Out of the Blue: History of the Apollo Program

[Wasaspacegeek]

Part 1 Intro

November 12, 1980

Kennedy Space Center, Florida

Launch of Apollo 40

Crew:
John Young-CDR
Francis "Dick" Scobee-CMP
Anna Fisher-MEMP

Three Astronauts, donned in their space suits step inside a Command Module. It was the launch of the 37th Manned Apollo Mission and it was about to go to the planet Mars. The Commander was John Young, the most experienced NASA Astronaut ever with six missions under his belt. His CMP was Francis "Dick" Scobee and this was his second mission and The MEM Pilot was Anna Fisher, the third american woman to go to space. They boarded their launch vehicle which was the largest rocket ever built

The Saturn VI was and still is the largest rocket ever built. It had 4 large SRBs straped to the S-I first stage and the S-IVB on top was a workshop with solar panels on each side.

Mission Control in Houston checked their systems and a few minutes later it was a go for mission control

"T-15 seconds in counting... 13... 12... 11... 10... 9..."

The 5 F-1B Engines roared as the ground beneath it shook from the force

"8... 7... 6... 5... 4..."

The Astronauts brace theirselves as the final seconds tick by

"3... 2... 1... 0! We have ignition of the Solid Rocket Boosters and the Saturn lifts off from the pad!"

All of the engines roared through the sky as the SRBs are jettisoned 2 minutes later. The people watch on as Apollo 40 becomes smaller and smaller until it disappears from view, only leaving rocket trails in it's journey to the red planet

End of Part 1

 

[West234]

I like this a it’s a promising start. What is the POD if you don’t mind me asking?

 

[Wasaspacegeek]

I like this a it’s a promising start. What is the POD if you don’t mind me asking?

the POD was that the USSR scrapped the N-1 in favor of a Soyuz and a Proton for EOR in 1970 . this timeline is similar to another timeline called Reach for the Stars where just like this one the Apollo Program continues indefinitely but there are multiple differences to it but I don't wanna spoil so early into the story

 

[RanulfC]

Part 1 Intro

May 4 1980

Kennedy Space Center, Florida

Launch of Apollo 40

Three Astronauts, donned in their space suits step inside a Command Module. It was the launch of the 35th Manned Apollo Mission and it was about to go to the planet Mars. The Commander was John Young, the most experienced NASA Astronaut ever with six missions under his belt. His CMP was Richard Scobee and this was his first mission and The MEM Pilot was Anna Fisher they boarded their launch vehicle which was the largest rocket ever

The Saturn VI was and still is the largest rocket ever built. It had 2 large SRBs straped to the S-I first stage and the S-IVB on top was a wet workshop with solar panels on each side and on top of it was the Martian Excursion Module which was supposed to land on Mars and return back to the spacecraft just like the LM

Mission Control in Houston checked their systems and a few minutes later it was a go for mission control

"T-15 seconds in counting... 13... 12... 11... 10... 9..."

The 5 F-1B Engines roared as the ground beneath it shook from the force

"8... 7... 6... 5... 4..."

The Astronauts brace themselves as the final seconds tick by

"3... 2... 1... 0! We have ignition of the Solid Rocket Boosters and the Saturn lifts off from the pad!"

All of the engines roared through the sky as the SRBs are jettisoned 2 minutes later. The people watch on as Apollo 40 becomes smaller and smaller until it disappears from view, only leaving rocket trails in it's journey to the red planet

End of Part 1

Interesting start, not sure what manner of "Saturn" the Saturn VI is? Going to be a similar architecture to Baxter's "Voyage" or is it a single launch architecture?

The POD was that the USSR scrapped the N-1 in favor of a Soyuz and a Proton for EOR in 1970 . this timeline is similar to another timeline called Reach for the Stars where just like this one the Apollo Program continues indefinitely but there are multiple differences to it but I don't wanna spoil so early into the story

So the US still beat the Soviets to the Moon but they went anyway or did the Soviets get there first? Or is this one that will be going back and forth in time?

Good start.

Randy

 

[Wasaspacegeek]

Part 2 XIII

December 1969, 11 years before Apollo 40...

Assembley of CSM 109

"Easy now, Easy now"

An Engineer said as SM 109 is winched from the delivery flatbed by a crane. But just a few feet from the ground the rope failed and the SM fell 5 feet to the ground

" Shit!"

Though the SM looked okay they spotted several cracks and dents so they decided to set aside the SM to be repaired and they would get the new SM which was supposed to be used for Apollo 14 in it's place

---

May 19, 1970
Launch of Apollo 13

Apollo 13 was Commanded by Jim Lovell who already flew to the moon on Apollo 8. He was joined by two rookies, CMP Jack Swigert and LMP Fred Haise

Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise

Apollo 13 Launched on May 19 1970 and despite a premature shutdown of the F-1 center engine the launch went without a hitch and they were now moonward, it seemed despite the "unlucky" nature of the number it was not enough to bring this mission down

The Launch of Apollo 13 from LC-39B, May 19, 1970

---

May 24, 1970

Apollo 13 MET 116 Hours
Fra Mauro Highlands

"How's the view Jim?"

LMP Fred Haise asked as he stepped off of the Lunar Module Aquarius

"Very very beautiful, Fred"

Jim Lovell had been with NASA since 1962. He had 3 missions under his belt before Apollo 13. He was the Pilot of Gemini 7 and spent two weeks in space. He commanded the Last Gemini Mission, Gemini 12. He was the CMP of Apollo 8 where he, Borman and Anders became the first people to orbit the moon and now he commands Apollo 13 and finally had his chance as the 5th man to walk on the moon and it was the pinnacle of his 8 years at NASA

Commander Jim Lovell first stepping on the moon at Fra Mauro. He customized his helmet with a blue Navy Decal on his red "commander" stripes. May 24, 1970

After 2 EVAs Lovell and Haise had gotten 94 pounds of lunar samples and a day later Aquarius lifted off from the moon to return to Swigert in the CSM Odyssey

CSM 109 Odyssey from LM 7 Aquarius. May 25, 1970

After retrieving the lunar samples they jettisoned Aquarius and afterwards made their TEI towards Earth

"We're coming home now"

After coasting for 3 days Odyssey returned to Earth on May 28 1970 9 days after launch

Lovell, Haise and Swigert on the USS Iwo Jima after Splashdown

---

July 1970, 11 Years Before Apollo 40...

The USSR was unsatisfied with the N-1 design and they are now falling behind after the US launched 3 successful missions to the moon so they decided to scrap the N-1 and decided to go with EOR where they will launch a Proton-K with a two person LK and the crew will launch in a Soyuz rocket to rendezvous with the Proton where they will go to the moon after firing the engine

The first test launched on November 8 1970 and a crewed mission in LEO launched on December 10 1970 where they tested the LK lander. Even though they lost the moon race they are not out of the game yet for they are pushing closer to matching with their American rivals...

End of Part 2

 

[neopeius]

Interesting start, not sure what manner of "Saturn" the Saturn VI is? Going to be a similar architecture to Baxter's "Voyage" or is it a single launch architecture?



So the US still beat the Soviets to the Moon but they went anyway or did the Soviets get there first? Or is this one that will be going back and forth in time?

Good start.

Randy

1970 is way too late a POD for this to work. 1966 is probably too late a POD for this to work.

There's not a lot of worlds where the Apollo can keep flying; I actually wrote a timeline a decade ago about the Soviets making it to the moon three months after Armstrong with a working N-1, but things still petered out. America was bored with space by 1965. It's kind of a minor miracle that the moon landing happened at all.

That said, Apollo flying on is fun, and I'm sure this will be a fun timeline. I'll wait for the background, but right now, I'd say an Apollo to the '80s is close to ASB territory.

 

[Pangur]

1970 is way too late a POD for this to work. 1966 is probably too late a POD for this to work.

There's not a lot of worlds where the Apollo can keep flying; I actually wrote a timeline a decade ago about the Soviets making it to the moon three months after Armstrong with a working N-1, but things still petered out. America was bored with space by 1965. It's kind of a minor miracle that the moon landing happened at all.

That said, Apollo flying on is fun, and I'm sure this will be a fun timeline. I'll wait for the background, but right now, I'd say an Apollo to the '80s is close to ASB territory.

What if there is a really good reason to keep returning to the moon and then go to Mars like alien stuff - sort of '2001 a space odyssey'?

 

[neopeius]

What if there is a really good reason to keep returning to the moon and then go to Mars like alien stuff - sort of '2001 a space odyssey'?

Well, now you're begging the question. "What if there was such a compelling reason to keep Apollo going that we kept Apollo going?" Would that keep Apollo going? Yes...

Less snarkily, alien stuff is the definition of ASB. If we discovered alien space bats on the moon and had a suspicion that there was more evidence of them on Mars/Jupiter, yes, we'd probably keep up an active space program.

But absent aliens or Armageddon asteroids, if the only motivation is "to beat the Russkies" then the Soviets have to do better than (and have a reason for) also-ran status more than a year after Apollo 11. There's a reason the official Communist line after "One small step for [a] man" was "Comrade, we never were in a moon race."

 

[RanulfC]

1970 is way too late a POD for this to work. 1966 is probably too late a POD for this to work.

I mostly agree though I've done some works on a TL idea where the Soviets get froggy during the early 80s right after the US stops going to the Moon and send a larger (Salyut based tech) Lunar expedition which I postulate would end up requiring a US response.

There's not a lot of worlds where the Apollo can keep flying; I actually wrote a timeline a decade ago about the Soviets making it to the moon three months after Armstrong with a working N-1, but things still petered out. America was bored with space by 1965. It's kind of a minor miracle that the moon landing happened at all.

You'd need an early 1960s to get the second run of Saturn's and it would have to be a REAL good reason given both the public and politicians were losing interest in the Space Race. Even after the Apollo 1 fire everyone was pretty confident the US was ahead and specifically Congress used the fire to dilute future NASA programs.

That said, Apollo flying on is fun, and I'm sure this will be a fun timeline. I'll wait for the background, but right now, I'd say an Apollo to the '80s is close to ASB territory.

Same here

Randy

 

[RanulfC]

What if there is a really good reason to keep returning to the moon and then go to Mars like alien stuff - sort of '2001 a space odyssey'?

It would be the wrong forum threads for this then

Well, now you're begging the question. "What if there was such a compelling reason to keep Apollo going that we kept Apollo going?" Would that keep Apollo going? Yes...

Less snarkily, alien stuff is the definition of ASB. If we discovered alien space bats on the moon and had a suspicion that there was more evidence of them on Mars/Jupiter, yes, we'd probably keep up an active space program.

Or we cower from the possibilities of the universe... But where's the fun in that?

But absent aliens or Armageddon asteroids, if the only motivation is "to beat the Russkies" then the Soviets have to do better than (and have a reason for) also-ran status more than a year after Apollo 11. There's a reason the official Communist line after "One small step for [a] man" was "Comrade, we never were in a moon race."

Yes and that's the main issue because their "program" was two people to the Moon and only one person lands and returns. A very minimum program that was rather obviously "lesser" than the US program so not a very big deal. (The the US at any rate ) And in context as you point out that in OTL they didn't have enough reasons to carry on the Space Race once it was clear they were behind so to change that requires them to have those reasons.

Randy

 

[farmerted555]

Looks like the flight surgeon horseshit around the measles wasn't butterflied.

 

[Wasaspacegeek]

Part 3 All is Fine at the USSR

Late 1971, 9 years before Apollo 40...

As Apollo continued, as the Space Race lingered on the seemingly finished Moon Race continued in secret as the Soviet Space Program started to test the LK lander and the Soyuz 7K-LOK and on November 8, 1971 the first Soviet manned lunar mission, Zond 9 launched from Baikanour bound for the moon

Zond 9 lifts off from Baikanour on it's way to the Moon November 8, 1971

---

On November 11, 1971 Gregory Dobrovolsky and Victor Gorbatko became the first Cosmonauts to reach the moon and took several photos of the lunar surface including Apollo 15's landing site, Censorinus Crater and Apollo 16's planned landing site, The Descartes Highlands.

The Mission was kept secret from the public and the only people who knew was Leonid Brezhnev and the staff of the Space Program.

Zond 9 returned to Earth on November 15 1971, completing all of it's objectives.

On December, 1971 A Soyuz 11A511 and a Proton-K appeared on the launchpad were inside them were a Soyuz 7K-LOK spacecraft and a two person LK spacecraft, ready on their respective rockets.

Alexei Leonov, Veleri Kubasov and Vitaly Sevastyanov were chosen as the prime crew for first Soviet lunar landing which was dubbed Rodina 1

Soon the Soviets would launch them to the moon, Soon Cosmonaut boots will step on it's surface,

Soon they will match the Americans...

End of Part 3

 

[RanulfC]

Why'd they keep the Zond mission secret? I'll point out that the US and probably several other nations know that they sent a manned flyby out, heck it's possible amateur radio folks will pick up the radio chatter back and forth between Zond and ground control so there's really not a lot of reason to keep a lid on it?

Randy

 

[Wasaspacegeek]

Part 4 A Waning Budget

Early 1972, 9 Years Before Apollo 40...

News Headlines January 21 1972

"President Kennedy announces last soldiers had been withdrawn from Vietnam, 2 years after the withdrawal began"

As The US ended the war against Vietnam the Apollo Program was already declining in interest from the public and from Congress.

NASA's budget dwindled from 5% of government spending to 2 and a half percent by 1972 and so it was decided in late 1970 to cancel Apollo 20 due to budget cuts and it's Saturn V  would be scrapped as the upcoming Skylab didn't need to use it due to it being a wet-workshop.

At the time it was thought that Apollo 19 would be the last mission to the moon because the public's eyes weren't focused on space and was thought to be expensive and wasn't worth the risk.

And with the US seemingly winning the space race it seemed that Apollo was not needed

Though Kennedy was opposed to this he was pressured by Congress to cancel the moon missions and so cancelled 20.

And So seemingly Apollo's fate was sealed. It would have been relegated to history books and be seen as an ambitious but ultimately costly endeavor.

But the history of spaceflight would forever change on March 12 1972.

Launch of Rodina 1A and Rodina 1B, Baikanour Cosmodrome, March 12 1972

 

[Wasaspacegeek]

Notes:

• There are 3 PODs one where Apollo 13 didn't explode, one where RFK survived and defeated Nixon in 1968 and finally one where the Soviets went for LRO after the N-1 failed
• Skylab is the first space station in this timeline because of the Soviet's focus on a moon landing
• Crew rotations are different per the norm with these alternate apollo timelines

 

[BigVic]

Why did RFK cancel Apollo?

Also the Soviets landing a person on the Moon would've made a better world for space exploration

 

[RanulfC]

Why did RFK cancel Apollo?

Probably the same reason Nixon did in that Congress has cut all support funding for Lunar missions and frankly everyone is pushing for NASA to take a place as a "regular" agency with a lot less funding. Essentially there was only a limited number of Apollo "legacy" parts left and there was no interest in ordering more outside of NASA.
The interesting bit will be the result in the US where a Kennedy started Apollo and another Kennedy killed it.

Randy

 

[BigVic]

Interesting TL. The first Kennedy started it and it was ended by the second Kennedy

 

[Wasaspacegeek]

Part 5 Yantar

March 15, 1972, 9 Years Before Apollo 40...

CBS Evening News 6:55 PM

"Good Evening just a few days ago we watched the shocking launch of Rodina 1 from Baikanour & Now we have confirmation that their lunar lander Yantar has landed in Fra Mauro, not too far from the Apollo 13 site..."

CBS Evening News was one of the first news channels in the nation to broadcast the successful landing of the LK Yantar and now they were going to be one of the first to get footage from the surface

The Nation was first and foremost shocked the USSR had landed to the moon and many people, who had already thought the moon race was over were fearful that someday the Soviets would outmatch the Americans

At Washington, D.C. RFK was watching the broadcast live and at 6:57 in the evening CBS News had broadcast the footage live throughout a shocked country

---

Rodina 1 launched on March 12, 1972 on a Proton-K and Soyuz it was crewed by Alexei Leonov, Veleri Kubasov and Vitaly Sevastyanov.

Their Soyuz 7K-LOK  Zenit docked to the LK Yantar which was attached to the upper stage of the Proton-K and after some procedures their upperstage fired for a Trans Lunar Injection and once it stopped they jettisoned the upperstage, leaving the Rodina Spacecraft on it's way to the moon

On March 15 after undocking from Zenit Leonov and Sevastyanov proceeded to land near Lunokhod 2 in Fra Mauro

Lunokhod 2 was the second lunar rover after its predecessor, Lunokhod 1 which launched back in 1970 In the Littrow Crater. Lunokhod 2 was used for surveying the surface of the potential landing site

"12 feet and descending at 1.5mph..."

As Leonov and Sevastyanov descended they spotted the rover as an instrument light blinked, telling them that they have contact of the lunar surface

"Engine Off..."

After a slight rattle from Yantar's engine the LK became silent

As Leonov and Sevastyanov put on their spacesuits back on Earth Moscow broadcasts the impending first step of a Cosmonaut on the Moon as did The US

---

CBS Evening News, 6:57 PM

"We are now showing footage from Yantar's camera on the side of the lander..."

As the country stared at their TV screens Leonov opened the hatch and stepped onto the ladder

"We now can see that what we can assume is Alexei Leonov is now stepping off as the goes down the ladder now"
As Leonov took his first step onto the surface he looked at his surroundings at awe

Leonov, The First Cosmonaut on the Moon decided to say some simple but meaningful words

"As I step off onto the surface I'd like to dedicate this first step to my people, my country and the whole world"

As he said those words the USSR and the US were both glued to the grainy video projected to their TVs as people in the USSR looked on with pride and the US looked on with shock and fear of what could happen if the US were to leave the moon for good

Sevastyanov proceeded to step down the ladder then both men ventured out to the Lunokhod rover and further from them, The Apollo 13 landing site

Lunokhod 2's wheel tracks at Fra Mauro, March 15, 1972

As Leonov and Sevastyanov performed their EVA Kubasov was studying the moon from Zenit. After their EVA Leonov and Sevastyanov returned to their LK for some sleep.

As they slept RFK was discussing with his staff what to do next but ultimately didn't do anything in the meantime

On March 16 Yantar lifted off from the moon and docked with Zenit where Leonov and Sevastyanov transferred to the Soyuz 7K-LOK along with 17 kgs of lunar samples and performed a Trans Earth Injection back home

After coasting for 3 days Rodina 1 landed in Kazak SSR in March 20, 1972

The US was thinking what to do afterwards do we leave the Soviets be? or do we continue with Apollo?

Many questions from the public and a meeting in April 14, 1972 would answer those and decide the fate of Apollo, It's hardware and the course of Manned Spaceflight...

To Be Continued...

 

[Hammerbolt]

Apollo 40 in 1980? That makes for (I think?) more than 2 apollo per year. Tha's almost a production-line Apollo!

Massive NASA budget ftw