[Psionics] The Spice Must Flow... from Skylab

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by TGLS

I don't know how likely ending up in with Big Gemini is, especially if it ends up a stopgap. By my estimation, a more probable stopgap is going to be Gemini Ferry, possibly with a cut hatch in the bottom. Given that historically Gemini craft were reused, you might see them actually try it again but manned this time.

Big Gemini is something they're researching, which will be scaled down (though scaling it down is not currently the plan for either NASA or McDonnell Douglas; reality still bites, even in a world where psychic powers are real). Think of it as a compromise between Big G and G-Ferry.

Originally Posted by TGLS

If killing the shuttle is the goal,

It isn't, they just really need to continue manned spaceflight, preferably with something cheaper than Apollo (because discovering the Spice and then not having access to it for several years, during which the Soviets might discover it and do have an ongoing space station program, is completely unacceptable to the people in charge in the USA). This will delay the shuttle and alter the design, though.

Originally Posted by TGLS

Of course, the difficulty would lie in getting the money to restart Gemini or what have you. Almaz had been running at the time, and you have two (perhaps cobbled together) satellites that were failures crashing down. You could have the CIA or the Air Force lie to Congress and say that their new sophisticated spy satellite can't function for some reason and they need bodies in space to operate it (I'm sure this could be kept relatively secret).

The current plan is that a few sufficiently-important Congresscritters are read in on the Spice, once the CIA has found enough that they think can be trusted not to blab, and to agree that it's needed (see November 5, above). These Congresscritters will use their influence to convince enough other senators and representatives to get the budget passed. The Congresscritters who don't get read in might be given that as an excuse, though.

Originally Posted by TGLS

If things get real desperate, you could have them use the Skylab Rescue Apollo (perhaps to boost Skylab into a higher orbit if it comes to it).

The re-entry capsule for Skylab Rescue Apollo might be added to the station as an escape pod. It's something I've been considering since I found out it existed while reading up on Skylab for this worldline.

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

Big Gemini is something they're researching, which will be scaled down (though scaling it down is not currently the plan for either NASA or McDonnell Douglas; reality still bites, even in a world where psychic powers are real). Think of it as a compromise between Big G and G-Ferry.

The way I'm understand it, Titan rockets were the cheapest rockets available to the Americans at the time, and the Gemini capsule just fit inside the Titan II. A minor (and by minor I mean millions of dollars) revision to Gemini to make it usable as a ferry would probably please accountants and those who want the soonest option. NASA would probably have to get over the "Not Invented Here" issues they have with Titan (like they did in the 80s in our timeline.)

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

It isn't, they just really need to continue manned spaceflight, preferably with something cheaper than Apollo (because discovering the Spice and then not having access to it for several years, during which the Soviets might discover it and do have an ongoing space station program, is completely unacceptable to the people in charge in the USA). This will delay the shuttle and alter the design, though.

Well, the way I see it, any big revisions to another kind of spacecraft (in other words, Big Gemini), is going to push the Shuttle way back, possibly beyond your 1993. The people behind the shuttle at NASA are still going to press for the shuttle for the same reasons they did on our timeline, namely the overoptimistic launch costs. If a long delay occurs for the shuttle program, an expendable manned program may very well become so cheap that even the most optimistic of the shuttle backers give in.

If a Big Gemini type plan is pursued, a new rocket will need to be man-rated. I'm sure there would be some people in the Air Force who will want to revive the Titan IIIM, but if it were pursued I'd figure they would end up man-rating an existing Titan III rocket instead. Either way, the Big Gemini spec as planned could fit within SRB boosted Titans.

Building a capsule big enough to work in is probably going to be a major goal; repeating the experiment outside of Skylab will be something everyone involved will be interested in, to determine how much concern the Russians pose and whether the Skylab needs to be protected at all costs.

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

The re-entry capsule for Skylab Rescue Apollo might be added to the station as an escape pod. It's something I've been considering since I found out it existed while reading up on Skylab for this worldline.

Thinking about additional Apollo missions, I'd bet the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project would end up being canned in favour of a Skylab 4/5 mission, though this may be politically imprudent.

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by TGLS

Thinking about additional Apollo missions, I'd bet the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project would end up being canned in favour of a Skylab 4/5 mission, though this may be politically imprudent.

The politics of it are exactly why they won't cancel it - that, and the fact that it only gives them one more capsule.

SRB-boosted Titans are probably what the eventual Big G design will end up using, yes. Probably the Titan IIIE, as that's going to be ready well before Big G is, and has a better Payload-to-orbit than the other existing Titan III variants, while (AFAICT) being less expensive than the Titan IIIM.

The shuttle is far enough ahead of what I've got relatively-close to postable that I can decide later whether to cancel it or not, but the effects of psi abilities and the development of other, non-drug psi-tech should be considered.

[Prince Charon]

Elsewhere, someone asked me about a three-wheeled car called the Dale, which I hadn't heard of before, but I like History Guy shorts, so I watched the video (it's a bit over ten minutes long, and worth taking in if you have time). That lead to me writing a short timeline entry for 1974, which I'm wondering if I should include, and if so, if it should be modified, and how:

June 17: Dale Clifft is contacted by Harley-Davidson on the matter of a three-wheeled car he'd built, which was basically a motorcycle with the front wheel and handlebars replaced by a frame, shell, two from wheels, and other bits added, to give it several of the advantages of a car, while being licensed as a motorcycle. A con artist calling herself Liz Carmichael would later approach Clifft on the matter, but by then, he would already be signed with HD, and have no interest in Carmichael's start-up.

So, my questions:

1. Should I use it at all, or just drop it?

2. Is Harley-Davidson a plausible company to choose to develop it, or should I use a different one (and if so, which one)?

3. Is the date reasonable, or should I set it later? I'm not clear when exactly Clifft started driving his car-thing, nor when he met Carmichael, only that ads for the Dale in our timeline started appearing around November, 1974.

4. Should I use the History Guy link in the timeline entry, or the 3wheelers interview that I have there currently?

5. Are there any other modifications that should be made to this entry?

[Prince Charon]

Reading about the various Astronaut Groups to make sure that I'm using astronauts who would be available at the time (a lot of the earlier ones retired before 1973) can be pretty interesting. Reading about Group 3 was a bit of a shock, though: Along with Roger Chaffee, who died in the Apollo 1 fire, there were three that you might never have heard of, because Charles A. Bassett II, Theodore C. Freeman, and Clifton C. Williams all died in T-38 crashes.

[Prince Charon]

1974

January 3: A number of highly-influential senators and representatives are briefed on PROJECT MELANGE (see also November 5, 1973).

January 8: Gemini Program reinstated by Congress, due to the greater costs involved in the construction of more Apollo capsules, and the need for time to finish designing and building the Space Shuttle. The new Gemini C capsule will have retractable waldos externally mounted on either side of the nose section, ahead of the reaction control thrusters, as well as a small external cargo module visible from the cockpit windows, and reachable by the waldos; the capsule interior will have slightly more space, due to advances in technology since 1964, as well as the rear hatch from the Gemini B configuration, and two or more equipment module variants. Research and development on Big Gemini is included in the budget, but production of the larger capsule is not confirmed at this time. In addition, the US Air Force requests that McDonnell Douglas re-examine the Manned Orbiting Laboratory, either as an expansion of Skylab, or an immediate replacement for it if Skylab becomes unusable before Big Gemini or the Space Shuttle is ready.

January 21: Official call goes out for female astronauts; the Mercury 13 are among those invited to participate in tests. Unbeknownst to the public, or indeed any but a few in government, this decision was influenced by the advice of CIA precognitives.

February 8: Skylab 3/4 expedition leaves the space station, and returns home.

February 19: Paramount Pictures orders a new live action season of Star Trek. William Shatner, having just closed a movie deal (he will be playing a skeptical reporter investigating the disappearance of a colleague at an allegedly haunted house), will not be available when most of the episodes need to be filmed, and so Captain Kirk is to be promoted to Fleet Captain and given command of the new Dreadnought prototype USS Federation (he will have cameos in seven episodes, mostly appearing on the viewscreen and not interacting with the rest of the cast directly, and longer rolls in three, out of a 25-episode season), with Spock serving as Captain of the Enterprise.

April 1: Several female astronaut candidates are given doses of the Spice (after having been vetted by CIA psychics). Among others, Mary Wallace 'Wally' Funk is discovered to be highly talented at Extra-Sensory Perception. <ESP Talent 3>

April 12: Gemini XIII launched unmanned to test the revised capsule design. Second stage malfunctions, putting the capsule into an unstable orbit, which the ground crew are unable to recover from. Capsule burns up on re-entry. Unknown to the public, Wally Funk had warned NASA of the problem after seeing the rocket at Cape Kennedy, but the decision had been made to go ahead anyway. She appears to have an unconscious and reflexive ability to predict disasters relating to vehicles; the physically, temporally, and emotionally closer she is to the event, the more likely she is to see it before it happens. <Visions (Aspected: Vehicular Dangers)>

April 16: Gemini XIV launched unmanned (using TV cameras and other equipment in place of astronauts) to test the revised capsule design. Vehicle operates normally (including remote control tests of the waldos).

April 17: Gemini XIV re-enters the atmosphere after 25 hours 34 minutes in orbit, and is retrieved by USS Enterprise.

May 6: Gemini XV launched, first manned mission for Gemini C model (commanded by Eugene Cernan, with Harrison Schmitt as pilot). After several tests, Gemini XV soft-docks with Skylab - hard-docking is not possible, as the Gemini capsule would have to have been much more heavily modified to allow the inclusion of an Apollo docking system in the nose, and an equipment module with said system is not yet available. Instead, the astronauts spacewalk from the capsule to the station's airlock. Skylab is powered up without problems, though shutting down the Gemini capsule to conserve power proves difficult, needing to be done manually during another spacewalk.

May 29: Gemini XVI launched. This is the first launch of the 'man-and-cargo' variant of the Gemini C capsule: the control panel is slightly modified to allow for a single pilot to comfortably control the craft (in the case of Gemini XVI, this would be Alan Shepard), while the other ejection seat is removed, and the mass allowance for both seat and astronaut occupied by cargo. Gemini XVI soft-docks with Skylab's lower docking unit, and Shepard delivers his cargo to Skylab via the airlock.

June 17: Dale Clifft is contacted by Harley-Davidson on the matter of a three-wheeled car he'd built, which was basically a motorcycle with the front wheel and handlebars replaced by a frame, shell, two front wheels, and other bits, to give it several of the advantages of a car, while being licensed as a motorcycle. A con artist calling herself Liz Carmichael would later approach Clifft on the matter, but by then, he would already be signed with HD, and have no interest in Carmichael's start-up.

June 25: Wally Funk no-longer needs the Spice to precog serious vehicle-related problems.

July 16: Big Gemini officially designated 'Project Argo,' and greenlit by Congress. Argo's Service/Habitat Module design and production is assigned to Grumman, mostly for political reasons; Grumman engineers work closely with McDonnell Douglas to avoid problems interfacing between the two vehicular sections, and to ensure component compatability in the event of an emergency (in particular, the two sections will use identical fuel cells and CO2 scrubbers). Argo's re-entry capsule is smaller than the original plans for Big Gemini, having a normal occupancy of four or five and a maximum occupancy of seven, rather than the nine or twelve of the initial proposal. The planned launch vehicle is the new Titan IIIE.


The character limit annoys me.

[Prince Charon]

1974, continued

August 5: The Soviet Union becomes aware of the existence, effects, and method of creating the Spice, due to collating information from several leaks.

August 14: Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt depart Skylab in Gemini XV. They have what is referred to as 'some excitement' when several error messages come up during re-entry, but make it down without serious injury, and with only minor damage to the capsule, due to the parachutes opening slightly later than intended.

August 21: Story Musgrave and Fred Haise launch in Gemini XVII. This is the first Gemini capsule to be launched with an equipment module containing an Apollo docking system; it is accessed by an airtight tunnel from the rear hatch, and equipped with docking cameras. Gemini XVII hard-docks with Skylab successfully, and the astronauts enter the station without needing to spacewalk.

September 7: The new season of Star Trek (designated 'Season 4b' in official documents, with the animated cartoon season being 'Season 4a') begins broadcasting. The opening voice-over, done by Leonard Nimoy, is modified from the original: "Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before!" The episode opens with Fleet Captain Kirk officially transferring command of USS Enterprise to Captain Spock, before beaming over to his new ship. Commander Scott serves as Spock's Executive Officer as well as chief engineer, Lieutenant Chekov serves as bridge science officer, Uhura and Sulu continue in their previous posts but are both promoted to Lieutenant Commander, McCoy's rank and position is unchanged, and both Lt. M'Ress and Lt. Arex are mentioned in dialogue as transferring to USS Federation.

September 10: Alan Shepard undocks Gemini XVI from Skylab, and returns safely.

October 12: Several modules are greenlit by Congress for Skylab expansion, the first being a modified Manned Orbiting Laboratory. The module is to have several docking points for further expansion.

October 15: Stuart Roosa and John Young launch in Gemini XVIII. They hard-dock at Skylab after two tries, as the docking system is very slightly misaligned.

November 6: A pair of electronic engineers, amateur ghost hunters, and Star Trek fans at the University of Barcelona invent the first psychotronic device on this Earth: a transistor-like component which converts psionic energy into electricity, and vice-versa; being serious Trekkers, they naturally name the device the transtator. A sufficiently sensitive transtator can detect active use of psionic abilities at some distance. Naturally, most scientists who hear of it are rather skeptical that this is what it's actually doing.

November 9: The transtator is tested at the Palace of Linares, in Madrid, Spain. It is noted to be reading something on several occasions that spooky events happen, and a few when they don't appear to be.

November 12: Story Musgrave and Fred Haise leave Skylab and return to Earth in Gemini XVII.

December 5: Wally Funk is chosen as CSM pilot for the upcoming Apollo-Soyuz mission. Her ability to predict vehicular problems is the deciding factor, as anything going seriously wrong with this mission would be especially embarrassing, politically.

December 10: Paul Weitz returns to Skylab on Gemini XIX, along with Bruce McCandless II. They are ably to hard-dock without incident.

December 15: Stuart Roosa and John Young leave Skylab on Gemini XVIII, splashing down off the coast of Florida.

December 23: Salyut 4 launched. This will be the first Soviet station to manufacture the Spice.

December 28: First use of the transtator by British ghost hunters, at Glamis Castle in Scotland. The ghost hunters certainly consider it successful, but skeptics feel otherwise.


Thoughts?

[maximara]

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

1974
The character limit annoys me.

You do know about the GURPS wiki, right?