CHAPTER 6: THE FIRST CASUALTY
Time is: Spring 1962
MURCA
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THE CAPE
It was really hard to describe the mood at THE CAPE at the time of the Spring budget meeting.
Gone were the innocent days of butt-slapping and high-fiving and the careless, innocent frolicking between the astronauts.
One of their own was dead. A bunk stayed empty, OhJesus's personal belongings nicely packed in a small cardboard box, waiting for his relatives to come and pick them up. They'd have to be removed: nobody came for them since that ill-fated mission.
But they would persevere. They'd have to. Murca still believed in them, and by Jeebus, it showed it by shoveling money at the program!
The techical reports looked grim, however. Much would have to be rethought, much would have to be redone. Especially since astronaut Hardbeef decided to leave the program, leaving the astronaut corps two men short.
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Current funds: 74 megabucks
Current astronaut roster:
MODEMJR - CAP 3, LM 0, EVA 2, DOCK 1, END 2 (Mercury/I) ; MOOD: 58
FLASHHEART - CAP 1, LM 0, EVA 4, DOCK 1, END 1 (Mercury/II) ; MOOD: 67
CUNTSER - CAP 3, LM 3, EVA 1, DOCK 0, END 1 (Mercury/III) ; MOOD: 67
MCCAIN - CAP 4, LM 1, EVA 2, DOCK 0, END 1 (Mercury/IV) ; MOOD: 90
KELLY - CAP 3, LM 1, EVA 0, DOCK 2, END 2 (Mercury/V) ; MOOD: 65
HARDBEEF - CAP 3, LM 0, EVA 0, DOCK 1, END 2 (Mercury/VI) ; MOOD: 45 - will retire next year
OHJESUS - DECEASED, MERCURY IX
Programs running: Explorer, Atlas, Mercury, EVA Suits
Launch pads: 3
Scheduled missions: Launch Pad A, manned Earth orbital, Mercury/Atlas, McCain/Kelly
Launch Pad B, none
Launch Pad C, none
ZENOBIA
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BAIKONUREK
The rocket was sitting, right there, inside a warehouse. Completely unused. Secured with all the proper seals and fastenings. Never used ,never deployed to a launch pad.
It was an extra rocket.
Syrgy Pavylyvych stared at it in disbelief. He was holding, in his hand, a launch report showing results of a failed launch in the fall of 1961. Booster problem on the pad, it said. Launch aborted.
But that rocket, one of the new A-Series refurbished with proper fuel tubing, never left the warehouse. What's more, none of the myriad documentations about a launch, even a failed one, seemed to have existed.
And nobody remembered putting the rocket on the pad, either.
That was strange. Very, very strange. Or maybe the Chief Designer was hallucinating? Maybe he wasn't running the Zenobian space program, perhaps it was all some fevered dream, dreamt on a hard wooden cot inside a worker barracks in Khylima?
It wouldn't be that bad. At least a man would still be alive.
That thought nagged on Syrgy. He knew the Murcans were the enemy, the capitalist arch-fiends using the work of the proletariat to get fat and rich, but he couldn't help but feel bad for the young man, burned to death inside his capsule.
Part of him felt relief, as the failure meant Zenobia had a chance to be the first to orbit ; But some other part felt guilt...and dread.
For something like that could happen to one of his cosmonauts, too. He suspected comrade Karzanovski wasn't an actual traitor ; That he quietly requested relocation to another posting, any posting...out of fear.
Official documents would never say that, of course. They had an image to maintain.
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Current funds: 94 megabucks
Current astronaut roster:
KARZANOVSKI - Reassigned to radar station in Zyberia
FAAABIO - CAP 2, LM 0, EVA 2, DOCK 0, END 3 (VOSTOK/I) ; MOOD: 88
TITOV - CAP 3, LM 1, EVA 1, DOCK 0, END 1 (VOSTOK/II) ; MOOD: 44
DOSTAROVASKI - CAP 2, LM 0, EVA 1, DOCK 1, END 3 (VOSTOK/III) ; MOOD: 52
IVANOV - CAP 4, LM 2, EVA 0, DOCK 1, END 1 (VOSTOK/IV) ; MOOD: 49
IVANOVICH - CAP 2, LM 1, EVA 3, DOCK 2, END 3 (VOSTOK/VI) ; MOOD: 54
NIKOV - CAP 4, LM 0, EVA 2, DOCK 0, END 2 (VOSTOK/VII) ; MOOD: 55
Programs running: Sputnik, A-Series, Vostok, Booster stage, Cosmos satellite, Voshkhod
Launch pads: 2
Scheduled missions: Launch pad A, Manned Earth orbital, A-Series/Vostok, Ivanov/Dostarovski
Launch pad B, Manned Earth orbital, A-Series/Vostok, Nikov/Titov
Notes:
As you can see, in this game, nothing is definitive. Murcans had every chance to expect their launches to go well ; But it's still possible to fail.
The "launch nobody rememebers" failed in the first stage, with a 92% roll on launch. So it was scrubbed, except nobody remembers it even happened. The hardware is in Zenobian inventory for later use.
Astronauts have began dropping out of the program for various reasons ; You should plan for that.
As it is, the race goes on, though Murca will have to work hard to regain their lead again.
Current prestige summary:
Current director rankings:
The Politburo seems downright
gleeful a young Murcan died in space last year.
They might even gloat.
