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

[PeZook]

If you to do the agreement, roleplay it. It would be amusing.

[Simon_Jester]

Sort of like our version of Alexei Leonov, and if you live long enough yes that may translate into being the first mang on the moon.

I like the first mang on the moon part. I'm a little iffy of "if you live long enough" part.

Can I bring a 10 ft. statue of Comrade Lennon and Comrade Groucho to the moon with me, should that occur? Solid bronze visages staring down with Communism upon the earth! For eternity!

You may bring a three-meter heroic bronze statue with you if it weighs less than five kilograms and can fit in the lunar lander, comrade.

[OmegaChief]

If you to do the agreement, roleplay it. It would be amusing.

While I hate for the Commissar to let more defections and sabotage happen under his nose, perhaps we could tie in the von Evilstien defection with this, the Zenobians decide to design the mini-shuttle, von Evilstien copies/steals the plans, and the Murcans decide they cannot allow a mini-shuttle gap or some such?

[Akhlut]

Can I bring a 10 ft. statue of Comrade Lennon and Comrade Groucho to the moon with me, should that occur? Solid bronze visages staring down with Communism upon the earth! For eternity!

You may bring a three-meter heroic bronze statue with you if it weighs less than five kilograms and can fit in the lunar lander, comrade.

We can launch a separate rocket for the heroic statue, da? Nothing's too outlandish for Glorious Zenobian Revolutionary Lennon and Glorious Not-Thanasian Proletariat Philosopher of Most Glorious and Superior Communism, right?

Also, it would only take something like 10 years to start building glorious Ztalinlunygrad city on the moon after we land, right? We can't afford a moon-city gap that is not in our favor!

[Simon_Jester]

Setting up statues and Commienist architecture on the moon is a job for the second and following lunar landings, comrade. It is like the Murcan plan to put a Coca-Cola logo on the moon.

EDIT: Let's discuss the idea of the gentleman's agreement, then worry about implementing it in RP, subject to our both being committed to do so.

I favor making Comrade Drago into an official international space liaison of some kind, personally.

[HMS Sophia]

I'd prefer minishuttle over jupiter.
Can you do direct ascent with minishuttles?
And the defection thing sounds like a plan.

[Akhlut]

Setting up statues and Commienist architecture on the moon is a job for the second and following lunar landings, comrade. It is like the Murcan plan to put a Coca-Cola logo on the moon.

I'm sorry, Comrade Pavylyvych, I sometimes get a little too patriotic for the Glorious Motherland Zenobia and Glorious Economic Principles of Commienism.

Will we also launch rockets up to the moon to fire back down to Thanasia?

[OmegaChief]

I'm sorry, Comrade Pavylyvych, I sometimes get a little too patriotic for the Glorious Motherland Zenobia and Glorious Economic Principles of Commienism.?

No such thing Comrade! I will ensure that you have some kind of monument to place on the moon along with the glorious Zenobian flag!

Will we also launch rockets up to the moon to fire back down to Thanasia?

Hmmm, I will forward this idea to the Warfare Bureau.

[Eternal_Freedom]

I think a gentleman's agreement on mini shuttles is an excellent idea.

So, Simon, we agree to steer our respective space programs to using minishuttles to land upon the moon.

"offers handshake"

[LaCroix]

Grzegorz went out of the registration office, shaking his head, but beaming proudly.

In his hand were the copies of his application forms, properly filled out and only slightly soiled by the tears of the official. He was proud of his motherland, the great Zenobia, where the glorious system of Commienism brought them officials so proud of their heroic patriotic brothers that they spill tears of joy when they enter their names into the volunteering forms.

This particular official was so overwhelmed with her pride that she actually needed five tries until she could pull herself together enough to complete his name on the form, while Grzegorz patiently continued spelling it to her again and again.

Whistling, he went down the street, heading for his home to wait for his motherland to call on him.

[Simon_Jester]

Comrade Grzegorz, what is your last name again?

Setting up statues and Commienist architecture on the moon is a job for the second and following lunar landings, comrade. It is like the Murcan plan to put a Coca-Cola logo on the moon.

I'm sorry, Comrade Pavylyvych, I sometimes get a little too patriotic for the Glorious Motherland Zenobia and Glorious Economic Principles of Commienism.

Will we also launch rockets up to the moon to fire back down to Thanasia?

Comrade, while I, Syrgy Pavylyvych, hope that we can agree on a treaty of international spacepeace and avoid the militarization of outer space against each other...

If the need arises, you may be sure that the Strategic Rocket Forces and Red Army will coordinate to design such a facility.

I think a gentleman's agreement on mini shuttles is an excellent idea.

So, Simon, we agree to steer our respective space programs to using minishuttles to land upon the moon.

"offers handshake"

Let's not be precipitate, I'd like to come up with some amusing and complicated form of roleplaying for this. However, I declare my openness to the agreement unless the bulk of the Zenobian side is opposed. So it becomes more a question of working out how to RP it, not whether to RP it.

[Eternal_Freedom]

That was my idea, make the agreement OOC, and then figure out how to RP it in context.

And given the players involved, it will have to be utterly spectacular, probably with many bombastic speechs, whores, backroom deals, whores, people defecting, some more whores, manly Murcan astronauts and their disturbing interest in industrial lube and rocket fuel stills, and of course some more whores.

[HMS Sophia]

In terms of roleplaying, would not the defection of the commie director (whatever his name is. Evil-something or other) or the scientist who was sharing a room with Fax work? Maybe not the scientist.
That or a treaty that did not allow for the landing of 'lunar modules' which forced both sides to use a workaround in the form of mini-shuttles which weren't banned under the specific wording of the treaty.

Also, the treaty could lead to much bombastic-ness and backroom deals. Also, I dont think the salt treaties should ever happen (the anti-space militarisation ones)

[LaCroix]

Comrade Grzegorz, what is your last name again?

Grzegorz immediately snaps to attention and salutes the man he knew from the Only Pravda and the glorious Zenobian media.

"It's Brzęczyszczykiewicz, Grzegorz Brzęczyszczykiewicz, of Chrząszczyżewoszyce powiat Łękołody"

[OmegaChief]

The Commissar turned to his ever faithful adjutant

We are going to require much larger name badges on our prototype EVA-suits I think.

[Simon_Jester]

The Commissar turned to his ever faithful adjutant

We are going to require much larger name badges on our prototype EVA-suits I think.

That, or very very small typefaces. I'll get some minions right on it.

In terms of roleplaying, would not the defection of the commie director (whatever his name is. Evil-something or other) or the scientist who was sharing a room with Fax work? Maybe not the scientist.
That or a treaty that did not allow for the landing of 'lunar modules' which forced both sides to use a workaround in the form of mini-shuttles which weren't banned under the specific wording of the treaty.

You misunderstand. The minishuttle cannot take off from Earth, land on the moon, then take off from the moon and return to Earth. Only the massive Jupiter/Qvartet capsules can do that, and those require the equally massive Nova/Vulkan rockets to lift- a Saturn V equivalent can't do it.

The minishuttle would occupy essentially the same place in your space program as an Apollo capsule would. The critical differences are that it would be (quite a lot) more expensive to develop, but reusable (which saves on hardware expenses) and (I'm told) very safe on reentry.

The minishuttle does not land on the moon, it simply houses the astronauts and acts as their reentry vehicle for their return to Earth, just like the Apollo command module did in real life.

Also, the treaty could lead to much bombastic-ness and backroom deals. Also, I dont think the salt treaties should ever happen (the anti-space militarisation ones)

Nononono.

SALT was the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty. Those banned a variety of delivery systems... but the first one came out in the '70s, with the ABM ban and such.

What Syrgy is dreaming of is something like the Outer Space Treaty, which bans the placement of weapons of mass destruction in orbit or on celestial bodies and requires that space be used for peaceful purposes.

You may say Syrgy's a dreamer, but he's not the only one. He hopes some day you'll join him, and the world will live as one!

[Akhlut]

Ivanovich respectfully disagrees: one cannot trust capitalists! We need the highest ground of them all: the moon! So we can launch rockets at the most evil capitalists of them all: Thanasians!

[Eternal_Freedom]

Simon's living the dream-world future and Akhlut is living in the nightmares of the Great Salvation War...

No wonder your rocket program is having trouble internally. Keep it up!

[PeZook]

If there is an actual in-universe agreement between von Braun and Pavyllych, as opposed to some highly unlikely and convoluted yet awesomely amusing set of events that leads to both sides going for the minishuttle independently, it would have to be made in secret. Neither premier Shroomanski nor president Teddy will go along with a plan involving making a deal with the enemy - especially with the recent extreme tensions related to the Hard and Rigid incident, and may in fact react with extreme force to the discovery such an agreement took place.

Of course "extreme force" for von Braun means a trial, while for Pavyllych uranium mines of Khylima, but such is life...

[OmegaChief]

I vote for the conviluted coincidence that is highly hilarious, backed up by an OOC agreement.

[LaCroix]

Grzegorz snaped off another salute, turned and left. Only after being out of sight, he allowed himself to sulk. How he hated it when he got mocked for his name. He would have preferred a more flamboyant family name, like Popov or Ivanovich, insted of his all too common name. At home, every second male within two towns shared it, like cousin Pjotr, cousin Vladimir, cousin Karoly,...

[Eternal_Freedom]

Spoiler

I wasn't thinking of an in-universe agreement, but now that you mention it, here's a starting point:

Jonny von Braun pulls aside Fax Modem from the astronaut training for a moment:

"Fax, that plan you set up to get Drago out, you must have had contacts somewhere in Baikonurek...no, I'm not reprimanding you...you're far too musclatury for me to reprimand properly...I need you to find out if those contacts can get a message to the Russian Chief Designer, Srgy Pvylvich or whatever it is.

Find that out, and get back to me, ja?"

[Akhlut]

Simon's living the dream-world future and Akhlut is living in the nightmares of the Great Salvation War...

No wonder your rocket program is having trouble internally. Keep it up!

Spoiler

Actually, for Ivanovich, the Great Salvation War was a dream, and a world where one cannot blow up Thanasians is a hellish nightmare.

[PeZook]

You guys could meet at some technical fair or international conference where countries send their best and brightest to boast and make others feel flaccid and inadequate.

[OmegaChief]

And of course, ensure that the Commissar does not hear of any deals with Murican capitalist pigdogs, or you know what will happen.