[PTTG]

Alternate history is that NASA chooses a slightly different research path and starts EM propulsion research in 2003. By 2006 the effect has been confirmed and engineering begins in earnest.

In early 2008, a major recession hits the world economy, but it's small news to the first (unmanned) launch of a "reactionless" vehicle. Given the simplicity of the device (a gimbal-rotating propulsion system that otherwise posesses no moving parts, and an array of solar panels or fuel cells for power), it's possible to assemble test vessels quickly.

By 2011, NASA has landed a new probe on every inner-system body and, what's more, gets a constant torrent of money from EM-drive licensing. Civilian spaceflight is growing very active because the low returns drove investment in the exciting new field, and the first civilian drone vehicles to reached the moon and asteroids.

Elon Musk was killed when his vessel depressurized, but he is the first person interred intact on the moon...

Of course, this all assumes that the Cannae stuff is serious, but it at least seams more realistic than those "faster than light" communications a while ago...