Buzz Aldrins Race into Space

[Burning Bridges]

But whatever was said, I do feel you may have to carry a tough fate, and I hope you can still find a meaning for your life in computer games and books etc.

And the craziest journeys can only happen in your imagination, anyway.

 

[Burning Bridges]

Anyway guys I just wanted to spark your imagination.

In a fictional space race, the Soviet Union lands a man on Mars in 1989, followed by another race to put men on the icy worlds of Ganymede, Callisto and Europa, and a robotic probe on Ios volcanoes, all by about 2010.

Monoliths and all that nonsense aside, Arthur C. Clarke and Kubrick had enough imagination.

If the idea that all this would have been possible does not send shivers down your spine, then you are not a space buff, and not a science fiction fan.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

actually it's very possible. damn, man reached the moon with less technology than a single today's cell phone.
it's just that it'd be a waste: weapons, armies and war is where the real gain is.

 

[peyre]

Political points & Saturn Vs

Hmm, was also thinking that politics and contractors would be a great addition to simulate the problems someone like Braun had with the Americans trying to manipulate the US military being first into space, or Korolev had with constant diversions of resources by the Politbiuro in favor of military goals. It would be like a constant challenge(optional maybe for those that didn't want the extra headache) to achieve as much as you can, in order to gain 'prestige points' or something that you could 'spend' on convincing government officials to back your project and not take away funds, or even to give extra funding and support at the expense of other things. You could even 'convince' other rival groups(abstractly) to merge with you and give you technology. If you don't have the prestige points, then you risk getting funding cut or having to give up tech you've researched/built to other projects. You could minimize prestige loss by having your 'hero' pieces focus on this area, but at the expense of not having their benefit for research. This would force you to play at least a part of the game by grinning and bearing government interference if you really want to stay on top in the long run, and knowing when to take a 'hit' such as less money, or having something researched be requisitioned, and when to use your precious prestige points to fight it, could make for an interesting twist to a game.

Trying to simulate the dynamics there that helped Korolyov succeed and Mishin fail, eh? That was one of Mishin's greatest failings, not knowing when to insist on what he thought was right vs. when to acquiesce to authority.

I also heard stories that it would be impossible to find all required plans for a Saturn V. Sounds very unlikely though, and may be a typical media hoax.

That actually sounds plausible to me--the Saturns, like all of NASA's equipment then, was built by contractors. When Apollo was canceled, the contractors tossed the plans, since it cost them money to store it and was no good to them any more.

 

[Burning Bridges]

Perhaps. It's just hard to believe that a super power like the USA would not secure this investment. Let's say they wanted one of the blueprints from the Manhattan project. Do you think they have thrown it away? No way.

 

[treave]

We need a low earth orbital facility which can act as a refueling and assembly depot. As it is we're wasting too much just to get into space.

 

[Malakal]

Orbital elevator would be handy too. But I think its at least 10 years more before that - we need better monofilaments.

 

[gromit]

In the Apollo program where there were no fatalities

... if you start counting at Apollo II.

 

[Burning Bridges]

I start counting in space.

 

[Burning Bridges]

We also need a moon base, and a moon telescope on the far side.

With much more imagination there may even be even be an assembly line and starts of nuclear rockets from the moon - perhaps even for interstellar missions (!) - because there is no risk for nuclear pollution, from launch failures of nuclear spacecraft, and the gravity is only a fraction.

It is no science fiction that the Orion spaceship that was planned in the 1950s could attain up to 10% of light speed, and this is enough to fly to one of approximately 50 neighboring stars in 30-120 years. Certainly too long for humans but not for robotic probes.