CHAPTER 10: THE CHROME AGE
Time is: Spring 1970
Launch windows: Mercury, Venus
MURCA
TEDDY SPACE CENTER
O! say can you see by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
"THE BRAVE MURCA, FUCK YEAH!", a hundred throats yelled out into the night. Not in unison - the astronauts, technical personnel, administrative officials and scientists were all too drunk to sing in anything that wasn't a mismatched and hoarse alcohol-fuelled chorus.
The Teddy Space Center was celebrating, because Congress, terrified by their Director's threats of speechifying, approved a new budget for 1970. A budget almost as high as the one from before cuts instituted by Lyndon Joanson, that traitor...that Satan Mekratrig...that fucker. That stealing fucker who decided to steal from the rockets to give to the clothed and fed, or something like that.
Who the hell needed schools and housing projects when you could have spaceplanes, anyway?
Only one person did not partake. Barn Est I, a long time veteran of the program and crewmember of the Hermes I flight, quietly left his resignation on the Director's desk. He has had enough of this bullshit. Everybody else could celebrate all they wanted, but he knew better: Zenobians were in the lead, Murca was lagging more and more behind, and the budget could only be maintained with more and more outrageous PR stunts.
That was a recipe for disaster, and so Barn Est I would get the hell out while he was still a hero.
Code: Select all
Current funds: 121 megabucks
Astronauts in XMS-2 program:
Crew I:
OLDS - CAP 3, LM 0, EVA 0, DOCK 3, END 3 ; MOOD: 46 (Pilot)
GORDON - CAP 0, LM 1, EVA 2, DOCK 2, END 3 ; MOOD: 74 (LM Pilot/EVA specialist)
WILLIAMS - CAP 1, LM 3, EVA 1, DOCK 2, END 1 ; MOOD: 79 (Docking specialist)
Crew II:
RAVENSBURG - CAP 3, LM 3, EVA 0, DOCK 0, END 4 ; MOOD: 48 (Pilot)
COLLINS - CAP 0, LM 3, EVA 4, DOCK 1, END 1 ; MOOD: 99 (LM Pilot/EVA specialist)
BARNESTI - CAP 2, LM 1, EVA 2, DOCK 2, END 4 ; MOOD: 55 (Docking specialist) - will retire next year
Crew III:
BROWN - CAP 4, LM 2, EVA 2, DOCK 1, END 2 ; MOOD: 45
CUNNINGHAM - CAP 1, LM 2, EVA 1, DOCK 0, END 4 ; MOOD: 99
MCCANDLESS - CAP 3, LM 0, EVA 0, DOCK 2, END 2 ; MOOD: 94
Crew IV:
CONRAD - CAP 4, LM 1, EVA 1, DOCK 1, END 3 ; MOOD: 23
ROCKET - CAP 3, LM 0, EVA 2, DOCK 2, END 2 ; MOOD: 84
CHAFFEE - CAP 0, LM 1, EVA 2, DOCK 3, END 2 ; MOOD: 84
Unassigned astronauts:
MAY - CAP 3, LM 2, EVA 2, DOCK 4, END 2 ; MOOD: 76
LOOPY - CAP 4, LM 1, EVA 2, DOCK 3, END 2 ; MOOD: 61
SUITCASE - CAP 3, LM 2, EVA 2, DOCK 4, END 3 ; MOOD: 76
HAISE - CAP 4, LM 3, EVA 0, DOCK 0, END 2 ; MOOD: 71
EISELE - CAP 0, LM 0, EVA 2, DOCK 1, END 3 ; MOOD: 71
SWIGERT - CAP 2, LM 0, EVA 0, DOCK 1, END 1 ; MOOD: 69
ANDERS - CAP 0, LM 2, EVA 2, DOCK 2, END 1 ; MOOD: 66
Other astronauts:
REXMODEM - retired fall 1968
BORMAN - retired fall 1968
KNIGHT - retired fall 1967
FLASHHEART - retired fall 1967
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, Mighty 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, None
Launch Pad C, none
***
ZENOBIA
BAIKONUREK
"Comrades of the Zenobian Onion!", Syrgy winced. He was standing right next to the Premier himself, who visited the cosmodrome once more in January. Some genius placed one of the gigantic speakers right behind the Chief Designer's pot, so every time comrade Shroomanski made a booming announcement, Syrgy was blasted with its full force.
"Through a great many feats of Strakhanovite socialist technolabors, and the wise and beneviolent leadership of the Party, the industries and mines of the Onion have managed to provide the space program with a great many gifts! Thanks to competitions in saving resources, grand work of morale officers and the New Zenobian Spirit, the Baikonurek Cosmodrome will be given tools needed to breat the filthy capitalist scum to the punch! Da! I announce fire sale! All hardware 50% off this season!"
Syrgy could barely hear at that point, but he did notice the cosmodrome's crew cheering. But what could that mean?
Code: Select all
Current funds: 122 megarubloids
Cosmonauts in Lapot program:
Crew I:
KLIMUK - CAP 4, LM 0, EVA 2, DOCK 1, END 2 ; MOOD:83 (PILOT)
LEBEDEV - CAP 3, LM 1, EVA 2, DOCK 1, END 3 ; MOOD: 76 (LM PILOT/EVA SPECIALIST)
BRZECZYSZCZ - CAP 3, LM 2, EVA 0, DOCK 3, END 3 ; MOOD: 40 (DOCKING SPECIALIST)
Crew II:
KARZANOVSKI - CAP 4, LM 1, EVA 0, DOCK 0, END 3 ; MOOD: 41
ZHOLOBOV - CAP 1, LM 3, EVA 1, DOCK 1, END 3 ; MOOD: 61
SMIRNOFF - CAP 2, LM 0, EVA 1, DOCK 3, END 2 ; MOOD: 61
Crew III:
IVANCHENKOV - CAP 3, LM 1, EVA 1, DOCK 1, END 3 ; MOOD: 72
LAZAREV - CAP 1, LM 3, EVA 0, DOCK 0, END 2 ; MOOD: 62
RUKAVISHNIKOV - CAP 1, LM 2, EVA 1, DOCK 2, END 3 ; MOOD: 71
Cosmonauts not assigned to programs:
BORISOV - CAP 3, LM 0, EVA 2, DOCK 1, END 1 ; MOOD: 40
FILLYERESKI - CAP 1, LM 1, EVA 1, DOCK 3, END 1 ; MOOD: 67
NEFARTNYI - CAP 2, LM 2, EVA 1, DOCK 3, END 2 ; MOOD: 56
YEBANOVY - CAP 2, LM 3, EVA 0, DOCK 1, END 2 ; MOOD: 67
GRECHKO - CAP 2, LM 1, EVA 0, DOCK 3, END 1 ; MOOD: 79
KOVALYANOK - CAP 2, LM 1, EVA 3, DOCK 1, END 4 ; MOOD: 71
MAKAROV - CAP 0, LM 2, EVA 1, DOCK 3, END 2 ; MOOD: 61
Other cosmonauts:
MAMETOV - joined the Red Army in 1969.
PETROV - imprisoned for re-education in Spring 1969
FAAABIO - retired spring 1969
BEREGOVOY - retired spring 1969
YEBANOV - retired spring 1968
ALEXANDROV - washed out in training, fall 1967
DIGADITCH - left to join the Red Army, spring 1967
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, Lunar Probe,A-Series, Proton, Booster stage, Voskhod, EVA Suits, Docking module, Lapot, Kicker-B
Launch pads: 3
Scheduled missions:
Launch pad A, Lunar probe flyby
Launch pad B, Lunar probe landing
Launch pad C, Mercury probe flyby
GM Notes:
Yes. While Murcans recovered their budget, Zenobians just got the coveted FIRESALE events.
Any and all hardware they buy this season will be 50% off. Research costs the usual rates, but rockets and their payloads do not. Go wild, guys
ALSO: Both sides can recruit the next group of flyboys, for the low low price of 15 megabucks fo 16 men.