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

[Simon_Jester]

[Syrgy Pavylyvych mourns one of his little eagles]

I'm going to need a while to write full-up response posts to this turn of events. Damn.

Well, there is one thing that cannot be denied. He never made it back, but beyond all shadow of dispute, comrade IVAN IVANOV SR. was the first mang to ORBIT the EARTH.

[Simon_Jester]

Spoiler

PeZook, just to check, I wasn't getting hit with any milestone penalties on the failed Ivanov flight, was I?

[PeZook]

No,just the -1 for a first attempt at milestone that you normally get. You did do the suborbital properly.

[Akhlut]

Ivan Ivan Ivanovich packed a bag, tears streaming down his cheeks. He turned to his fellow cosmonauts.

"Comrades, please, in memory of Comrade Ivanov and myself, please, someone piss on Murca from the depths of space and put a giant statue of Comrade Lennon on the moon."

Ivanovich walked solemnly out of the Cosmonaut area, Bloody Ztalin in hand...


-----------------

Riding in from the steppes of Zenobia comes MANSHUK MAMETOVA, the giant-mustached Boratistani to sign up for the Cosmonaut program!

"Da, comrades! We shall ride into space on our cosmoponies like the great Khans of old and conquer the hell out of those decadent, weak Murcans! YEEEE-HAAAAW!"

[doom3607]

"Well, obviously the first thing to do is delay any further launches until we have capsules that work again. To save money I'd concentrate on the Voshkod capsule- the Vostok is obselete anyway, and I'd be willing to bet that the heat shield failures were caused by the factory making them trying to make them compatible with two different machines at the same time. In the meantime, we might as well keep launching satellites- no reason not to, the rocket works fine. And I'd start working on a larger rocket while I'm at it- that way, when we need it it'll be ready. But we need to get a manned launch, so I'll delay making the Voshkod the primary capsule since the Vostok remains more reliable for the moment. I will not launch until we figure it's at least 90% reliable, since we can't afford another death. I can't promise we'll beat the Murcans but I can promise we won't lose any more cosmonauts in shoddily-built capsules. Pavylyvych didn't do that- he launched at about 80% reliability, which left at best- assuming an utterly perfect cosmonaut and everything working flawlessly on the rocket- only a one in five chance the cosmonaut would die horribly. I promise that I will never launch a rocket with any component less that 90% safe. You won't hear that from Pavylyvych. And it ought to prevent any more deaths. I will never kill another cosmonaut in a poorly designed and incompetently inspected pod, not and sign off on it like Pavylyvych did. Because while beating the Murcans every step of the way would be nice, killing another cosmonaut would put us so far behind we could never catch up."

Spetchkov put his hands together and asked a very pointed question, "But comrade, didn't you accuse Pavylyvych of the very same cautious approach you are now proposing, criticizing it as too cautious and prone to costing Zenobia the space race? It is no good to us to get to the Moon second place, and your proposal, as I understand it, will require a great many test flights, will it not?"

"Yes. Yes I did. And yes it will. And yes, second place is bad. But I was criticizing because I assumed the Murcans would also be ruching, so we'd have to rush back to beat the. Since they aren't, there is time for caution. But there is a way to beat the Murcans by years, even cautiously! It is called...

Earth/Lunar Orbit Rendevous
This allows us to launch the various components of the lunar landing system (the manned capsule, the lunar lander, and assorted docking and 'kicker' modules as needed) on multiple rockets, then link the components up in orbit around the Earth or around the moon. It is somewhat more complicated, but we can do it without developing the N-1. On the other hand, the extra investment in Proton boosters required to do each joint mission is significant. Also, using two launches means double the risk of one of the rockets exploding and ruining the whole mission, which is not to be sneezed at.

We can, in principle, send Voskhod (a modified version, I'd think) to the moon. This will, again, require a kicker. We would also have to develop a more expensive one man lunar lander, since we need one guy to stay with the Voskhod command module while the other guy goes down to the moon. This will be lonelier on the lunar surface.

You see, Comrade Spetchkov? We can do this easily- within a few years! And using almost entirely technology we already have! We can beat the Murcans by years, if not decades! And do it cautiously, because their egos will demand one giant -and hard to build- rocket!"

[Simon_Jester]

Ivan Ivan Ivanovich packed a bag, tears streaming down his cheeks. He turned to his fellow cosmonauts.

"Comrades, please, in memory of Comrade Ivanov and myself, please, someone piss on Murca from the depths of space and put a giant statue of Comrade Lennon on the moon."

Syrgy Pavylyvych continues work on the piss-from-orbit system.

Syrgy Pavylyvych also makes small, appropriate modification to plans for future Zenobian lunar base accordingly. Heroic statue is now included. Two statues: one of Comrade Lennon, and one of the base's new namesake.

He scratches out the title of the drawing and carefully pencils one in, so that it reads:

Lunar Base Draft 4B
Ivanov Base

[Simon_Jester]

Earth/Lunar Orbit Rendevous
This allows us to launch the various components of the lunar landing system (the manned capsule, the lunar lander, and assorted docking and 'kicker' modules as needed) on multiple rockets, then link the components up in orbit around the Earth or around the moon. It is somewhat more complicated, but we can do it without developing the N-1. On the other hand, the extra investment in Proton boosters required to do each joint mission is significant. Also, using two launches means double the risk of one of the rockets exploding and ruining the whole mission, which is not to be sneezed at.

We can, in principle, send Voskhod (a modified version, I'd think) to the moon. This will, again, require a kicker. We would also have to develop a more expensive one man lunar lander, since we need one guy to stay with the Voskhod command module while the other guy goes down to the moon. This will be lonelier on the lunar surface.

You see, Comrade Spetchkov? We can do this easily- within a few years! And using almost entirely technology we already have! We can beat the Murcans by years, if not decades! And do it cautiously, because their egos will demand one giant -and hard to build- rocket!"

http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/viewtopic. ... 2#p3519292

...

3) Earth/Lunar Orbit Rendevous
This allows us to launch the various components of the lunar landing system (the manned capsule, the lunar lander, and assorted docking and 'kicker' modules as needed) on multiple rockets, then link the components up in orbit around the Earth or around the moon. It is somewhat more complicated, but we can do it without developing the N-1. On the other hand, the extra investment in Proton boosters required to do each joint mission, scaled over the cost of the equivalent of multiple Apollo missions (say, Apollo 8, 10, and 11), is significant. Also, using two launches means double the risk of one of the rockets exploding and ruining the whole mission, which is not to be sneezed at.

...

4) We can, in principle, send Voskhod (a modified version, I'd think) to the moon. This will, again, require a kicker. We would also have to develop a more expensive one man lunar lander, since we need one guy to stay with the Voskhod command module while the other guy goes down to the moon. This will be lonelier on the lunar surface.

Nanos gigantium humeris insidentes, indeed...

Really, Doomy, you could try to do some of your own research, rather than just directly quoting my own remarks. I wonder if Spetchkov will be reminded of the briefings sent to the Politburo by Syrgy Pavylyvych, back in December of 1960...

[Eternal_Freedom]

Well gentleman, we have a presidentail mandate and a demand from the Murcan people.

-Recruit second class of astronauts
-Schedule a Atlas/Explorer launch. we need to boost prestige somehow!

Oh, and as to Akhlut's remark that Ivan was the first mang to orbit the Earth, no dice! OhJesus was there first!

[HMS Sophia]

Really, Doomy, you could try to do some of your own research, rather than just directly quoting my own remarks.

I think that was his point. He is using your plan, because it's the best one

Right, so plan is:
Mercury+EVA research
Recruit astronauts
Schedule explorer launch.

I would like to put forward barnest1 as the new 'nauts. He is the father of barnest2 (from the UFO game)

[Eternal_Freedom]

I would also like to put forward Edward Ravensburg, ancestor of the John Ravensburg aboard the ISS 2 in Doomie's "Shattered Earth" LP.

Plus I just really like the name

[PeZook]

You see, Comrade Spetchkov? We can do this easily- within a few years! And using almost entirely technology we already have! We can beat the Murcans by years, if not decades! And do it cautiously, because their egos will demand one giant -and hard to build- rocket!"

"You know...", Spetchkov shuffled some papers. He couldn't shake the thought that he's heard von Evilstein's briefing before somewhere, "...grand promises are all well and good, but just how fast is 'a few years'? You do know president Teddy just comitted to a landing by the end of the decade, da? So, in your expert opinion, should you replace Syrgy Pavylyvych as the man in charge, exactly how fast can you do it?"

[Simon_Jester]

Well gentleman, we have a presidentail mandate and a demand from the Murcan people.

-Recruit second class of astronauts
-Schedule a Atlas/Explorer launch. we need to boost prestige somehow!

Oh, and as to Akhlut's remark that Ivan was the first mang to orbit the Earth, no dice! OhJesus was there first!

I'm so very sorry, Tovarisch von Braun; OhJesus was flying on a suborbital launch.

Really, Doomy, you could try to do some of your own research, rather than just directly quoting my own remarks.

I think that was his point. He is using your plan, because it's the best one

Hardly. I'd argue that is in some respects my worst plan; it places higher demand on cosmonaut skill in the two-man Voskhod capsule, uses hardware with a significantly higher risk of failure (Voskhod's failure probability with max reliability and a CAP 4 pilot is twice as high as that of a Soyuz or Lapot flight).

Perhaps above all, "Lunar Voskhod" is the most inglourious way to get to the moon. IC the one-man lunar lander minimizes the amount of scientific instrumentation and samples that can be carried; OOC, it pisses all over the gentleman's agreement to use minishuttles. Whether it's cheaper or not I can't say.

If we were going to commit to an orbit rendezvous and drop plans to develop the N-1, my plan would be to do Soyuz/Kicker-C, which is more glorious, allows the commienists to boast about putting three men on the moon while the Murcans can put only two on, brings back more samples, and (perhaps most entertainingly) allows us to show off a physical capsule which has been on the Moon, which no Murcan option except Direct Ascent can possibly do.

[PeZook]

Oh, and as to Akhlut's remark that Ivan was the first mang to orbit the Earth, no dice! OhJesus was there first!

OhJesus actually died during a suborbital flight, so no, Ivan was the first human in orbit.

Of course the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale does not consider "got to orbit but died" a valid achievement in manned spaceflight, so it's at most going into the history books as a footnote.

[Simon_Jester]

The Zenobian Onion will not get the prestige. Syrgy Pavylyvych will not get the prestige.

But damn it Syrgy Pavylyvych will see to it that Ivanov gets the prestige.

[Hawkwings]

Cosmonaut Dostarovaski looks on sadly as another one of his classmates leaves the barracks. The death of Ivanov had hit hard, and even though Ivanovich was still alive, the barracks was awfully empty with just four cosmonauts remaining. It didn't help that Conrade Titov was increasingly showing his frustration at the program. Dostarovaski was similarly dissatisfied, but choosing between being dissatisfied and burning up was fairly easy.

Still, there had to be something done! That new crop of cosmonaut trainees were going to come in a steal all the good missions! This was most definitely a time for plotting. That night the four remaining cosmonauts had a meeting...

OOC: I assume there's no retraining/improving current cosmonauts?

[Simon_Jester]

Improvement requires an extended period of advanced training, which only makes sense for cosmonauts likely to stay around long enough for the program to benefit from their increased skill. Dissatisfied cosmonauts like Titov are, I gather, a high retirement risk.

I'm seriously considering such retraining, but Comrade Faaabio is about the only really good candidate I can see for the purpose.

[Hawkwings]

Doesn't actively training improve satisfaction rating?

[HMS Sophia]

Doesn't actively training improve satisfaction rating?

No. Satisfaction ends up going down...

[doom3607]

OOC, in all fairness, Simon, I was in a hurry when I quoted you. That was, in my opinion, the plan that could be enacted the fastest, and I needed a good explanation of it in under a minute or two because I had to be out the door then to catch my bus. I would have written my own, I just didn't have the time at the time. Hell, if you want I'll write my own and we can all act like I said that instead.

Back IC:

---

"You know...", Spetchkov shuffled some papers. He couldn't shake the thought that he's heard von Evilstein's briefing before somewhere, "...grand promises are all well and good, but just how fast is 'a few years'? You do know president Teddy just comitted to a landing by the end of the decade, da? So, in your expert opinion, should you replace Syrgy Pavylyvych as the man in charge, exactly how fast can you do it?"

"Well, Comrade Spetchkov, he says that Murca will do it by 1970? I will be ready to launch in the fall of 1967. Five years. I promise you- Zenobia will have a cosmonaut on the Moon in five years."

[Eternal_Freedom]

I'd swear I had OhJesus on an orbital flight...oh well, my apologies to the memory and charred remains of Ivanov.

Meanwhile, at the Cape, Edward Ravensburg approached the Directors office:

"Colonel Edward Ravensburg reporting Sir. I wish to join the astronaut program. Here is my serivce record from the war with Thanasia."

Johnny glanced at it, noting the impressive flight record.

"Very well Colonel, report to the Training Centre and present yourself to the senior officer. Good luck and godspeed."

And with that, Edward left the office. He had heard many things about the Murcan astronauts. He was determined that he would not succumb to the hedonistic temptations of indusrial lubricant and rocket fuel stills.

[Simon_Jester]

There. It was done.

Syrgy Pavylyvych drooped over the typewriter in his office, massaging his temples and trying to will the moisture in his eyes back under control. The staff at the Cosmodrome had so far been... amazingly supportive, but even when people said "there's nothing you could have done," Syrgy knew it wasn't true. He could have ordered more X-ray photography, more analysis of microscopic features in the heat shield. He could have diagnosed the problem, and all the other problems. Nothing that had gone wrong was man's skill to correct in principle.

If only I were twenty-five years younger, if only I were strong like before... he shivered, remembering the days at Kylhima. There were simply so many of these endless disasters, the rocket reliability falling apart on him, the capsule gyros- at least he'd gotten that fixed, and he still didn't know what had been wrong with the prints when he signed off on them.

---

It is my duty to make an accounting of the life and passing of Captain Ivan Ivanovitch Ivanov, veteran of the First Guards Aviation Division.

During the Great Patriotic Salvation War, Ivanov fought bravely against the Ratzi invaders, battling the enemy behind, above, and in front of the line of battle. He distinguished himself repeatedly for his courage and skill, both of which traits he carried forward into the Jet Age after the war ended, demonstrating his ability at the forefront of Zenobian aviation with ever more complex and sophisticated ZiG and Yakski fighters.

From his first days with the cosmonaut program in 1958, I became convinced that Captain Ivanov was the best possible candidate for orbital spaceflight; if any man could triumph over a strange and unknown environment, Ivanov would be that man. His performance in arduous training supported my conviction, as did his bearing and efficiency during his final mission.

I was privileged to be in radio contact with Captain Ivanov for the majority of his twenty-two hour flight through the heavens. He acted admirably in all respects, particularly in his mastery of his capsule's maneuvering controls during mid-orbit tests, something which Comrade Faaabio had not been able to explore during the much shorter suborbital flight.

Ivanov reported discomfort and disorientation at first, but pressed on through his checklists and kept up a steady stream of reports, many of which were heard on radio frequencies around the world as he circled the globe time after time. He exchanged courteous greetings with Premier Shroomanski after his first orbit as he flew over Zenobian territory at a speed of over seven kilometers per second, and on following orbits transmitted photographs of himself which will hold an eternal place in the annals of Zenobian exploration.

History will record that Captain Ivanov was the first man in the history of civilization to do many things; among them, he was the first to sleep in orbit. After performing a wide variety of tasks and checks, including some which proved quite challenging, which I do not know if a lesser man could have handled, ground control advised the captain to take a rest. He did so, settling in for a long, peaceful slumber while floating in the zero-gravity of his capsule. By his own report, he slept quite well, "like a baby."

After awakening, Ivanov shook off his disorientation, seemingly like a bull shrugging off a bothersome fly, twelve orbits into his mission. He handled the de-orbit burn deftly despite technical difficulties with the retro-rocket pack, and was almost precisely on course for reentry, prior to the failure of the capsule's heat shield as it approached radio blackout. To the last, he was calm and composed.

Comrade Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov was a true hero of the Zenobian people; there is no man I have ever been more proud to know and to work with.

*Author's note: I am basing the events of Ivanov's time in orbit off the historical Vostok 2 mission flown by Titov, which was of comparable duration and thus, I presume, of comparable complexity. Titov did experience space-sickness; since Ivanov's endurance score is equal to that of Titov in-game, I thought it reasonable that Ivanov would experience the same, and handle it as well as Titov did.

That would do for the newsletters. He'd have to rework it somewhat, for the letter he had to write to Ivanov's family, the one that he wished so desperately had been unnecessary, but the substance was there.

[PeZook]

OOC, in all fairness, Simon, I was in a hurry when I quoted you. That was, in my opinion, the plan that could be enacted the fastest, and I needed a good explanation of it in under a minute or two because I had to be out the door then to catch my bus. I would have written my own, I just didn't have the time at the time. Hell, if you want I'll write my own and we can all act like I said that instead.

So von Evilstein didn't just steal Pavylyvych's proposal? Bah, it would've fit the man much better.

"Well, Comrade Spetchkov, he says that Murca will do it by 1970? I will be ready to launch in the fall of 1967. Five years. I promise you- Zenobia will have a cosmonaut on the Moon in five years."

Spetchkov shifted uneasily. He's heard all too many program heads promise things they couldn't deliver on, "I am still not convinced, comrade. I will not recommend you as head of the program to comrade Bearznev. But since you have been an avid supporter of our faction, I will try to get you a meeting with him so that you can present your plans directly, da?"

The man was skeptical of the entire space program since the beginning, so the result of this meeting was not that surprising. But it did open the door to Bearznev, which could hold a promise of more concrete rewards.

[doom3607]

OOC, was von Evilstein even in the room when Pavylyvych mentioned it? He could have come up with it on his own...

[OmegaChief]

Spoiler

I think Pezook was suggesting that somehow Von Evilstien used his incredeble sneaky powers to either steal the miniutes fromt he meeting or raid Syrgy's files to copy his plan or somthing.

[doom3607]

OOC: Hmm, maybe. In any case, I really was time constrained, so sorry for the flagrant theft, Simon. Would've done my own, but... no time.