CHAPTER 8: WOW! THE MOON! AND VENUS! AND POSSIBLY MARS! WOW!
Time is: Fall 1966
MURCA
TEDDY SPACE CENTER
"What the hell?!", Johny von Braun was yelling into he phone, "You are telling me one of my astronauts had failed a physical, and you're taking him off the flight roster, but you're not gonna tell me who it is?!"
He listened to the answer for a second before interrupting the speaker on the other side, "Screw you! Privacy rights my ass! Just wait until I get a court subpoena shoved up your cretinous Murcan arsch!"
The Director slammed the headset down. He realized he had learned a great deal of Murcan curses during his tenure at MASA. But hell, between the incredibly slow and expensive progress on the XMS-2 shuttle and that, it was small wonder.
He glanced outside the window. The sad ruins of Pad A stared at him from under their tattered tarps, as if trying to add more misery to his life. Then there were the resignations: Flashheart was leaving in a huff, with lots of drama, while Knight had unspecified "family reasons". Great.
Management, he thought,
I should've gotten into farming...
He grabbed another bottle of scotch. He was glad that Haggistani astronaut wasn't officially on the roster yet, he could rob him blind and the man could not complain!
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Current funds: 0 megabucks
Astronauts in Mercury program:
FLASHHEART - CAP 1, LM 0, EVA 4, DOCK 1, END 1 (Mercury/II) ; MOOD: 12 - will retire next year. Makes a lot of huff about it.
BARNESTI - CAP 2, LM 0, EVA 2, DOCK 2, END 4 (Mercury/III) ; MOOD: 59
REXMODEM - CAP 3, LM 3, EVA 3, DOCK 1, END 0 (Mercury/IV) ; MOOD: 38
RAVENSBURG - CAP 3, LM 3, EVA 0, DOCK 0, END 2 (Mercury/V) ; MOOD: 54
CONRAD - CAP 4, LM 1, EVA 1, DOCK 0, END 3 (Mercury/VII) ; MOOD: 62
BROWN - CAP 4, LM 2, EVA 0, DOCK 1, END 2 (Mercury/VIII) ; MOOD: 64
Unassigned astronauts:
BORMAN - CAP 2, LM 1, EVA 1, DOCK 0, END 3 ; MOOD: 68
KNIGHT - CAP 2, LM 1, EVA 1, DOCK 0, END 1 ; MOOD: 58
OLDS - CAP 2, LM 0, EVA 0, DOCK 3, END 3 ; MOOD: 68
Other astronauts:
MODEMJR - retired spring 1965
CUNTSER - retired fall 1965
KELLY - retired spring 1965
MCCAIN - retired fall 1963
HARDBEEF - retired spring 1963
OHJESUS - DECEASED, MERCURY IX
JOHNSON - DECEASED, MERCURY XVI
Programs running: Explorer, Ranger, Strapons ( :) ), Atlas, Titan, Mercury, XMS-2, EVA Suits
Launch pads: 3
Scheduled missions:
Launch Pad A, DESTROYED BY EXPLOSION, 20MB TO FIX
Launch Pad B, Unmanned Mars flyby
Launch Pad C, none
The administrative office inside the main bunker was dead silent. Syrgy Pavylyvych was
not satisfied - it was obvious, because the man rarely let his anger show.
The comissar was slowly reloading his pistol magazines by the wall, which didn't exactly put the program heads at ease.
"Electrical cables. First fuel tubing, now electrical cables...", Syrgy stopped himself short of saying something really bad about Commienist industry, "...at least we know where the guidance and engine problems lay. But can we fix this on time?"
"There is a solution, comrade Chief Designer, but you are not going to like it.", a young research assistant said.
"Let us hear it first, shall we?"
"Well...it is possible to purchase high-quality electronic cables from...abroad. Murca, to be precise. At great expense and effort, but it is possible. We could rewire the capsules and the problem should be solved..."
The comissar's eyes narrowed, "And how would you know that, comrade?"
"I...uh...I...", the assistant choked up under the comissar's steely gaze, "Intertrade has researched the problem for me!", he finished with a high pitched voice.
"On the other hand, the season wasn't all bad.", the docking program head quickly saved the assistant from interrogation, "Both docking modules have separated and powred up properly, and we have been running systems tests on them. We have a good idea of guidance and telemetry problems that could arise during this season's tests."
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Current funds: 48 megarubloids
Cosmonauts in Voskhod program:
KARZANOVSKI - CAP 4, LM 1, EVA 0, DOCK 0, END 3 (CREW II/PILOT) ; MOOD: 62
YEBANOV - CAP 3, LM 2, EVA 4, DOCK 0, END 1 (CREW II/SPECIALIST) ; MOOD: 62
DIGADITCH - CAP 4, LM 1, EVA 2, DOCK 2, END 3 (CREW III/PILOT); MOOD: 45 - wil retire next season
BORISOV - CAP 3, LM 0, EVA 2, DOCK 1, END 1 (CREW III/SPECIALIST) ; MOOD: 54
PETROV - CAP 2, LM 1, EVA 0, DOCK 3, END 2 (CREW IV/PILOT) ; MOOD: 41
BEREGOVOY - CAP 2, LM 1, EVA 1, DOCK 3, END 0 (CREW IV/SPECIALIST) ; MOOD: 52
Cosmonauts not assigned to programs:
MAMETOV - CAP 2, LM 0, EVA 2, DOCK 2, END 2 ; MOOD: 71
FAAABIO - CAP 2, LM 0, EVA 2, DOCK 0, END 3 ; MOOD: 32
BRZECZYSZCZ - CAP 3, LM 2, EVA 0, DOCK 3, END 3 ; MOOD: 37
Other cosmonauts:
NIKOV - retired Fall 1966
DOSTAROVASKI - Forcibly retired, Fall 1964
TITOV - Retired Spring 1964
IVANOVICH - Grounded due to lung cancer
VLADIMIRENSKY - Deceased, training accident
IVANOV - Deceased, VOSTOK VII
Programs running: Sputnik, Cosmos satellite, A-Series, Proton, Booster stage, Voskhod, EVA Suits, Docking module
Launch pads: 3
Scheduled missions:
Launch pad A, Unmanned Mars flyby
Launch pad B, Unmanned orbital docking, Voskhod/Boosted A-Series
Launch pad B, Manned orbita docking, Duration B EVA, Voskhod/Boosted A-Series, Digaditch/Borisov
Whew. This was an EXPRESS update
Anyways: Murcans will learn who their disabled flyboy is next season due to game mechanics. I have to invent more and more ridiculous reasons why this is so in-game, but hey
More and more astronauts and cosmonauts are quitting the program as well ; Even Digaditch is leaving for a lucrative post in the great red army!
And heh, random events. The fuckers
At least the game did count the failed unmanned docking missions for docking module reliability (the usual 5% boost per failed mission).
What?
"
