" by its detractors. The program has lead to a massive buildup of Soviet missiles and their overall nuclear arsenal, appearing to make the situation even worse. This has been a bit of bad press for Reagan's space policy, which has otherwise flourished in the spotlight. But government shmovernment, we know what we're here for. May is set to be one of the most exciting months of spaceflight ever. It will host 2 major science missions launching, and the first launch to assemble a new space station. That's right, after many... many years in development, Space Station Mir is finally set to begin assembly. With its new fresh design, a total of 2 modules will be launched this year. The assembly timeline has completion slated for 1991-1992, which by that point Skylab will be in the Pacific Ocean, leaving Mir as the sole modular space station in orbit. The 2 science missions are the high profile Galileo mission to Jupiter, which was delayed from last year as you may remember. But it is finally set to launch aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis with a Centaur G' boost stage, this will be the first use of the G' (G Prime) variant, optimized for deep space probes. Galileo is set to arrive at Jupiter in late 1988 with this launch trajectory, for an initial 4 year science mission. The second spacecraft has kept a low profile, but is also set to visit Jupiter, but not to stay... The Ulysses spacecraft was manufactured in Germany, and is being jointly operated by NASA and ESA. This probe is designed to study the polar regions of the Sun, using Jupiter gravity assist to raise its inclination far above the ecliptic to allow for this to be done in any reasonable manner. The responsibility falls on another Centaur G' boost stage to get it to Jupiter, with an arrival also expected in 1988. With these 3 major headliners to carry us through May, we get things underway with the launch of the Mir Tvin A module, the first of 2 (nearly) identical modules that will make up the 1986 configuration of the station. Interestingly, both will be launched on Proton, not Sokol. The hypergolic launch vehicle has stubbornly refused to get itself out of service, and it's still expected to fly until at least 1989. That out of the way, it is a beautiful launch at around 2AM from Baikonur Cosmodrome. Tvin B is set to launch later in the year, completing this initial configuration. In terms of the first crewed flights, there will be an outfitting crew slated to arrived in mid-June, which will be followed up by the first Mir Expedition set to launch in July. For the future, the large module set to be lifted by Energiya will likely be launched towards the end of 1987, following that vehicle's expected demonstration flights. The two headlining Shuttle missions for May launch on the 15th and 20th, respectively. First up is Ulysses, launching aboard Challenger under mission STS-91D. It is a picture perfect afternoon launch, with Ulysses boosted successfully on its way to Jupiter. "Booster ignition and liftoff of the Shuttle Challenger and the Ulysses spacecraft!" After a flawless launch and deployment, Ulysses is on its way to a flyby date with Jupiter in 1988. 5 days later, on the 20th, Space Shuttle Atlantis takes flight with the Galileo spacecraft. In fact it's almost exactly 5 days later as the launch times are only different by a few minutes. Regardless, it is a successful mission, despite Main Engine No.1 shutting down about .8 seconds early. The SSME may have grown into a reliable engine, but it often proves that it is still an immensely complex and advanced engine, that has many, many failure points. Even with one slightly early shutdown, there is negligible impact to the trajectory and performance of Centaur as it successfully boosts Galileo towards Jupiter. At last, the successor to Perdix is on its way towards the Jovian system, with scientists awaiting arrival in 1988. With all of these missions out of the way, there is a bit of a summer lull for June and July, only getting major media attention for one announcement. In a joint press conference held in London, the UKSA, and NASA, officially announce their joint "Lunar Exploration Program" which will build several robotic landers and rovers to study the South Pole alongside Orpheus missions. The spacecraft will all be built in Britain, and most likely NASA intends to strike a deal with the Air Force to get them launched aboard their newly selected Titan IV and Delta II rockets from CELV. The announcement is received well in both countries, and is a further strengthening of the two nation's growing cooperation in space, as NASA also begins to forge ties with its Japanese counterpart, NASDA. The second half of the year looks to be extremely exciting. The Hubble Space Telescope will finally take flight and begin its studies of the cosmos, the second half of the Mars Collection will launch, and a wintertime mission to the Moon will take place with Orpheus 2. All of this, as the Soviets begin to restructure themselves silently, planning for the future, and the long term... В последних сообщениях указано, что 1.01 будет завершен этой осенью, график держится.

No Mountain High Enough Before I start, I just wanted to say thank you all so much! The thread has reached an incredible 10,000 views! I would've never expected such a positive reception, and your support and kind words mean a lot to me as I continue to write this story. Beautiful desolation, as Buzz Aldrin put it. As the crew of Orpheus 1 stand in awe of the lunar landscape, they are reminded that they have a busy surface stay ahead of them. EVA 1 is dedicated to the crew setting up the first set of surface instruments and experiments. On top of this a few deep surface samples are taken. The EERM for this mission is rather different than the original unit used on Apollo 27. After the blatant stability and performance issues, the vehicle's chassis, suspension, and drivetrain were given a complete overhaul. Now looking more like a 6 wheeled lunar pickup truck, the EERM is expected to handle much better for this mission, and NASA expects the crew to put it through its paces. Launched 2 days after ACOV departed from the Moon on a Jupiter 423-A, the EERM will be landed once again by an automated LM descent stage. Although this isn't the optimal landing setup, it is the only available option as Grumman begins to jointly study new landing vehicle designs with NASA for missions beyond Orpheus 3. Once the crew complete EVA 1, they are allotted a rest period, as the EERM and its descent stage reach the Moon. The crew begin preparing for EVA 2 after they awake to the song "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", as the rover begins its descent to the lunar surface. The landing site is an area roughly 2 kilometers north of the ALSM's location. The astronauts will take a slower pace walk to conserve oxygen until they reach the EERM. Upon landing, the EERM is autonomously rolled off and deployed. The descent stage purges and safes itself, and the crew begin their 1 hour walk to the rover. Reaching the rover, the crew step onto the back, as it depressurizes and allows entry for the astronauts. Hatch closed, the rover re-pressurizes and the crew are able to take off their helmets for a much more relaxing ride back to base camp. Once they have returned to the ALSM's landing site, they disembark the rover, and conclude the EVA by deploying the second and final set of surface instruments. The crew are then given the next 2 days to focus on scientific work on samples and other materials inside the lander, before embarking on Geology Expedition 1. This covers a total of 50km around Mare Crisium, with many stops to collect samples and record data from portable instruments. There are 4 such trips throughout the course of the mission, on top of 3 more EVAs. Each of the 4 trips takes a different direction from the landing site, effectively trying to form "quadrants" of exploration around the landing site, with each GE being dedicated to a quadrant. This leads to a staggering total distance covered of nearly 180km. The redesigned rover holds up exceptionally well, and is definitively a necessary component of Orpheus missions going forward. But after 2 fruitful weeks on the lunar surface, for the crew of Orpheus 1, their time on the lunar surface comes to an end. Departing from the surface on May 26th in the early morning hours back on Earth, they are content in their job well done on the Moon. Rendezvous with ACOV is successful 3 hours later, the crew dock to their spacecraft, transfer all of their equipment and samples, along with themselves, and bid farewell to the ALSM. ACOV then performs a rendezvous maneuver of its own, to reach Tranquility for refueling before the return trip home. Arriving at Tranquility, an anxious 2 hours pass as ACOV is slowly refueled. The fueling job is accomplished by a deployable mechanism on the side of the tanker module that attaches to a fueling port on the service module. The same pressure differentiation process, on top of some assistance from pumps on the mechanism, permits the transfer of propellants. There are two mechanisms and two ports to accommodate the transfer of both fuel and oxidizer. As mentioned, the process takes about two full hours, after which ACOV undocks another 30 minutes later, and gains distance from the station before performing the Trans-Earth Injection maneuver. The cruise back to Earth is rather uneventful, only characterized by a few (just a few) hiccups with ACOV's new navigation and star tracking system, which is largely derived from the Space Shuttle's. The computer which controls the system has a bad habit of shutting down and rebooting itself with even small errors. This will likely be fixed to make it a more robust system before Orpheus 2. Screaming through Earth's atmosphere 4 days later, a gentle thud and blast from the retro rockets concludes Orpheus 1 as ACOV performs the first ever touchdown of a US crew capsule, on the dry lakebed of Edwards Air Force Base. Touchdown, as opposed to splashdowns, are an essential part of reusing ACOV, and will minimize the refurbishment and maintenance necessary between flights. With the first of a new era of lunar missions complete, next up is the all-important first half of the Mars Collection finally arriving at the Red Planet. On May 26th, Mars Scout successfully inserted itself into an elliptical orbit between the planet itself and Phobos, the innermost Martian moon. This orbital location is ideal for planned flybys of Phobos and eventual flybys of Deimos as well. Following it up, on May 28th, the Erikson lander separates from the orbiter stage a few hours before its insertion maneuver, and comes screaming through the Martian atmosphere, before deploying parachutes, and separating out of its aeroshell, making a soft landing on the Martian surface in the Srytis Major region. However there are some major issues... To start, although yes it is a successful landing, two of the instruments immediately fail after landing, one of these being the main television camera on the lander. This means that the Erikson lander cannot return back color images of the Martian surface, on top of the other failed instrument being the internal hydrometer that was to detect moisture content in collected soil from the onboard scoop. Thankfully the rest of the lander is functioning as intended, and will continue to perform the planned scientific mission. The orbiter stage and Mars Scout are also working as intended, and will return their own images of Mars. There is also still a second identical Orbiter/Lander with the second half of the Mars Collection. Keeping the Viking name trend, it is named after the King of Norway during the invasions of England in 1066, Harald Hardrada. The Hardrada mission will launch at the end of 1986 during that transfer window. With these missions out of the way, the rest of 1985 is comparatively sleepy. The headline Galileo launch has been postponed to next year due to an issue with one of the spacecraft's electronic buses during environmental testing at JPL. With that major delay and minor PR crisis, NASA looks forward to a positive few Shuttle missions, as Columbia returns to flight on STS-81E with a new crew to Skylab. This flight ties Columbia with Atlantis for the record of most flights by a single Orbiter, and this race continues to heat up as Challenger and Discovery are not far behind and both seeing regular use. Speaking of Discovery, the next flight just a few weeks later, STS-81F, performs the second deployment of the Long Duration Exposure Facility. Retrieved back in January 1984, it has proven to be a fascinating platform for space science, which pushed NASA to deploy it a second time as soon as possible. This mission is short and straight-forward, concluding successfully after 3 days in space. With all this talk of NASA's accomplishments, the Soviets decide they'd like a bit of the limelight. The world's foremost communist nation has been undergoing quite a lot of turmoil in this part of the 80s. Their leaders keep passing, with Chernenko dying in March of this year. But the newest head of the USSR is different. A man by the name of Mikhail Gorbachev. He brings a new attitude to the world superpower, he stops to talk to civilians on the streets, he is far less threatening and aggressive, and his wife is one of his closest advisors. The Reagan Administration remains weary, but the two are scheduled to meet at a summit in Geneva this November. Politics aside, Gorbachev is supportive of the restructuring of the space program, and pushes them to finally select 2 new robotic spacecraft to be launched by 1991. After much deliberation, they choose the unique route, in order to snag a few firsts. The first spacecraft, Tserera 1, will be a Ceres orbilander (orbiter/lander spacecraft) that will be the first to visit, orbit, and land on the largest object in the asteroid belt. It is expected to be launched by 1989 or 1990 if all goes well. The second spacecraft, Merkuriy 91, will be the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury, the innermost planet. As the name suggests, it is expected to launch in 1991. Both spacecraft are expected to launch on Sokol-K, where its new hydrogen upper stage will be very useful. To conclude the year, as Reagan and Gorbachev shake hands at the Geneva Summit for the first time, NASA holds a press conference to detail its progress on the Magellan mission architecture. It is, in total, a 3 hour long conference, but a summary is published in the major newspapers the next day. Magellan 1 is now NET 1992 Michoud expansion is expected to be completed in 1988 Good progress on early architecture pathways, teams are still submitting designs and refining options Funding is above threshold, no delays expected from budgetary constraints Looking into Japanese and European partnerships Long Duration Skylab Endurance Mission (LDSEM) will be conducted next year to study the long term effects of the transit time to Mars. With this promising update, 1985 is concluded. As everyone looks forward to an incredibly busy 1986. Компонент 1 станции доставлен на Байконур, график запуска остается в соответствии с ожиданиями.

Update Hey everyone! It's been a while. I've been taking a break from KSP but I am still actively writing new parts (minus all of the screenshots of course) for when I start playing again. Thank you for the continued support, it means a lot.

Return to Luna "So help me God." A new year for the world, a new year for America, and a new year for NASA. The agency will be undertaking many critical events this year, The most notable of which, of course, being Orpheus 1. This mission will end what NASA hopes will be the last "Moon Gap" of years without manned lunar missions. Orpheus is primed to be a sustainable program, one with the capability to achieve low-cost, high-return exploration of the lunar surface. Cost projections for Orpheus 1 are around 312 million dollars (875 million today) which is the sub-billion number NASA has been anticipating for the program. As SDLS and the Shuttle will get cheaper, and combined with ACOV reuse, NASA thinks they can get the cost permission below 180 million dollars (around 500 million today) which would be a monumental achievement. Cost aside, all of the pieces are being brought together at the Cape, with the mission slated for late May/early June. But that is dependent on the first Shuttle mission of the year following through successfully. Atlantis will launch with the second ACOV spacecraft for the final test flight of the vehicle on STS-81A. As previously mentioned, this is a circumlunar flight that will utilize a free return trajectory. This is because there have been a few delays with the Tranquility station, and its core Power and Propulsion Module (PPM) won't launch until the end of February, with the first propellant module to launch soon after it. There is a lot to cover as we start 1985. A pressing issue for NASA is overcrowding at the Michoud Assembly Facility. The building is handling the construction of Shuttle ETs, SDLS core stages, and the LTV Mk2. As the first LTV Mk2 is finally completed and rolled out on the cold morning of January 3rd, there is work being done just a few hundred yards away to address the problem. With a new ample budget from Magellan for infrastructure additions and upgrades, NASA will be building a second building (or "campus") at Michoud to accommodate construction of the LTV Mk2, and eventually, vehicles for Magellan. Ground is broke on January 2nd with John Young being there to contribute to the first shovelings of dirt. NASA isn't the only one gearing up for the year though. This is set to be a major 12 months for the Soviet space program. They are planning to debut 2 new rockets this year. The first being the long awaited revamp and upgrade of Sokol, dubbed Sokol-K. This introduces 4 RD-190 engines on the core stage to replace the NK-33s, and the RD-170 on the boosters in place of the aging and rather inefficient RD-100. The RD-170 is a behemoth of an engine with 4 combustion chambers fed by one turbopump, and it is more powerful than the original F1 engine. The RD-190 is a single combustion chamber version of the engine. This is a positive simplification for manufacturing, and will help reduce costs. On top of this, Proton's second stage is no more, it has been replaced by a new Hydrolox second stage. The idea with Sokol-K is to make it better for higher energy orbits and trajectories, as the heavy lifting capabilities will be accomplished by Energiya and its variants. For the second rocket, it is essentially an Energiya Zenit booster turned into a rocket, and it is named Zenit of course. It has an RD-170 engine on the first stage and an RD-120 on the second stage. A simple no-nonsense rocket for smaller payloads. With these new capabilities the Soviets hope to ramp up robotic efforts in the future, which was one of the main tenants of their re-focusing following the cancellation of the lunar program. The falling out after SSTP and Apollo 29's cancellation was only worsened by the tragic shootdown of Korean Air Lines Flight 007, which strained US-Soviet relations overall. The Soviets aren't in a good leadership position either, after Andropov's death in February 1984 he was succeeded by Konstantin Chernenko, who has been in poor health for most of his tenure. The Soviets are navigating a difficult situation, and some are already predicting the USSR to dissolve within the next few years. Change will be needed for the survival of communism in the Soviet Union. But we're not here for politics, are we? No no no we are here for spaceflight. Although they may be as intertwined as ever, nothing beats a good old fashioned rocket. The DoD knows this, and they are now working on their Complementary Expendable Launch Vehicles (CELV) program even harder. They have finally downselected to two rockets. The first being Martin Marietta's Titan IV rocket. The DoD selected this over Atlas CELV because of Martin Marietta's plans to vastly simplify Titan infrastructure, and also the many tweaks to the vehicle and changes that will improve it. The main thing being switching back to RP-1 and Liquid Oxygen for the Titan core propellants as American aerospace is beginning to shift away from hypergolics in launch vehicles. On top of this there will be no stretched UA120 booster as previously planned, they will fast-track development of the "Solid Rocket Motor Upgrade" or SRMU booster. All of this is intended to lower costs and increase the launch rate. For the second rocket, the DoD selected McDonnell Douglas and their Delta II rocket, the next evolution of the Thor-Delta family. This rocket will fulfill smaller payloads such as GPS, which is now publicly available in the wake of the previously mentioned KAL 007 tragedy. NASA has interest in both vehicles as supplements to the Shuttle, but that is still a developing interest so we will have to wait and see what comes of it. With all of our bases covered to begin the year, we kick things off with ACOV's second test flight on January 26th, 1985. "Solid Rocket Booster ignition and liftoff of Atlantis and the second flight of the ACOV spacecraft!" Once in orbit, the 4 crew of ACOV (consisting of Robert Gibson, Shannon Lucid, Guion Bluford Jr, and Anthony England) enter the spacecraft, and deploy from the Space Shuttle 5 hours after launch. 3 days later, as ACOV is just hours from closest approach, Atlantis lands at Edwards Air Force Base, concluding her 11th mission. This flight ties Atlantis with Columbia for the title of most flown Space Shuttle. In Columbia's absence due to her being in Palmdale for OMDP 1, the other 3 Shuttles still at the Cape have had to split flights, with Atlantis taking many important missions as the newest and most capable Orbiter. Just a few hours later, ACOV swings past the Moon at closest approach. For the first time since 1977, an Apollo spacecraft is around the Moon. Another 3 days later, after swinging past the Moon and back to Earth on the free return trajectory, ACOV re-enters the atmosphere for landing in the Pacific on February 1st, 1985. Bobbing around in the waters of the Pacific, the second ACOV vehicle has wrapped up the new spacecraft's test flight campaign, clearing the way for Orpheus 1 at the end of May. Following things up just a few days later, Jupiter SDLS rolls out for its third flight. This is for the launch of the much anticipated first component of the Tranquility Space Station. The station has undergone a downsizing to reduce rising costs and keep it focused on the idea of a small lunar orbit station. The initial station doesn't need any habitation capability, just the Power and Propulsion Module (the first component) and one of the refueling depots. Despite finally getting to launch, the station's future is already in jeopardy after the downsizing. Many within NASA are advocating for a modification of the architecture that will result in ACOV getting a bit larger and not needed to be refueled, thus defeating the primary purpose of Tranquility. This is being studied now as a potential "Phase II" of Orpheus for further cost reduction and simplification. The future aside, in the here and now, the Power and Propulsion Module is primed for launch and delivery to lunar orbit, with Jupiter 500-A lifting off on February 24th, 1985. You may have noticed the new docking port on the PPM, this is a larger docking port called the Modular Docking Adapter System, or MDAS. MDAS is a very wide docking port optimized for space station modules. Tranquility is the first to use it, and NASA hopes to also use it on the successor space station to Skylab, whenever that comes around. After a week long transit. The PPM arrives in a polar orbit of the Moon on March 1st, 1985. The first lunar space station is now under assembly. Although the first habitation module won't arrive until next year. In between the launches of the first two Tranquility components, the Soviets send the first Sokol-K rocket into the skies on February 29th, 1985. Successfully reaching orbit, the first of two new Soviet rockets this year has made its debut. Zenit is expected to first launch in May, shortly after Orpheus 1. Now, on March 3rd, the second module of Tranquility is launched on a Jupiter 423-A. This is the first of two fuel depot modules, that will be for refueling ACOV, and perhaps eventually the ALSM. A modified Apollo SM is used to transport the depot module to Tranquility, it then separates from the SM tug and docks to the PPM on March 9th, 1985 after reaching lunar orbit. With Tranquility now in its initial operating configuration, the path is clear for Orpheus 1 preparations to begin at the start of May. Orpheus is now a simpler 2 launch profile, with the LTV and ALSM being launched together aboard a larger Jupiter 524-A rocket, and then the Shuttle launching with ACOV. The mighty 524-A rocket lifts off into the sunset on May 2nd, 1985. "We have liftoff of the Jupiter rocket and the start of America's next moon mission!" Upon reaching orbit, the LTV and ALSM separate, and head for the Moon. Now on their way towards the Moon, the crew of Orpheus 1 will not be too far behind, as Space Shuttle Challenger lifts off with the crew of Orpheus 1 consisting of Loren Shriver, Frederick Gregory, Sally Ride, Mary Cleave, and Norman Thagard on May 6th, 1985. "Liftoff of the next American crew to the Moon and the Space Shuttle Challenger with the third ACOV spacecraft!" Once in orbit, the same standard deployment procedure follows, with Super Centaur boosting ACOV towards the Moon. 3 days later, as the ALSM and LTV enter orbit around the Moon, ACOV follows as well just a few hours later. With rendezvous being set up for the next day on May 10th, 1985. Once docked, the crew enter the ALSM, power everything on, and prepare for descent. They ensure all supplies are in the lander, and they extend the landing legs. However, there is a problem... The RCS thrusters on the ALSM's ascent stage are mounted on rotating booms. These booms fold in for launch to ensure a proper fit inside the fairing for launch. Now at the Moon, they need to be unfolded and ready so the ALSM can move away from ACOV, and then dock with it again upon returning to orbit. The booms will not fold out. This delays landing by several hours, and many fear this will result in an abandoned landing. However, NASA and Grumman, who built the ALSM, believe they can easily perform the mission with the booms folded. ACOV will simply have to perform the docking itself in automated mode once the crew return to lunar orbit. Near mission abandonment avoided, the ALSM receives the GO for landing. Powered descent begins about 10 minutes later. Millions tune in on CBS to witness the first Moon landing since December 1982. "1000 feet. You're right on the money, ALSM." "Copy that Houston we concur. Right on the money." "750 feet and nominal descent rate." "We're pitched over." "Move a bit forward here... Got a rocky patch there we want to avoid." "Alright we're easing her over." "400 feet and nominal descent rate." "Bit more forward." "Copy." "200 feet." "100." "50." "25." "10." "5." "CONTACT light." "Houston, ALSM, we are on the surface!" "Great to hear, ALSM, we copy." "Solar arrays out." Houston erupts in cheers, America is finally back on the Moon once again, this time to build a sustainable presence for decades to come. President Reagan speaks to the crew 30 minutes after landing. Re-iterating his administration's support for NASA, and congratulating them on the thrilling achievement. Festivities aside, EVA 1 begins 2 hours after landing. The flag planted, the crew will now begin to set up their surface experiments, and patiently await the final piece for the mission: the EERM rover. As the crew of Orpheus 1 explore the surface of the Moon, some programs back on Earth are gearing up for major progress, and potential returns of their own. После приземления американского корабля «Орфей» мы осознаем, что потенциал новых пилотируемых лунных программ является интересной областью исследований в будущем десятилетии.

The clouds are from the early access of a new Environmental Visual Enhancements update available on blackrack's patreon. I believe the forums don't like the discussion of "paid" add-ons but he definitely deserves the small sum of money for the incredible work he's done. I'm also using scatterer, and my own TUFX profile which is based on @AmateurAstronaut1969's that he graciously provided to me last year. And I'm running KSRSS Reborn with the 64K Earth addon. Engine plumes come from Waterfall, the Stock Waterfall Effects mod, and SRB Waterfall Effects. Thank you for the kind words!