track

Yeah that would make sense, thanks for the reply.

This is awesome! But I'm curious, where did that External Tank come from? Certainly doesn't look like reDIRECTs, and how did you accomplish the wear on the Shuttle's thermal blankets, incredibly good detail!

The Bear and the Eagle While Apollo dwells in the limelight, the whole world watching on. The Soviets are desperate to regain their lead in the Space Race. The death of Sergei Korolev severely hampers their efforts, and issues with the development of the N-1 Moon Rocket set the Soviets back many times. But finally on February 21st, 1969. The N-1 lights its engines, and de-thrones the Saturn V as the most powerful rocket ever. Aaaaand it's a failure... yeah.... thankfully this was an uncrewed flight. The cause is rooted to a series of very unfortunate events, as described below: A few seconds into launch, a transient voltage caused the KORD to shut down Engine #12. After this happened, the KORD shut off Engine #24 to maintain symmetrical thrust. At T+6 seconds, pogo oscillation in the #2 engine tore several components off their mounts and started a propellant leak. At T+25 seconds, further vibrations ruptured a fuel line and caused RP-1 to spill into the aft section of the booster. When it came into contact with the leaking gas, a fire started. The fire then burned through wiring in the power supply, causing electrical arcing that was picked up by sensors and interpreted by the KORD as a pressurization problem in the turbopumps. The KORD responded by issuing a general command to shut down the entire first stage at T+68 seconds into launch. This signal was also transmitted up to the second and third stages, "locking" them and preventing a manual ground command from being sent to start their engines. Telemetry also showed that the power generators in the N-1 continued functioning until the impact with the ground at T+183 seconds. As per usual with the Soviet space program, blame is thrown around, but eventually it is realized that there are.... quite a few flaws with the N-1 rocket. KORD is flawed in many ways, and the NK-15 engines having pyrotechnic valves prevents them from being tested at all. With some pushing, many engineers get things underway to solve these issues, with a second test flight aimed for the fall. Meanwhile, the US preps for the next round of Apollo flights before Apollo 11 is the first lunar landing. A one-two punch of Apollo 9 and 10. First up Apollo 9, which will test both the CSM and LM in LEO together. This is the first time a crew has named their spacecraft(s) since Gemini 3. The CSM "Gumdrop" and LM "Spider" are prepared for launch aboard the fourth Saturn V rocket. "Staging...' A successful mission, and the first with the CSM and LM together. Apollo 10 comes shortly after, practically the same mission is performed but this time around the Moon, as a sort of rehearsal for Apollo 11. To ensure the crew of the Lunar Module didn't get any bright ideas, the LM was underfueled so that it could not return to Lunar Orbit, discouraging a sneaky attempt to be the first on the surface. Both missions set the stage for Apollo 11, just mere months away, and already on the launchpad.

Hey everyone, sorry for leaving you hanging for so long, I've been taking a bit of a break from KSP but I'm coming out of it at this point. New part soon hopefully.

On The Way While Perdix is on its way towards Jupiter, NASA prepares for another big step. Apollo 7. Apollo 7 will be the first crewed flight attempt by NASA since the Apollo 1 tragedy, lessons have been learned, and improvements have been made, to ensure it will never happen again. The Apollo Block II is much improved, and will be used on this mission to test the CSM in Low Earth Orbit with crew. A Saturn IB will be used as the launch vehicle. Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele, and Ronnie Cunningham are the 3 astronauts assigned to the mission, and at 11:02 AM, the crew lift off into the skies of Cape Canaveral, sights set on Low Earth Orbit. The mission is a great success, and is a major reboost of confidence for NASA, 1 year, and 9 months after the Apollo 1 tragedy, Americans have returned to space, sights set on The Moon, and to show the world that America is first in space. And as this mission kicks off and returns, the next Apollo mission prepares on LC-39A, the third Saturn V, is set to launch Apollo 8, destined to send the first humans beyond Low Earth Orbit, and to orbit The Moon. Apollo 8 will see the CSM fly solo towards the Moon and enter orbit, and then return home, on a new mission type designated C Prime. This will be the first crewed flight of the Saturn V, after 2 months sitting on LC-39A, the Saturn V rocket lifts off the pad on December 21st, 1968, on a voyage bound for The Moon. Staging. Frank Bormann, James Lovell Jr., and William Anders become the first humans to ever leave Low Earth Orbit, and the first to orbit another celestial object other than Earth. After orbit the Moon for about a day, the crew depart, and on December 27th, 1968, they splashdown in the North Pacific Ocean, and are recovered by the USS Yorktown. If Apollo 7 was a confidence boost, Apollo 8 is a monumental confidence boost, and shows that NASA is up to any challenge. The Apollo program is building up, and as 1968 comes to a close, 1969 is planned to finally be the year that JFK's goal is fulfilled, America will land on the Moon. However, the Bear is not that far behind.

Pogo and Probes While manned exploration is taking many leaps forward, you certainly shouldn't count out the robotic explorers that explore those distant worlds that we too hope to someday explore ourselves. The Ranger and Mariner programs have demonstrated the ability to explore Mars, and Venus, and with plans in the works for Mercury. But those distant gas giants out there remain unexplored: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Until now, in 1964, NASA created the Outer Planet Explorer program, to send 2 dual probes to Jupiter. The Pioneer program will make the flyby spacecraft, intended to launch in 1972 and flyby a little over a year later just before the Orbiting Spacecraft arrives, giving it an idea of how to approach Jupiter and early data. Pioneer 10 is selected as the flyby spacecraft, and the orbiting spacecraft is given the name Perdix. Perdix will be launched on a Saturn IB, practically the only American rocket that is operational with the capabilities. A Centaur Upper Stage will perform the injection maneuver to Jupiter. Overview of the Perdix Spacecraft. But before all this, the second Saturn V is ready to launch. Apollo 6 is the second test of the Saturn V and planned to be the final uncrewed test flight of the Apollo program. The primary objective is to test the S-IVB's capability to send the Apollo spacecraft to a Trans-Lunar Injection trajectory, and then the spacecraft will perform a direct-return abort to return to Earth after about 10 hours. The launch, however, is less than optimal, to say the least, into the flight, a phenomenon known as "pogo oscillation" begins occurring within the launch vehicle, it begins to rupture fuel lines and leads to 2 of the S-II, the second stage, engines shutting down early, burning longer compensates for this, but still the S-IVB fails to light for the TLI maneuver, and thus Apollo 6 repeats the profile of Apollo 4. Nevertheless, NASA is confident that the Saturn V is capable of safe crewed flight, and preparations begin for its first crewed flight, Apollo 8. Now, the launch of Perdix on July 28th, 1968. The launch of Perdix aboard a Saturn IB Centaur. An incredibly successful launch, Centaur boosts Perdix to begin the chain of gravity assists which will boost the spacecraft towards Jupiter, destined for an arrival in 1974. NASA now shifts focus to Apollo 7 and 8, which will test the Apollo Command Module on its own in LEO, and in the case of Apollo 8, due to many defects in its LM, the CSM will be flown to Lunar Orbit on its own with 3 crew, destined to be the first crewed spaceflight beyond Earth orbit. Meanwhile, the bear has plans of its own.

We Choose to Go to the Moon. "We choose to Go to The Moon, we choose to Go to the Moon... We choose to Go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win, and the others, too." The immortal words of John F. Kennedy from his speech at Rice Stadium on September 12th, 1962. Although the late President was tragically assassinated just over a year later, the goal he set forth will live on,NASA will make darn sure of it. The Apollo program, the culmination of Mercury, and Gemini, will realize Kennedy's goal. To put a man on the Moon, and return him safely to Earth. The technical challenges are just one part of it, the development process has been stricken by issues, and tragically, the loss of 3 American heroes during the Apollo 1 disaster. Their sacrifice will not be forgotten, nor will it be in vain. Steady as she goes, the Apollo program is finally pushing onwards, as Gemini wraps up with its final flight, Gemini 12. The Saturn I has been the workhorse of Apollo up to this point, giving NASA experience with larger launch vehicles and allowing for lessons to be learned, the Saturn IB has now taken its place with the primary purpose of testing the S-IVB upper stage, which will be used to send the Apollo CSM and LEM to a "Trans-Lunar Injection" or TLI trajectory, where they will intercept the Moon. Following the Apollo 1 disaster, the Apollo CSM is taken into a design review, and changes will be needed before crew are allowed to fly on it again. The second flight of the Saturn IB, testing the behavior of the S-IVB in orbit to assist in the development of the 500 series S-IVB, which needs the capability to restart for the TLI maneuver. 1967 was a rough year for NASA, but finally, in November, there is a chance to bounce back, for triumph. The SA-501, the first Saturn V rocket, is on the new Launch Complex 39A, preparing for the maiden flight of the Saturn V rocket. The Saturn V dwarfs all other rockets, using 5 F-1 engines, which were originally developed in a US Air Force program, but revived for NASA's moon rocket. Wernher Von Braun and his team at NASA's Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville, Alabama are the leading team which develop this mighty launch vehicle. November 9th, 1967: The Mighty Saturn V "Our building's shaking here, our building's shaking! Oh it's terrific... the building's shaking! This big blast window is shaking! We're holding it with our hands! Look at that rocket go... enter the clouds at 3,000ft! Look at it going... you can see it, you can see it..." - Walter Cronkite of CBS News as he spectates the launch of the first Saturn V Rocket. The inaugural flight of the Saturn V goes off flawlessly, a massive victory for NASA, something the agency really needed. The rocket that will bring America to the Moon is here. But what NASA doesn't know is, the Saturn V is not alone. Nevertheless, Apollo 4 is a major triumph for NASA, rebuilding the agency's confidence, as preparations begin for the next Saturn V mission, and Apollo 5, which will test the Lunar Module on its own in Earth orbit. The Moon is feeling ever closer, and maybe, to robotic spacecraft, the other planets are too.

Thanks! I'm trying to keep this updated while continuing to develop the story so more parts should be coming soon!

Gemini, Voskhod, and the Moon Rocket(s) Gemini 3 launches on March 23rd, 1965, the first crewed flight of the Gemini program. Virgil "Gus" Grissom and John Young are the 2 astronauts aboard the Gemini spacecraft, which they have named "Molly Brown", after a debacle in which NASA considered the name too informal for the program. Molly Brown lifts off into the skies of Cape Canaveral, the 2 astronauts orbit the Earth 3 times, and splash down just under 5 hours after launch. Molly Brown soars into the skies of Cape Canaveral on the first crewed Gemini mission, Gemini 3. Gemini 3 orbiting above the Earth. But the Soviets were not taking this lightly, they too had developed a multi-man spacecraft, Voskhod, although it would debut several months after Gemini, it's 3 crew capacity made it clear the Soviets weren't giving up on their lead just yet. Voskhod 2 would make this point clearer as Alexei Leonov became the first human in history to exit his spacecraft in space, on a so-called "Extra-Vehicular Activity" or EVA. The US would strike back 3 months later on Gemini 4 in June of 1965, as Ed White became the first American to perform an EVA. The US would finally score a big victory on Gemini 5. setting the on-orbit duration record at 8 days. The mission's slogan "8 Days or Bust" held true as the 2 astronauts orbited the Earth for just over a week. And more repeated success was to come on Gemini 6A, which performed the first rendezvous between two crewed spacecraft with its sister mission, Gemini 7. Although Vostok had managed to establish radio contact, no true rendezvous was achieved. And it seemed to many that Gemini was finally pulling the United States ahead of the Soviet Union in the space race. But as 1965 wraps up, and 1966 begins, there's an even bigger development. The first S-IC stages of the Saturn V rocket are completed. America's Moon Rocket is nearing it's debut. But it's not alone.

whatever you think happened (the same outcome as irl gemini 1)

Hi all, this is my first post on the forums but I'd like to bring to you something I have been working on for a while. This is One Giant Leap, an alternate history of not only the Space/Moon Race, but into the Shuttle era and Space Exploration as a whole. KSP is the medium through which I'm telling this so I felt putting it here was more suitable. I'll start at the beginning and try to keep this updated (hopefully). August 7th, 1964: The Giant Has Better Things To Do. By 3 votes, the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution is blocked in Congress, thousands of protestors had gathered on Capitol Hill to protest the fact that this bill had even made it this far. But their efforts were not in vain, President Johnson would not get the authority "to take any measures he believed were necessary to retaliate and to promote the maintenance of international peace and security in southeast Asia." In other words, the United States will not intervene in Vietnam, instead, the United States will look upwards, to the stars, peaceful exploration, for the good of mankind. Although the Soviets had a head-start, placing Yuri Gagarin into space on April 12th, 1961, the US was quick to respond, sending Alan Shepard into space not a month later on May 5th, 1961. Despite the delays and setbacks, NASA is hopeful the fledgling Gemini program will finally pull the US ahead of the Soviet Union, shifting the balance of power in the Space Race. But in the distance, Apollo looms, the late President Kennedy's goal has not been forgotten, the United States will put a man on The Moon before the end of the 1960s. Dawn of Gemini: The Titan II GLV launches the first Gemini spacecraft on Gemini 1, marking the beginning of NASA's new crewed spaceflight program.