One Giant Leap | An Alternate History of Space Exploration

[track]

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...

[TwoCalories]

This is a really great report, but there's a lot to read. Are there any major happenings that led up to the Magellan program?

[Klipermaks]

Loving this! Although i've got 3 Questions
1: Will one of China's Proposed Shuttle designs be featured? i'd love to see Changcheng 1 in something aside from low-res concept art
2: Will Buran keep flying? Since the Soviet union croaked, i wonder if it'll get ditched like the real one
3: If Buran is abandoned, will it be replaced  by something like Kliper or MAKS (or will they appear alongside it if it's not canned?)

[track]

On 10/13/2023 at 4:44 PM, TwoCalories said:

This is a really great report, but there's a lot to read. Are there any major happenings that led up to the Magellan program?

 

On 10/13/2023 at 9:40 PM, Klipermaks said:

Loving this! Although i've got 3 Questions
1: Will one of China's Proposed Shuttle designs be featured? i'd love to see Changcheng 1 in something aside from low-res concept art
2: Will Buran keep flying? Since the Soviet union croaked, i wonder if it'll get ditched like the real one
3: If Buran is abandoned, will it be replaced  by something like Kliper or MAKS (or will they appear alongside it if it's not canned?)

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.

[track]

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...

Edited November 13, 2023 by track

[Pipcard]

On 10/12/2023 at 3:09 PM, track said:

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!

On 11/11/2023 at 6:50 PM, track said:

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.

I like it when alternate space timelines acknowledge the accomplishments of a Japanese space program.

[Jfjsharkattack]

Great Job!

[track]

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. 

[track]

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.

Edited March 16 by track

[AdrianDogmeat]

19 hours ago, track said:

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.

peak...

[track]

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.

[track]

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.

[track]

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.

[track]

Albert and the Martians

 

“Breaking news from the CNN Election Headquarters. It is currently 10:14 PM and we can finally call it: Al Gore has WON the Presidency; he has reached 270 electoral votes with a victory in Illinois at 100% of the vote in. He is now the first Democratic candidate to be elected to the Presidency since Jimmy Carter in 1976, ending the Reagan-Bush streak of Republican control of the White House.”

    On Tuesday, November 5th, 1996, Al Gore won the Presidency over Republican candidate Bob Dole. He won the country's vote by campaigning on a staunch platform of addressing social and economic issues, alongside pushing forward science and technology. Gore’s victory though, despite it being the first blue victory since 1976, was not the talk of the country for very long. As four astronauts were preparing to go further than any human had ever gone.

    They were going to Mars.

    Robert Cabana, Eileen Collins, Greg Harbaugh, and Linda Godwin are awoken at 5:00 AM on December 2nd to prepare for their launch at 10:00 AM. Space Shuttle Atlantis sits at LC-39A, having been undergoing fueling for the past 3 hours in preparation for launch. Atlantis will launch the crew alongside the two pilots of the Shuttle (John Casper and Llyod Hammond) into orbit, and then perform a rendezvous and docking with the MMETV that sits in orbit now.

    But this was just one part of a 7-launch marathon to get everything for the first human mission to Mars into space and on its way to the red planet. It began on November 23rd, with the launch of the first half of the MMETV aboard a Jupiter 524-A at 4:26 AM. Following that, the second half was launched on November 28th at 1:17 PM. The two halves then met in orbit and docked together, forming the complete, fully fueled MMETV.

Spoiler

    Then, on December 1st, the day before the crew's launch, the “MSVs” (Mars Surface Vehicles, the Ascent and Descent Vehicles respectively) were launched together on a Jupiter 544-A, the heaviest variant of the SDLS rockets. The two are launched docked together, with Jupiter’s second stage propelling them to Mars, and then with the Descent Vehicle performing orbital insertion, as it only has to descend to the surface and has greater propellant margins. They will deploy their solar panels and radiators and operate on low power mode until they reach Mars in August of next year, just before the MMETV.

Spoiler

    That brings us to the morning of December 2nd. At 7:30 AM, the crew reach the launchpad and head up the elevator to board the Shuttle. This will be the last 2 and a half hours they are on Earth until they return in three years. The crew are strapped in by 8:00 AM and ready for launch. Final preparations occur over the next two hours until the crew access arm retracts and the last few minutes of the countdown begin.

Spoiler

     "Crew Access Arm has retracted, we remain GO for launch on this historic morning."

"All systems look good, LOX and LH2 closeout are underway."

"APUs have started."

"Beanie cap is retracting at this moment."

"Mission Director has given the final GO for launch."

"T-15, 12, 11, 10... WE ARE GO FOR MAIN ENGINE START."

"8, SEVEN, SIX, WE HAVE MAIN ENGINE START."

"3... 2... 1... BOOSTER IGNITION AND LIFTOFF! LIFTOFF OF ATLANTIS AS WE EMBARK ON THE FIRST HUMAN MISSION TO MARS!"

"Roll Program."

"Roger Roll, Atlantis."

"Houston now controlling the flight of Atlantis. The shuttle climbing as it transports the first four astronauts set to land on the surface of another planet."

"Booster officer confirms nominal booster separation."

"Coming up on... SSME shutdown."

"We have good SSME shutdown... Good ET separation."

    Upon reaching orbit, Atlantis makes a first OMS maneuver to set up a rendezvous with the MMETV. The catch-up takes about 8 hours, with Atlantis then moving in to dock with the forward port of the MMETV. These docking ports are the first functional flight variants of the IHDS docking port that will be used on Space Station Harmony, and there is no better mission to test them than on Magellan 2.

Spoiler

    After a successful docking, the crew all work together to move supplies from Spacelab II into the MMETV hab. About half of the supplies and equipment are being brought up on the Shuttle, while the rest will be in the dedicated supply module that is to be launched aboard a Titan IV in a couple of days. Skylab played an essential role in determining the mass and volume of food and water needed for an entire 3-year round trip to Mars; the 200-day missions total supply amount based on crew diets was extrapolated out and adjusted for the additional exercise and work that the Magellan astronauts will be undertaking. 

    With all of the supplies offloaded from the Shuttle, a video conference is held with NASA Administrator Ken Mattingly and outgoing President George H.W. Bush. Although Reagan initiated the Magellan program, HW has seen it through its development and first two missions and has fought hard every fiscal year for the program to get the funding it requires. He has only a few words at this press conference, but he uses them to express his gratitude towards NASA, his appreciation of the Magellan program, and his hope that it will be part of his lasting legacy as President.

     Pleasantries out of the way, the Shuttle crew return to Atlantis and begin undocking and departure from the MMETV. Atlantis lands the next morning at the KSC and is shuffled back into the OPF for maintenance over Christmas and the New Year.

Spoiler

    The MMETV crew wait 2 more days in orbit, getting accustomed to their home for the next 9 months. Then, on December 4th, Titan IV rips off the launchpad at SLC-41 carrying the Supply Module.  12 hours after launch, the Supply Module reaches the MMETV and docks on the forward IDHS port.

Spoiler

     24 hours pass as the crew continues to get comfortable inside the Habitat, and then, the next night, preparations begin for the most important operation to this point.

Trans-Martian Injection.

    This maneuver has been calculated by computers the size of a room multiple times over the past couple of years. It is the most efficient trajectory to Mars available in the 1996 transfer window and will give the MMETV the most fuel for orbital insertion and return to Earth. At 8:49 PM on December 5th, the seven nuclear thermal rocket motors of the MMETV start up and begin the 16-minute burn to send 4 astronauts on a mission to Mars.

    16 tense minutes pass, controllers sit idle in their chairs, watching in utter silence as the velocity graph steadily follows the pre-determined outline on the main screen of the Mission Control room. ABC, CBS, and CNN have cameras in the room as the event is broadcast live on television to millions of Americans. The astronauts sit with their suits on in the forward flight chairs as the slow 960 seconds pass. But eventually, the motors shut off, and Houston erupts in cheers and applause. A nominal trajectory is confirmed, and Bob Cabana, Eileen Collins, Linda Godwin, and Greg Harbaugh are on their way to Mars. Three days later, they become the first humans to leave Earth's sphere of influence and the first humans to enter interplanetary space.

    Over these three days, the final two chapters of Magellan 2’s departure from Earth are completed. On December 6th, the Magellan Habitat is launched aboard a Jupiter rocket on a faster but less efficient trajectory.
    Following this, on December 8th, as the MMETV leaves the Earth-Moon system, the EERM rover, adapted for operations on Mars, is launched aboard another Jupiter rocket on a similar fast but less efficient trajectory to Mars. The habitat and rover will be the first spacecrafts to perform aerobraking at Mars to minimize the propellant needed for orbit insertion.

Spoiler

    With Magellan 2 now on its way to Mars, 1997 begins with the ball drop in Times Square. A few weeks into the year, on January 20th, Al Gore takes the Oath of Office to become the 42nd President of the United States. As humans make their way to another planet for the first time, and a new face in government takes leadership of the country, America looks towards the new century with optimism.

    A New Era Has Begun.

Edited April 29 by track

[track]

The Finale is coming!

OGL will be wrapping up with the next part. I know I've taken a long hiatus but I've taken some time to reflect on the story and where it needs to end, and I've decided it will be wrapped up neatly with the first human landing on Mars, with the finale coming very soon.

Thank you for all of the support over the past two and a half years, it means a lot. 

[track]

The Grand Finale

    As they hurdle towards Mars, the astronauts of Magellan 2 have become instant heroes for America and the rest of the world. They have been interviewed dozens of times during their journey, pushing the limit of NASA’s communication technology. Not only was their schedule busy with interviews, they spent a lot of time logging their activity in deep space, as this was the first time humans had ever gone beyond Earth’s sphere of influence. Radiation levels were very carefully monitored, as well as the internal and external temperatures of the MMETV.

    While these experiments were proving immensely valuable, there were still concerns about how the astronaut’s mental state would be maintained in deep space. NASA had done several mock missions of a year in length throughout the 80s, but nothing, not even 200 days on Skylab, could compare to the utter isolation with no chance of rescue that these astronauts were facing on their way to Mars. There were many many unknowns, and they could only be answered during the flight. Four individuals living in a confined space for a 3-year mission, and they would not get to walk normally on their own feet for nearly a year. NASA decided that each astronaut should have a call with a therapist 2-3 times a month in their enclosed quarters, another addition to improve their mental health.

    As mentioned, things like enclosed quarters were added to the MMETV to give the astronauts some semblance of privacy and comfort. The MMETV habitat is comparable in size to Skylab’s orbital workshop, which allows for many larger amenities and living spaces. NASA consulted with dozens of psychologists to help design the habitat’s interior, as well as the interior of the surface habitat. They wanted the same functionality, but to also provide a stress-free environment for the astronauts. NASA also decided to let the astronauts bring more personal items than usual, as they figured it would help them during the mission. NASA also worked with many of the same entertainment companies they worked with for Skylab to make CDs and CD players that were more hardened for long-term spaceflight. These would carry music, movies, and TV shows for the astronauts to watch when they had more free time, which they would on these missions where there was less research to do.

    Space movies and interior design aside, the mission was critical for researching Mars, as well. The rover is expected to travel over 5,000 miles (~8000km) of Martian terrain during the 9-month surface stay, and the MSV had to be designed to carry nearly 800 pounds of samples with the astronauts back to the MMETV. The astronauts were trained to utilize very specialized equipment to perform chemical analysis of the Martian soil and atmosphere, as well as to take deep core samples of the Martian crust.

    All of this equipment was loaded into the MMETV hab before launch, as the supply module is mainly rations, other supplies, and personal items for the astronauts. They are then to be carefully loaded into the Descent Vehicle, and stored on its lower deck. Some instruments will be left behind as they will be used by future missions, but others will be returned to Earth to be broken apart and to see how Mars treated them. NASA was also planning to bring several cultures of bacteria on the mission and see how they handled the Martian environment, but this was ultimately cut for concerns of them “contaminating” the planet.

    With that out of the way, Magellan 2’s MMETV enters the SOI of Mars on September 5th, 1997. The braking maneuver will take place over about 25 minutes, before, through, and after periapsis. The goal is to insert into a 300x300 km orbit around Mars. This orbit is low enough to be easy to descend and ascend from, but high enough to require less stationkeeping. The Descent Vehicle successfully inserted itself and the Ascent Vehicle into this orbit, and they are now waiting for the MMETV to enter orbit before separating and going their separate ways.

    On September 7th, controllers in Houston wait patiently for the beginning of the braking maneuver. The astronauts are strapped in with pressure suits for this maneuver in the forward area of the habitat, out of maximum safety precaution. As with Magellan 1, the boiloff of the liquid hydrogen propellant was carefully monitored, and much of the power from the MMETV’s large solar panels goes toward the active cooling systems and the radiators. This power usage though, has paid off as the tanks have remained well within the allowable boiloff, leaving plenty of fuel with the expected boiloff rate for the rest of the mission.

    While the thought of constantly losing fuel to the Sun is enough to worry some people, it doesn’t have an impact on the braking maneuver, as it begins right on time, and carries right on through to the end. Controllers are dead silent throughout the entire maneuver, as the press patiently waits outside. Once shutoff is confirmed, the celebration begins, as humans are now in orbit of another planet for the first time ever.

    The astronauts, although they won’t be on the red planet for another 3 months, at least get the change of scenery seeing it below them through the windows, instead of the nothingness of interplanetary space. They spend those 3 months conducting orbital photography and using mapping devices mounted to the exterior of the MMETV. It is a mostly equatorial orbit, but so is their landing location, so they get a good view of the sight dozens of times.

    Over these three months, the rest of the cavalry arrive and land on the surface. The habitat lands first, plopping down in the foothills on a mostly flat area north of Valles Marineris. NASA selected this area for its proximity to the famous valley, and its interesting geology as indicated by the orbiters sent to the planet. Speaking of those, they will be essential communication relays between Earth and the astronauts on the surface of Mars. When on the surface, the astronauts will be very busy each day, performing outside activities, doing research in the habitat, and building out some small infrastructure for future missions.

    Speaking of that, NASA has decided that this new base on Mars will be named in honor of the first man to step foot on another celestial body. 
It shall be called Armstrong Base.

    Neil Armstrong was at the ceremony where his name was unveiled on a model of the habitat a few months ago, as it was kept a secret during assembly and launch. The astronauts will also be laying a plaque on the surface, dedicated to the astronauts, American and Soviet, that have been lost. They are also represented by the stars in the bottom left of the Magellan patch.

    The big day finally comes after the New Year's celebrations. CNN, CBS, ABC, and every single possible news station in America, is broadcasting a live feed of Mission Control. Despite some claiming there would be little interest, they are quickly proven wrong, as over 180 million Americans tune in, and with much greater access to live media now than in 1969, Magellan 2’s landing coverage smashes Apollo 11’s record, with nearly 950 million viewers worldwide.

    The four astronauts transfer themselves into the Descent Vehicle, loading all of their equipment over an hour or so. After all of their equipment is loaded, they help strap each other in, and begin powering up the Descent Vehicle. After another hour, they undock from the MMETV at Martian sunset. They orbit the planet twice, to gain sufficient distance from the MMETV, before the descent orbit is reached. When that fateful orbit begins, Houston holds the most important poll it's ever had to perform. All is well, and both Mission Control and the astronauts are GO for landing on Mars.

    The four engines of the Descent Vehicle fire up as they cross into daylight, firing for about 45 seconds before shutting off. After which, Eileen Collins pulls a lever that initiates the deployment of the inflatable heatshield. This is a critical component that was demonstrated successfully with the landings of the Ascent Vehicle, Habitat, and EERM, but now it faces its most important test. The heatshield deploys successfully, and the Descent Vehicle rips through the Martian atmosphere, with now over a billion people across the world watching, who are still seeing a 14-minute-old feed due to the communications delay. This is the most difficult part of the landing, the astronauts have to do it entirely themselves, and they will not be able to communicate with Mission Control until they land. All four astronauts have trained for this, and they are now acting on those instincts they have acquired in the past four years of training.

    After re-entry, the heatshield is ejected by a series of solid rocket motors that propel the heatshield forward and out of the way. The Descent Vehicle’s engines then light up again to bleed off the remaining velocity so that the parachutes can be safely deployed.

    At 5 kilometers up, the first drag chutes are deployed, and the Descent Vehicle switches to running on two of its engines. These first drag chutes are deployed until 1.5km, at which point they are cut and the engines throttle up momentarily as the main parachutes are released and unfurled. The engines throttle back down, and the Descent Vehicle coasts gently to the surface under three large parachutes. At this point, Mission Control is watching the latter part of re-entry, knowing that the astronauts are actually nearly to the surface. It is a tense time, they know it is entirely up to the astronauts to address problems now, and Mission Control can do nothing to help them. Nevertheless, at 100 meters, the parachutes are released, and the engines throttle up to complete the final phase of landing. It’s now or never, as Eileen Collins carefully watches through her landing cameras to guide herself and her fellow astronauts onto the surface of the red planet.

    75.
    50.
    25.
    15.
    10.
    5.
    CONTACT.

    The engines shut off instantly, and the crew hold their breath. The creaking of the landing legs stabilizing stops, and they look out their window to see Martian hills in the distance. They’re speechless, but Collins manages to get herself together and turns on the radio to send home a message.

    “Houston… Magellan… we’ve uh… made it to Mars. Magellan has landed.”
    
    It takes this message 14 minutes to reach Earth, but when it does, Mission Control erupts with cheers and applause like it never has before. The press outside join in as well, the whole world does. For the first time ever, humans are landed on the surface of another planet.

    At this point, the astronaut's procedure is to wait for Mission Control’s reply, which will give them the go-ahead to begin their first EVA. It comes 15 minutes and 32 seconds later, with CAPCOM Bill McArthur’s voice nearly drowned out by the celebrations.

    “We hear you loud and clear from 15 minutes ago, Magellan. You’re clear to proceed with your operations. Check-in by 60 minutes.”

    By tradition, Commander Bob Cabana would be the first onto the surface. However, he decides that Eileen, having piloted all of them to the surface safely, should get the honor of being the first human being to set foot on another planet. With that, Eileen Collins will make history.

    All of the astronauts get suited up, the new Martian EMUs are a deep blue to help themselves be more visible amongst the rusty orange and hazy grey of Mars. Their first EVA will be a short 350 meter walk to the Habitat where the EERM rover was autonomously parked. They will retrieve the rover to help them unload cargo from the Descent Vehicle, which is packed heavily on its lower decks with everything they’ll need.

    But of course, like Apollo 11, this isn’t about that. It’s about the symbolism,
    This is about Eileen’s Step.

    Eileen Collins would open the Descent Vehicle’s hatch 2 and a half hours after landing. She looks out amongst what could only be described as a windswept plain, hills on each side. She attaches her harness to the ladder steps down the side of the Descent Vehicle, and starts her way down. Cabana flicks a switch in the cabin that unfolds the landing leg ladder that will bring her down to the surface. She steadily climbs, one rung at a time.

    At the final rung, Collins takes a moment to reflect. Her next step is one for the history book.

    “Alright, well… Houston I’m on the last rung, and I must say I’ve never seen anything like this place. There’s only so much training in the desert and on Arctic Islands that can prepare you for what this place is like. It’s truly alien to me.”

    “Guess I can’t keep you all back on Earth waiting any longer. I’m stepping off now.”

    “...”

    “I guess I’m not as good with words as Neil was, but I can tell you, that step meant more to me than any other I’ve ever taken.”

    “Today we’ve accomplished the dream of countless generations. I’m sure Carl [Sagan] would be thrilled to see us accomplish this. I hope those Apollo 11 guys don’t mind us one-upping them either.”

    As the rest of the Magellan 2 crew reach the surface and deliver their own remarks, they have cemented themselves as heroes, and as icons of space exploration. But their story is just the beginning of Martian exploration, and it is the culmination of the past 40 years.

    NASA now operates a base on the Moon, a fleet of reusable Shuttles, and is capable of sending people to Mars. The agency has become a testament to what humans can do when we dedicate ourselves to peaceful avenues of exploration, and what our minds can achieve. The world has faced tragedy, and hardship, in the past 40 years, but space exploration has remained a shining beacon of hope for better days.

    Eileen, Bob, Greg, and Linda would return to Earth on September 1st, 1999. With Space Shuttle Discovery landing them safely at the KSC. In their time away, NASA began assembling the Harmony space station, the successor to Skylab, and the largest multinational engineering project in history. The Soviet Federative Republic would dissolve into new democratic states, including a democratic Russian Federation.

    The X-33, the forerunner to VentureStar and the next generation of reusable launch vehicles, was now being built, the Shuttles were redeeming themselves in the twilight of their careers, flying regularly to service Hubble, launch research satellites, and assemble the Harmony space station. They were for so many years the great protagonist, but their story, like many, is just one woven into a complex and multi-faceted timeline that has ushered humanity into the Age of Exploration.

    President Al Gore would be present at the return of the Magellan 2 crew, and he would declare space exploration as one of his administration’s priorities, alongside pursuing environmental safety public welfare. Present also was George H.W. Bush, the man who kept Magellan on the good side of Congress through political maneuvering and consistent campaigning in its favor.

    Politics and space exploration are interwoven, but it wouldn’t truly be possible without the tens of thousands of men and women who dedicated their lives to advancing technology, to living on the edge of what is known to be possible, and to making great sacrifices for the pursuit of scientific knowledge.

    This story isn’t meant to be a simple what-if, it’s a showcase of what we can truly achieve as humanity, even through Cold War rivalry and political infighting, we can unite behind the cause of space exploration, the cause of scientific achievement, the cause of building a better world for everyone to live in.

    This was the first story I’ve ever written, and it’s taken me nearly three years to finish, but it’s taught me so much about how to creatively express myself, how to learn from other creative people, and how to make something you’re proud of.

    Thank you. Thank you for the support, the kindness, and the words of encouragement. 

You have been reading One Giant Leap: An Alternate History of Space Exploration.

Edited August 12 by track

[Mr. Kerbin]

On 8/11/2024 at 2:46 PM, track said:

The Finale is coming!

OGL will be wrapping up with the next part. ...needs to end, and I've decided it will be wrapped up neatly with the first human landing on Mars, with the finale coming very soon.

Thank you for all of the support over the past two and a half years, it means a lot. 

 

20 hours ago, track said:

and it’s taken me nearly three years to finish

Wait a minute, you mean to say it's over????? But,  but I want to see the VentureStar fly for the first time! See the Harmony station be assembled! NOOOOOOO!!!!!! 

Jokes aside, it was a great story while it lasted.

[track]

2 hours ago, Mr. Kerbin said:

 

Wait a minute, you mean to say it's over????? But,  but I want to see the VentureStar fly for the first time! See the Harmony station be assembled! NOOOOOOO!!!!!! 

Jokes aside, it was a great story while it lasted.

Funny you mention that!

The narrative is over, but I plan to make the "OGL Bonus Tapes" that will cover some of the things that were too into the future to be seen in the story's timeline!

Keep an eye out for those. They won't be anything major, but they will cover some notable missions and moments!

[Mr. Kerbin]

4 hours ago, track said:

Funny you mention that!

The narrative is over, but I plan to make the "OGL Bonus Tapes" that will cover some of the things that were too into the future to be seen in the story's timeline!

Keep an eye out for those. They won't be anything major, but they will cover some notable missions and moments!

Nice. But, uh, will you do like some other mission report now too or not? Just asking, as this was all you really did on the forum.

[track]

1 hour ago, Mr. Kerbin said:

Nice. But, uh, will you do like some other mission report now too or not? Just asking, as this was all you really did on the forum.

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

[TwoCalories]

On 8/11/2024 at 6:32 PM, track said:

You have been reading One Giant Leap: An Alternate History of Space Exploration.

I came here very late, but it's been a pleasure reading this report! It'll always be a great source of inspiration for me.

[track]

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

[track]

Tape One: Harmony

    In 1991, Skylab was deorbited after 17 whole years in orbit and over 20 successful 200-day crewed expeditions. It’s hard to replace such an iconic station, but NASA and its international partners began that undertaking in the late 1980s as Skylab’s retirement was quickly approaching. Several variations (and a last-minute change) would culminate in the eloquently named Space Station Harmony, to be built cooperatively by the US, Canada, the UK, Europe, and Japan. This station design is larger, and far more advanced than Skylab. However, at least visually, it is very similar to Skylab, including using a truss structure and large sun-tracking solar arrays. Harmony also has a large central module inspired by the Skylab orbital workshop, in fact, it’s larger than the Skylab orbital workshop, by length and diameter. Thus, being such a large and critical component, it couldn’t just be labeled an ordinary module, no, it’s a Supermodule.

    The Supermodule, given the name Perseverance, is the station's first component and will provide the vast majority of the living and working space for the crew. Connected to its forward area is a section known as the Multi-Node, on all four sides it has “Common Berthing Mechanism” or CBM ports. These ports will be used to connect all of the station’s modules. Unlike with Skylab, the Shuttle’s involvement from the beginning will mean that these modules can be connected through manipulation by robotic arms, thus the usage of berthing (where a station or craft captures an incoming vehicle by some method and connects it to itself) instead of docking (where the incoming vehicle connects itself via its propulsion). While this may seem less advanced, it will allow for easier rearrangement of the station, which will be necessary to achieve the final configuration. Harmony will require at minimum 25 assembly missions, not including regular resupply. Which, speaking of resupply…

    Since the majority of the Shuttle flights to the station will be assembly missions, Japan has committed to developing an autonomous resupply vehicle, which will be named Kounotori. Kounotori will be launched aboard the new evolution of the country’s H-II rocket, named H-IIA. Through this, primary resupply responsibility outside of the Space Shuttle has been delegated to Japan, a major source of pride for their aerospace industry as they are a key partner of NASA in this project.

    But one more thing is very much bothering NASA as the Supermodule’s launch grows nearer in mid-1998. They have no solution for an immediate crew return vehicle in the event of an emergency. When the Shuttle leaves, the crew is effectively stuck in orbit. However, ESA arrives with a solution that can be implemented quickly. With some additional help from NASA, they can bring back their Multi-Purpose Crew System, and utilize it as an interim CRV until NASA’s plans for a commercially built return vehicle can be realized. MPCS has not flown since 1994, but several have been kept in good condition in storage, and it could be launched on Ariane 4, 5, or the Space Shuttle. NASA ultimately decides to launch it on the Space Shuttle, and ESA begins modifications to create the MPCS Block III. Since it will launch on the Shuttle, it will need no service module, just a power/data fixture for a remote manipulator to grab it and connect it to the station, and thrusters for attitude control and de-orbit. Block III will have batteries for up to 5 days in orbit solo.

    With resupply and emergency crew return sorted through international partners, NASA begins the pre-launch processes on June 20th, 1999, when the brand new Pegasus barge brings the Supermodule from its assembly location at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans (the only component of Harmony to be built there) to the offloading point at Cape Canaveral. The Supermodule is then brought into the Stacking and Assembly Building, which with far more reuse now for Orpheus and Magellan, mainly serves as a storage facility rather than an overflow building. However, one of its work cells was converted into a payload integration area, and it is where LTVs and the two halves of the MMETV are integrated into the Jupiter rocket’s payload fairings. It serves the same purpose here for the Supermodule, as it is lifted and secured onto the payload mount and enclosed in the fairings on July 10th, 1999.

    Meanwhile, stacking of the Jupiter 524-A rocket for the Supermodule’s launch is well underway at that point in High Bay 4. The SRBs, the core stage, and the upper stage are fully stacked by the beginning of July, and umbilical retraction tests are completed on July 6th. With those steps completed, the enclosed Supermodule is transited to the VAB and lifted atop its launch vehicle on July 28th, 1999.

    The completed stack sits in the VAB for a few more days as further tests are completed. Then, on August 14th, the Supermodule and its Jupiter rocket roll out to LC-39C in the middle of the night, when the Florida weather is calmest. Mobile Launch Platform-1, celebrating 34 years since its completion, is set down at 39C just as the sun rises over a Florida summer day.

    The launch is scheduled for August 26th, just a few days before the crew of Magellan 2 is returned by Space Shuttle Discovery. The MMETV enters its parking orbit back around Earth after the first human mission to Mars on August 24th, as the Supermodule and its Jupiter rocket continue their pre-launch tests and preparations.

    Finally, the spotlight is on Harmony, as the Supermodule is lifted into orbit by its Jupiter launch vehicle on the humid morning of August 26th, 1999.

    Upon reaching orbit over the Canadian province of Newfoundland, the Supermodule deploys its Roll-Out Solar Arrays (ROSAs) and begins sending data to ground tracking stations. The Supermodule will sit in orbit alone for about a month, as NASA ties up the loose ends with Magellan 2’s return.

    Following the successful return of the Magellan 2 crew, and their historic ticker-tape parade through Pennsylvania Avenue on September 20th, Space Shuttle Challenger prepares with a crew of its own for the first mission to Space Station Harmony.

    This is Challenger’s first flight since its second Orbiter Maintenance Down Period (OMDP), which installed the “glass cockpit” upgrade that brings the orbiters into the digital age with advanced Multi-Function Displays. General maintenance was also done, replacing a few hundred tiles, several nitrogen tanks, and a few miles of wiring and electrical connections. Challenger was also given a swanky new livery, basically inverting the positions of the red NASA worm logo (which is now NASA’s official primary logo) and the US flag, with the US flag now above the orbiter name on the right wing, and the NASA worm on the right wing by itself. Challenger also had the LRSI tiles on its wings and aero surfaces removed and replaced with the thermal blankets that are present on Discovery and Atlantis. Challenger is the second to receive this upgrade package and livery change after Atlantis was given it following its mission launching the Magellan 2 crew into orbit.

    The mission for Challenger and the crew is to deliver the Communications and Control Unit (CCU) to the station, as well as the first Pressurized Mating Adapter, and other important pieces of hardware that will be crucial for when the station begins continuous habitation. The CCU is a large block that will house comms equipment, as well as very large gyroscopes to help control the station’s orientation.

    Challenger arrives at the launchpad on September 18th, and the CCU is loaded into the payload bay on the 22nd. The crew runs through the rehearsals on the 24th, and then the big day comes on the 28th, when Challenger and a crew of 7 lift off into cloudy morning skies, heading for Space Station Harmony.

    The launch is rather uneventful, as Challenger’s 32nd launch into orbit goes smoothly. The crew takes about 24 hours to reach Harmony in orbit, after which they begin docking operations as they near the station.

    The docking is somewhat precarious, as Challenger had to first install the Pressurized Mating Adapter (PMA) port while in close proximity to the Supermodule, after which the Shuttle could back up and re-approach for a docking similar to how it docked to Skylab, only with the new style of androgynous docking port. Once this is completed, the crew of Challenger are the first to enter the vast spaces of the Supermodule. Since the Supermodule was launched on such a large rocket, most of its interior is already fitted out, save for a few bits that need to be installed such as the payload racks and whatnot. Therefore, the crew already have access to much better sleeping and hygiene areas than on the Space Shuttle, as the Supermodule has a fully functioning shower much like Skylab in addition to private sleeping areas. The next day, the crew spent their time preparing for the installation of the Comms and Control Unit, as they perform a 6-hour spacewalk installing electronics on the outside of the Supermodule. Flight Day 5 sees the CCU finally connected to the station through a rather wonky procedure, as Challenger’s modified Canadarm separates from the Shuttle, attaches to the station, and lifts the CCU out of the Shuttle payload bay and atop the Supermodule.

    The next two days are spent tidying up work and outfitting the station with more equipment. On Flight Day 9, Challenger undocks from a now operational Space Station Harmony, leaving its modified Canadarm behind as a temporary measure until the much more advanced permanent system for Harmony arrives in 2001. Challenger lands safely at Edwards Air Force Base the next day, concluding the first Shuttle mission to the station. 

    The next mission carries supplies as well as the MPCS to begin continuous habitation of Harmony. Atlantis launches with a crew of 7, leaving three of them on station. 3 astronauts will be the initial expedition size, increasing back to the Skylab size of 5 astronauts once the station is more established. The next module to be launched is actually two of them, ESA’s Ariane 5 rocket launches the Twin Modules in January 2000 as the new millennium kicks off, which are a set of two identical laboratories that are connected to two of the forward berthing ports on the Supermodule. They are one of ESA’s primary contributions outside of the MPCS and will house more specialized equipment for research.

    Following the arrival of the Twin Modules, Space Shuttle Discovery visits the station for the first time in April 2000, carrying the first of the four large solar arrays that the station will eventually have. This one is installed atop the CCU, where it has a berthing port. This is a temporary location, and it will be relocated once the truss is fully built and the inner solar array it will be attached to arrives. The deployment of this solar array greatly increases the power output of the station and prepares it for the next phase of assembly.

    In August of 2000, Columbia launches to Harmony carrying the CORE Truss segment, the CORE segment, as the name suggests, is the centerpiece and core of the Integrated Truss Structure for Space Station Harmony. It is mounted atop the Supermodule on a piece delivered by Challenger on that first Shuttle visit. The segment itself is nothing too notable, but it does mark the beginning of a very important part of Harmony’s assembly.

    More notable arrivals occur next, as Challenger returns to the station in February 2001 to both collect its old Canadarm and bring the new Canadarm2, which is a much more advanced and somewhat larger version of the Shuttle’s Canadarm. For now, it will walk around the station utilizing the Power/Data fixtures until the next arrival.

    Atlantis launches on STS-144 in July 2001 bringing the Mobile Base System which is a rail-based system that will allow the Canadarm to move from one end of Harmony’s truss to the other when fully completed. For now, it will only allow more limited movement as the CORE truss is the only segment on the station, but this ability will be critical for relocating the Starboard Array 2 that currently sits atop the CCU.

    Completing this phase of assembly is the delivery of the Curiosity Module by Columbia in October 2001, which is arranged on the forward part of the Supermodule, meaning the Shuttle will now dock to the Curiosity module.

    It is around this time, though, that NASA’s funding goes into a mild crisis. President Gore has continually protected NASA due to his belief in the value of its programs for science and protecting Earth’s climate, but NASA requests an additional 3 billion dollars in its budget for 2002, totaling 39.7 billion dollars in today’s money for 2002 total funding. NASA needs every dollar, though. The agency is offloading many costs through commercial programs for Orpheus’ crew vehicle and at last a replacement for the aging and unnecessarily large ALSM lander. Magellan is less of a factor here as it only needs a tanker flight for the MMETV, the two MSVs, and the Shuttle launch for the next mission to Mars, but the price is still quite high as the program is what Congress now likes to call “non-frequent”. At this time NASA’s RLV program is finally kicking into gear as well as the sub-scale Lockheed X-33 is performing atmospheric landing tests similar to the Space Shuttle’s in the 1970s. Couple this with the few probe missions and a handful of Earth-based science missions that NASA funds each year, and every single bit of funding is crucial.

    NASA though, as mentioned, has a powerful lobby in Congress, headed by President Gore. It supports hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country, and the bigger its operations are, the more money it contributes to the economy, and the less the budget crushers in Congress can complain about the agency. NASA learned to play the political game back in the 70s and 80s, and it’s not an agency to be messed with in terms of its funding. NASA also gets frequent support from the DoD on budget matters, as the two work closely together on many projects, especially nuclear power in space.

    So, with that powerful lobby in mind and NASA’s plentiful reasons for needing its funding, they manage to win the battle for an extra 3 billion dollars, slated for funding Harmony and keeping several Earth-science projects afloat.

    Harmony assembly continues in January 2002, as the second Pressurized Mating Adapter is delivered to the station by STS-149 and Space Shuttle Discovery. This additional PMA will allow NASA to forego the previous undocked shenanigans to install certain elements that need to be positioned where the Shuttle is docked, which is much more difficult and risky. Following this in May is Challenger's delivery of the Quest Airlock. The Quest Airlock allows for EVAs to finally be done on the station without requiring a Shuttle to be present so that the astronauts can use its external airlock. This is one of the “Critical Independence” components, as they are essential to the station’s continual function in orbit by itself without the presence of the Shuttle. At this point, Harmony only relies on the Space Shuttle for periodic boosting of its orbit, in the same way Skylab relied on it in that way after the Apollo spacecraft’s retirement. Harmony will eventually receive boost modules so that it can boost its orbit, but that is a later-phase addition.

    Work on this fourth phase of assembly is continued with the launch of the S1 Truss in July and then the P1 truss in September. The S1 truss is the 1st truss on the starboard (right) side of the CORE Truss, and thus the name. The same goes for the P1 truss, it is the first on the port (left) side of it. These truss segments are not simply just trusses though, not only do they extend the rail for the Mobile Base System, but they also carry the massive triple radiators that will be critical for the station’s thermal management as it grows larger and larger. These radiators are more advanced and modern versions of the ones attached to Skylab’s truss. Columbia then launches to the station in October, delivering supplies and several internal components, and NASA declares that the fourth phase of Harmony’s assembly is completed upon her return to Earth.

    Phase 5 begins in earnest at the beginning of 2003, as Atlantis delivers the S2 truss in February. The S2 Truss is a more unusual piece, as it is mainly an adapter from the semi-hexagonal shape of the central three trusses to the fully hexagonal shape of the rotating joint base of the inner solar array that has yet to be delivered. The S2 will also be the mounting point for the propulsion modules and external carrier racks as well.

    In May of 2003, Columbia delivers Starboard Array 1. This array is different from Array 1 as it sits on a rotating joint that allows it to track the sun in two dimensions, with the solar arrays themselves being able to rotate. When Starboard Array 2 is relocated to the end of Array 1 it will be rotated as well by this joint. Array 2’s starboard panel, however, is retracted and deactivated after Columbia leaves the station to allow Array 1 to rotate freely without a potential collision between the two arrays. This leaves the station in a rather odd configuration for the time being, with 3 deployed solar arrays (not counting the 2 arrays on the Supermodule).

    The next addition is not a contribution from the United States, it’s not even launched by the Shuttle. It is the UK’s big contribution to the station, the UK Lab. This module has a rather interesting story that is worth telling. The UK Space Agency has always played second fiddle in Europe to ESA. Still, they are a major source of national pride for the UK, a country that has seen its global influence significantly reduced since World War II's end. The UK’s efforts in space, similar to the US, unite the country and within the halls of Parliament it is generally a well-supported government endeavour. However, the UK Lab is quite large, and the even larger US Supermodule is part of the station, which led to many of the more fiscally minded MPs in the British government questioning why such a large module is being contributed when a much more modest and specialized module could be contributed. However, the UKSA has made it very clear that they want independent access to space for Britain. Even more members of Parliament have argued that the British could take advantage of a burgeoning private spaceflight industry and that the UK Lab should be large enough for the UK to be able to bring up private scientists and maybe even tourists to bankroll other projects. This, of course, led to a bunch of “spirited debate” in Parliament, but ultimately the UK Lab was ever so slightly downsized in a compromise that left everyone just a little bit upset, but preserved the independent on-station capabilities of the British.

    In a somewhat painful moment for British pride, however, because the UK Lab is so large, the British Comet rockets cannot lift it into orbit. Britain’s largest rocket at this point is Comet 3A, which can carry about 8 tons to orbit if you push it. But, thankfully, the UK did collaborate with ESA on developing the Ariane 5 rocket, in fact, due to British experiences with Comet, many of the components of Ariane 5’s SRBs are made in the UK. This collaboration has so far been very helpful, allowing Britain to avoid the expense of developing a larger launch vehicle, and it has enabled a proper UK contribution to Space Station Harmony. Ariane 5 launches the UK Lab and its US-built orbital tug into orbit on August 15th, 2003, and it reaches the station on August 17th, when it is grabbed by the Canadarm 2, and berthed to the station. The UK Lab is officially the heaviest object ever moved by the Canadarm 1 or 2, weighing 18 tons in its launch configuration. PMA 2 is relocated to the nadir (earth-facing) port of the UK lab a few days later on the 22nd.

    The Space Shuttle comes back into the picture a month later in September. Discovery launches to the station carrying the P2 truss, the equivalent of the S2 truss, just for the port side. A few weeks later in October, Challenger lifts off with Port Array 1, attaching it to the station 2 days after arriving at the station, on October 29th. With the attachment of the port array, Starboard Array 2, still atop the CCU, is fully retracted and inactive. It stays this way for about a month, until early December when the capabilities of the Mobile Base System are put to the test, and the entire array is relocated to the end of Starboard Array 1.

    The Mobile Base System travels with the Canadarm2 and the array to the starboard side of the truss, and the array is successfully relocated on December 3rd, 2003. The arrays are then slowly unfolded the next day, completing the process of relocation. This asymmetrical look of two arrays on one side and a single on the other is not lost on NASA, and side-by-sides of Skylab and Harmony are published on NASA’s now somewhat navigable website.

    The next phase of assembly, though, is quite intensive. Slated next is the assembly of the Japanese Experiment Module, which will require 3 separate Shuttle launches to fully assemble. The JEM module is very very unique, and it is the crown jewel of Japan’s many contributions to the station. JEM will have an exposed platform and its own smaller version of the Canadarm2, which will allow modular exposed experiment pallets to be connected and exposed to the environment of outer space for however long is desired, and then returned by the Shuttle to Earth for evaluation, or just simply monitored from the station. The JEM module will also have its “hat”, which is a short cylindrical module intended to store equipment and other necessary things for the JEM module and other parts of the station.

    First, however, NASA is ready to complete Harmony’s truss. In March 2004, Discovery launches to the station, carrying Port Array 2. With its installation and deployment on March 10th to the 11th, the highly complex Integrated Truss Structure (ITS) has finally been completed. The truss structure would not have been possible without the unique capabilities of the Space Shuttle, and it is a testament to what the vehicle is capable of, even now in the twilight of its career.

    The old Shuttles are still far from done, though, they will complete the station from here, and they have their work cut out for them. Harmony won’t be complete without many small and seemingly insignificant but essential components. One of these is important for guaranteeing Harmony’s independence from the Shuttle, these are the Propulsion Units. They are two moderately sized containers that attach to connector ports on the aft of the S2 and P2 trusses. They have several small RCS thrusters that can control the attitude of the station, but they primarily serve the purpose of allowing Harmony to boost its orbit. The Space Shuttle is currently the only method of boosting the station, and Harmony having its own refuelable propulsion units will allow the station to stay in orbit as long as there is a method of getting more fuel into orbit to keep the PUs topped off.

    Both of these propulsion units are launched by Atlantis on STS-164 in August 2004. They’re attached to the S2 and P2 trusses by the Canadarm, and then a spacewalk by astronauts Duane Carey and Scott Kelly attaches necessary electrical components and other hardware that fully integrates the propulsion units with the station. Atlantis departs the station on August 30th, and a few days later on September 4th, they perform their first-ever reboost of Harmony’s orbit (the Supermodule has thrusters that performed slight boosts from 1999-2002 but they are no longer used for that purpose).

    Just a few weeks later, Discovery delivers PMA 3 and supplies to the station, meaning all of the Pressurized Mating Adapters have been installed on the station, allowing for the maximum amount of docked vessels at last.

    The main part of this assembly phase begins in earnest in December 2004, as Columbia launches on STS-166 with the Pressurized Module and its Remote Manipulator System (RMS) for the Japanese Experiment Module, which is nicknamed Kibō, the Japanese word for hope. The module will only be partially operable for now, but it can be outfitted and worked in without the logistics module and the external platform.

    The next component of the JEM, the Logistics Module, is launched by Challenger in February 2005. Challenger also carries several other bits on this mission, a second communications dish for the CCU, and the first two External Logistics Carriers. These carriers are capable of carrying scientific or engineering payloads like the JEM external platform, but they can also carry hardware for spacewalks and other station equipment. 4 of them in total will be brought to the station, but this first one was ready in time to be launched with the JEM logistics modules.

    Kibo is completed with the launch of Discovery with the External Experiment Platform on STS-169 in June 2005. Discovery also carries a litany of external payloads that will be the first ones attached to the platform. The platform is fully set up as Discovery departs on June 19th, and Phase 7 of Harmony’s assembly is complete, the penultimate phase.

    The final phase, Phase 8, is simply outfitting the station and preparing it for its “Core Complete” status, which is the station fully complete to its 1996 specification. However, there is one more module…

    JEM may be the crown jewel of Japan’s contributions to the station, but one could easily make an argument for this module instead: the Centrifuge Accommodations Module. This module carries a large centrifuge at its aft, which is capable of exposing experiments to up to 2g of gravity. It was originally considered to put a large centrifuge in the Supermodule, but this was ultimately moved to a special module built by Japan, as the Supermodule was moved more towards living and general working space.

    The module is launched by Atlantis on November 10th, 2005 on STS-171, and it is the last pressurized element of the station, meaning Harmony has reached its complete habitable volume!

    With this major milestone, the next Shuttle mission is performed by Columbia, and it carries supplies and another External Logistics Carrier to the station in January 2006.

    STS-173 is then the final mission of Space Station Harmony’s assembly. Challenger launches in March 2006 carrying the last External Logistics Carrier to the station, and several spacewalks are performed outfitting the station to be fully ready for operations. Harmony’s “Core Complete” mission will now extend another decade, until at least 2016, but the station is in good enough shape to go well beyond that.

    It cannot be overstated the international contribution to Project Harmony, the official NASA name for the station’s development. NASA simply would not have had the funding or the schedule necessary to develop all of the pressurized modules and components for the station, and they would’ve had to resort to a much smaller design with similar capabilities to Skylab’s orbital workshop. Still, Space Station Harmony, through 15 years of full development and assembly, cost roughly 120 billion dollars adjusted for inflation. Running a Mars, Moon, and new spacecraft program alongside this was extremely straining on NASA’s budget, and things like interplanetary spacecraft suffered greatly due to the focus on human spaceflight. Japan, though, picked up the slack, launching two missions to Venus and Mercury, respectively. Japan is also now collaborating with NASA on a Galileo follow-up mission to Jupiter, and there are finally plans to make a mission to succeed Iapyx orbiting Saturn, which has now been part of Saturn itself for 10 years by the time Harmony is completed.

    The Shuttle, too, gave the last of its might to complete Harmony. Following STS-173, just five flights remain on the manifest, what NASA is calling the “loose ends” campaign that will see the Shuttle service Hubble a final time, and resupply and rotate the crew of Harmony a few times as well as performing a breakthrough radar topography mission.

    But, of course, the next generation is well on its way, and as Harmony is being completed, and the Shuttles are preparing for their victory lap and retirement, their much-anticipated successor is getting up and going…

Bonus Tape Two: The Reusable Launch Vehicle, is next.