Let's play: Buzz Aldrin's Race Into Space

[FaxModem1]

Cheer up Comrade Director, though things are looking grim for us now, the Muricans are growing over confident, soon they will reach too far and fall horribley, we have seen them do so once already.

So let us just keep plugging away through adversity da? Is the Zenobian way.

You know things are bad when the political officer is trying to cheer everyone up.

[Akhlut]

Manshuk will volunteer for any and all death-defying missions available. His TexanBoratistani hubrisconfidence and icy nerves will lead him to success where others would experience nothing but fiery death!

[PeZook]

Man, the Chief Designer sure has no shortage of volunteers

[doom3607]

FIne. I'll try to come up with something to keep the astronaut funny, then...

[Simon_Jester]

It's the Chief Designer who's depressed; he's a natural pessimist and the long string of bad luck over the past three years is really getting to him. The cosmonauts are brave, but the program is unlikely to survive two disasters in a row- budget cuts will make it nearly impossible to reach the Moon in a timely fashion unless the Murcans suffer tremendously.

PeZook, I just took a big hit to EVA suit reliability, what is it now? Somewhere around 60-70%?

What if it doesn't work but the cosomonaut is crazy enough to think it does? Stuff happening as if by luck, that sort of thing.

Proper Marxist-Lennonist thinking denies the existence of all deities, including those squamous and rugose. Any individual claiming to practice some form of supernatural abilities is a priori mentally unstable and thus unfit for the cosmonaut program.

So Nikov and Faaabio are making their orbital shot next season, yes?

I'm seriously considering it. The problem that preys on my mind is that with 81-82% capsule reliability next season, the odds of success are quite unfavorable, so a big part of me would like to give it another season or two of testing. But waiting even a full year only boosts the odds of success by another 5-10%... aaargh.

Still thinking. May say "fuck it" and take the gamble, may delay and accept that Nikov will probably leave the program before Voskhod is ready. I'm just not sure.

[doom3607]

So he can't be a Cthulhu-worshipper, even if he's dead wrong about Cthulhu existing. Well, here's hoping I can find a route to silliness that avoids the gay jokes...

And here's hoping the next orbital shot doesn't go boom. Good luck avoiding explosions, simon.

[OmegaChief]

It's starting to look a bit like a "Damned if we do, Damned if we don't" situation Simon, if we hold out for mroe testing we loose our crews and the other side screams even further into the lead.

If we launch and screw up, we're in an even worse position.

If we launch and succeed though, it'll close the gap somewhat and when the next disaster happens to the Muricans we might be able to pull ahead again, espeically if the forecast about things lightening up for us is true.

While the choice is yours, my gut instinct in this case is to cast the dice, we might get a failure and mess up, but if we don't launch our program is going to get a setback anyway, either way we loose, so why don't we take the option of loosing that gives us a chance (No matter how small) of winning?

[Akhlut]

Pavylyvych needs to understand why his program was failing before: no Boratistanis! Now that you have one in the program, it is bound to work!

"Like the saying goes, comrade, 'if a Boratistani can't do it, it isn't worth doing!'"

[Simon_Jester]

I really want a number on that EVA suit, by the way... seriously considering making my Voskhod flight an EVA since that doesn't hurt milestones.

[PeZook]

Sorry, I forgot to get the screncap.

It's at 67%

[Simon_Jester]

Doing a few fluff pieces to pick up my spirits- decisions are being made, but I really want to get them out on my own time here, hoping it'll all gel for me. Should still be able to wrap it all up before Too Late Warsaw Time, but I dunno.

Anyway, this is about cosmonaut management; I'll talk about mission assignments and hardware in a later post.

---

Baikonurek Cosmodrome
Cafeteria, Cosmonaut Center

Gzregorz Brzęczyszczykiewicz sat down to breakfast, only to feel a hand like a large, friendly vise clamp on his shoulder. He looked back, and even before he'd finished the turn he recognized the distinctive knuckle hair.

"Comrade Vanko?"

"Da. I wanted to alert you, after mishap the other day, destroying experimental prototype suit. Is forgiven, is my own fault for not checking seal performance. Next suit, design will work, more robust. But significant excessive pressure in torso, could cross-contaminate breathing supplies, da? Be warned."

"..."

"Talk to medical. Maybe eat less carbs. Whatever. I am not doctor. Anyway, bon appetit!"

Gzregorz looked down at his breakfast, in a contemplative fashion.

---

Baikonurek Cosmodrome
Extravehicular Excursion Lab

Ivan Ivan Ivanovich hadn't really wanted to come back to the Cosmodrome; too many bad memories. The lobectomy had taken out his cancer, as far as the doctors were concerned... and left him permanently, irretrievably grounded. No one would take a cosmonaut up with 80% lung function. But the letters from the new head of the Extravehicular Excursion Lab, Dr. Vanko, had been quite insistent. And now, here he was.

"Comrade Ivanovich!"

"What is it, doctor?"

"Have heard stories about you. Can design the suits all I want, but making the thing vacuum-safe, not enough. Will be taking this thing up in the next few years; need suits a man can work in, not just float around in middle of literal nowhere. Need someone who thinks like operator, to help work out procedures."

"...I don't like it."

"You are... uniquely qualified- engineering training, experience with early suits yourself."

"All my microgravity experience was in an airplane! I never flew!"

Vanko barked a laugh. "There are two men with extended weightlessness experience. One of them is on other side of world. I talked to the other. Good man. Not an engineer, not even a bit. So talk to me."

"..."

The lab chief just stood there, arms folded.

"...All right. The first thing we need is some way to do the training properly- a flotation setup, a good one..."

Author's note: I'd like to keep Ivanovich on in the advisory role for a while if you don't mind, though obviously he's totally, totally grounded

---

Baikonurek Cosmodrome
April 1964

Syrgy Pavylyvych smiled at one of the office secretaries. "Thank you for the tea, Irina, could you please stay around for a minute to take notes? I need to muse."

The secretary nodded. "Of course."

"Biggest upcoming matter, the crews for Voskhod. We need to divide our men into pilots and mission specialists. What about Brzęczyszczykiewicz? Hmmm..." As a matter of principle, Syrgy had practiced that name until he could get it right without stumbling; when the man who might well have saved your life became one of your cosmonauts, what else could you do?

"I don't know; he has... problems with the suits."

"Really? That's not good."

"But he's very good at docking." Something about the way Irina said that made Syrgy scratch his head, but he shook it off and kept going.

"Hmm. Yebanov, perhaps? Then again, maybe not... let's see, who stood out in reports... ah, yes, I remember! Heheheh..."

"Sir?"

"The Boratstani! He's been doing quite well on suit exercises, as well as Comrade Faaabio or most of the others, at least. So, new teams. I want our best capsule pilots operating- Nikov still, though I worry about the lad, so much grousing... Digaditch, Yorgi Karzanovski-"

"Sir, Comrade Karzanovski still protests that Yorgi isn't his real name."

"If he didn't want to be Yorgi, he shouldn't have let the deadline for submitting a first name slip. As far as I'm concerned, if he wasn't Yorgi before, he is now!"

"If you say so, Comrade Pavylyvych..."

"Heh. Anyway, Yorgi is a good pilot, now that he's back from Siberia and ready for training again. Belyayev too; Comrade Pasha strikes me as a good sort. For the mission specialists, Brzęczyszczykiewicz- though then again, hmm. That notwithstanding, we'd want Mametov, Yebanov, good old Faaabio of course. Petrov and Beregovoy... unassigned for now. But they're... yes, I know. Cultivate their skills, get them running the docking simulator- a lot. Make sure the engineers listen to them, they're not the ones who have to fly the things.

---

So I want to reshuffle my Voskhod teams. I would like to move Faaabio away from Nikov and arrange as follows, though this is obviously just guidelines and I know some of these pairings would lead to friction which I don't want:

Nikov/(Mametov OR failing that, Faaabio OR failing that, Belyayev)

(Karzanovski OR Digaditch)/Yebanov

Brzęczyszczykiewicz/(Belyayev OR failing that, Faaabio OR failing that, Mametov)


If Karzanovski does not pair with Yebanov, pair him with Petrov if Petrov works, or anyone suitable.

If Digaditch does not pair with Yebanov, pair him with anyone suitable, since he's a candidate mainly for manned docking missions and who his partner is doesn't really matter for that purpose.

I want Brzęczyszczykiewicz in the mission command slot; he's not a Cap 4 pilot, but him and Digaditch are the only Cap 3 or 4 pilots who have decent docking skill, which matters for Voskhod docking missions.

If Petrov or Beregovoy aren't paired, and I want to try sending them to advanced docking training- if they're going to be useful to an important mission, it'll be in the docking slot as mission specialists for minishuttle operations.



Obviously, some of those pairings won't pan out; if you can manage Nikov/Mametov I'd be obliged, because I have a good feeling about that team and Voskhod 1 (you know what I mean by Voskhod 1, the manned flight not the test shots). If Nikov/Mametov turns out to be an utterly horrible pairing, shuffle around or put Faaabio back in the slot in which case I'm sorry for bothering you about it.

If assembling teams turns out to be impossible on anything like this basis, go ahead, use your own judgment obviously; I'm just trying to get it more or less straightened out-ish.

Any problems?

[Eternal_Freedom]

Johnny calls together his top advisors (I'm looking at you ChaserGrey!).

"Gentleman, we are flushed with success following our orbital flight, and we all hope that the EVA flight goes well. I would like your opinions now upon the future of the program."

"Clearly, it is time to start thinking of how to get to the moon. I am in faour of a reuseable minishuttle, such as this design study." He held up a rough diagram of a shuttlecraft. "But in order to land, we need Lunar reconassance data, and the sooner we get that the better."

"We have a budget of 93 MB. Intitiating the XMS-2 shuttle will cost 55, with a cost of 7 per team. Initiating the Ranger sattelites will cost us 24, and 3 per team. Titan safety factor is at 38%, with a cost of 4 per team."

"If we so wished, we coudl initiate both Ranger and XMS-2, with oen team each at a total cost of 88MB.

However, if we left XMS-2 for a while and focused on recon, we could start Ranger and max out R&D (6 teams) on Ranger and Titan for 66 MB, leaving us with 27MB.

I am in favour of the second option, what do you think gentlemen? And what launches and missions do we want to fly this season or next?"

OOC: PeZook, can I tweak the planned manned mission from EVA/Orbital to EVA/Orbital/Endurance?

[PeZook]

I don't see any problems ;Though I have to be honest: if assembling compatible teams turns out to be too annoying, I'll just go fuck this and hack out cosmonaut moods altogether.

EDIT: I murdered your double post, EF.

And unfortunately no, missions cannot be upgraded, just downgraded once planned and about to be flown.

[FaxModem1]

OOC: I vote for total Titan research and devoting all our money that way, with a few satellite launches to help our prestige. Alternatively, we could focus on EVA and get that thing out of the way.

[Eternal_Freedom]

You're an astronaut, not one of von Braun's top advisors But recommendation noted anyway.

And that's a damn on the no-upgrading missions thing. Thanks PeZook,

[PeZook]

Astronauts do get input on those things, though

[Simon_Jester]

OOC:

Okay, projected reliability of boosted-A is .88*.87=.76. Projected reliability of boosted-A will improve notably as a function of more launches; I expect it to be up to 80% by the time I get to a manned launch in Fall 1964. That is realistically better than I can get Proton up to this year, even throwing every bit of funding I have into it.

EVA suits will be at or very close to max reliability before the Fall 1964 launch season, if I have anything to say about it; it makes a lot of sense to run an EVA mission on my orbital flight. If anything goes wrong with the Murcan schedule, I might get first spacewalk; if not, I at least get credit for second spacewalk. The EVA step is relatively unlikely to be critical, from what I've heard, so it won't add much risk.

IC:
Baikonurek Cosmodrome
GODDAMN UNREAL TIME*
*April 1964 (slightly before previous scene)

Syrgy growled over the reports on the upcoming experimental Voskhod test flights. He didn't like some of what he'd heard about the strap-on boosters attached to the Semyorka, but there was nothing to be done about it. But... wait. Time for one, his next pill, and two, for his conference with the training directorate. He got up, high explosives dissolving under his tongue. His driver was waiting outside, and took him over to the cosmonaut center. Still in a terrible mood

On the lawn, two of the new cosmonauts were bickering loudly and in good humor. Digaditch and... Mametov. Mametov, the bellowing Boratistani cossack, like a figure out of an Eastern*. Mametov, who now turned and strode over to him as he climbed out of the car and began to walk in his stiff, slumped way towards the door.

"Comrade Chief Designer! Cheer up! Cheer up! I have discovered why everything has been going wrong before! No Boratistanis! Now that you have one in the program, it is bound to work! Like the saying goes, comrade, 'if a Boratistani can't do it, it isn't worth doing!' Don't you worry, I'll take care of everything for you!"

Syrgy blinked at the cowboy as if he were a lunatic. Arguably, he was a lunatic. But then a change spread over the Chief Designer's face. Some of the worry lines faded and stretched away as he broke into a thin smile and an understated chuckle- Pavylvych hardly ever laughed loudly, and it pained him to do so. The thought bubbled irresistibly into his mind...

If there is nothing to be done about it, why worry?

It was not entirely with a sense of satisfaction, and surely not a sense of optimism, with which Syrgy Pavylyvych carried out the rest of his day. But the mix of resolution and amor fati running in his mind would do as a substitute, given the nature of the man.

*(This is the Zenobian equivalent of a Western movie, typically set during the Zenobian Civil War

---

Plan Pavylyvych, Spring 1964

Comrades of Baikonurek Cosmodrome! I am pleased to announce that as hoped, we will be launching the new Voskhod capsule into orbit in autumn of this year! Let the Murcans boast about having slavishly copied the achievements of the martyred hero Ivan Ivanov! We will do them one better, by orbiting two men into space!

But other programs must not slacken their efforts. In the near future we expect great developments from the rocket design teams and the Interplanetary Exploration Lab's probe designs, which will be put to the test quite soon.

---

Starting budget: 75 megarubleoids

Hardware Procurement
(All this hardware is for the unmanned test launches this spring)

Purchase 1 Booster Stage
Purchase 2 A-Series Rockets
Purchase 1 Voskhod Capsule

Total cost: 22 MB
Remaining budget: 53 MB

Sacrosanct Hardware Budgeting
I will need to fly more Voskhod missions next season. Buying all the hardware for a launch costs 13 MB using boosted A-Series, which is the most reliable booster available to me this year. Therefore, I am in advance allocating another 26 MB to that, which means this money is not available for R&D.

Remaining budget: 27 MB

Crap.

Research and Development
Chief priority is getting EVA suits up to snuff for the Fall 1964 manned launch, and working the kinks out of the Proton rocket. We are also re-initiating Cosmos research on a small scale, since I'm hoping to launch Cosmos probes next year.

5 MB for 5 teams on EVA Suit research.
3 MB for 1 team on Cosmos Probe research.
8 MB for 2 teams on Proton Rocket research.

R&D budget: 16 MB

Remaining budget: 9 MB, plus sacrosanct hardware budget for next season. Remaining funds are therefore 35 MB.

Launch Scheduling
Schedule one unmanned suborbital Voskhod launches for Fall 1964, Pad A.

Schedule one manned orbital EVA Voskhod launch for Fall 1964, Pad B.
Primary crew is to be:
Nikov/(Mametov or Faaabio or Belyayev, in descending order of preference, depending on team allotment)
Backup crew is to be:
(Karzanovski or Digaditch)/Yebanov

This flight will not be duration B or higher because I've got enough milestone penalties to worry about as it is.

[Simon_Jester]

There. Any problems?

[OmegaChief]

We all look good there Comrade Chief Designer, this plan has my full approval, it will be good for Morale to one up the Muricans yet again.

[ChaserGrey]

As the Chief Designer puts his seal on the final plans, a new face peeks its way in the door.

"Pardon me, Comrade Chief Designer, I thought I would introduce myself on my first day. My name is Comrade Syeriy, and I have just been transferred from the Shroomanski Institute of Higher Mathematics and All-Night Tractor Repair to work on our glorious space program. I will be heading up your new Mission Analysis Directorate, as well as running the new ice cream parlor. I am at your disposal for any advice or analysis on upcoming missions."

The new guy sticks out a hand. If any Murcans were here, they would be highly suspicious, because Comrade Syeriy looks an awful lot like Mr. Grey, with the sole exception of an exceptionally bitchin' mustache.



Edit: And, of course, his hat:

[Simon_Jester]

Pavylyvych nods, stiffly as always. "A pleasure to meet you, Comrade Syeriy. Have you made the acquaintance of Comrade Maisner, our chief computerman? I'm sure you will be working together closely, though Maisner is very soft-spoken and seldom seen outside his own laboratories.

"Also, ah, this may seem a peculiar question, comrade, but have you ever been to Israel? I sense a certain air of... kibbutz... about you."

[ChaserGrey]

Syeriy nods. "I have no doubt I will work well with Comrade Maisner. First-rate programmers are all too rare, incidentally."

He looks puzzled at the Chief Designer's second question- politely, of course. "Kibbutz? I'm not sure what you're talking about, Comrade Chief Designer. I'm as Zenobian as you are, born and raised in Stasbushingrad."

[OmegaChief]

The Commissar stepped out of the shadowey recess that all Zenobian offices have for this very purpose, the NKDVDROM knew the importance of apperance.

"Da Comrade, Da, you have all your papers in triplicate to complete the transfer too da? After some of the previous incidents protocol has been tightened"

[Scottish Ninja]

Baikonurek

3 AM. Petr Petrovich wanders in the dark. Down the hall the only light comes from the doors of the handball courts which ring with the sound of constant impacts.

He sees things in the darkness. No one else sees them; no one else knows - or so he thinks. Visions of foreign worlds, that the work being done here at Baikonurek would carry men to one day.

Women, too, possibly. It might become lonely otherwise.

Luna, then - Mars? Or Venus instead? What lay under that cloak of clouds?

He could see in front of him the view out of a shuttle's forward canopy as it came in to land on a runway nestled between thick jungles under an overcast sky. Was this the future? Or just a dream?

And then after Mars, and Venus - beyond, to Jupiter and Saturn, to their moons - to Neptune and beyond - then man would go to the stars.

Mars was red, and so was Proxima Centauri - a good sign for the future of progressive humanist ideology. The Zenobian Onion would lead the way, as it must, into the future. Not even the reactionary Murcans could hope to hold back man now.

What would they find, out there among the stars? The alien civilisations he had seen in these halls in the night, some of them strange beyond all human comprehension, some of them - bears? That had to just be a dream.

Some of those near-human beauties had to be real though, or else there wasn't much point.

And maybe it all was just a dream. Perhaps even the Moon was beyond hope.

It was a dream his friend had died for. It was a dream Petr Petrovich would refuse to wake up from.

[ChaserGrey]

Syeriy nods, opening his valise and extracting a thick brown cardboard folder bulging with paperwork. "Of course, Comrade Commissar. All right here for your inspection and approval."

He's far too much of a Zenobian for the sudden appearance of an NKVDVDROM agent to surprise him, of course.
Spoiler

No, Syeriy is not a spy. Since I ended up giving advice to both sides, I floated the idea of somebody who "looks just like" Mr. Grey working with the Chief Designer. OOC, I can tell you that they have absolutely no connection other than an eerie resemblance to each other. No plotting going on, just an IC justification for me throwing out suggestions to both sides.

Of course, you can be as suspicious as you like IC, I just thought I'd tell you all OOC that I don't have any funny stuff planned.