Date: May 11, 2010
Title: Speculative Fiction: How The Russians Landed on the Moon
Podcaster: C. Augusto Valdés
Organization: For more details on the Soviet space program in our universe –
http://www.russianspaceweb.com/spacecraft_manned_lunar.html
C. Augusto Valdés blog – www.themouthofdoom.blogspot.com
Description: We take a short trip to a parallel reality where the Russians won the Space Race and put a man on the Moon.
Bio: Born and raised in Mexico City. In childhood had access to a telescope thanks to a cousin who was an amateur astronomer. Aspiring author of poetry and sometimes speculative fiction. www.themouthofdoom.com.
Today’s sponsor: This episode of “365 Days of Astronomy” is sponsored by The Cuyahoga Astronomical Association, who are committed to bringing astronomy to the general public in the greater Cleveland Ohio area. Please visit us on the web at cuyastro.org. The Cuyahoga Astronomical Association would like to dedicate this podcast to amateur astronomer and high school teacher John Nichols, who died recently of natural causes. John was very active in our club, and will be greatly missed.
Transcript:
Have you ever wondered how events might have played out if you had taken a different career choice? If you had waken up late the day when you ran into the old friend who got you the recommendation for your current promotion? If for a moment you could see the events of your life as a college dropout who preferred to play with the band instead of attending the extra curricular courses? What if you could access, even for a moment, that alternate present where you married your college sweetheart? That, in literature, is called Speculative fiction. We, for the foreseeable future, lack the possibility to visit those parallel realities; but that hasn’t stopped authors from imagining those dimensions, from Robert Harris’ novel Fatherland, where he describes a murder mystery in a Third Reich’s controlled England to the ABC’s hit series LOST, where the concept of “flash-sideways” has been introduced.
Perhaps the most famous example of Speculative fiction has been the Marvel Comics series What if? , where a seminal event in the Marvel Comics continuity had a different outcome, Captain America being resurrected in the 80’s, The Fantastic Four’s second child had survived, Hulk had killed the Wolverine… Today I invite you to explore one of these parallel Earths, one where things had a different outcome, and in celebration of the 365 days of astronomy I am proud to present; What if the Russians arrived to the moon first? (Jingle) Radio for the People, 96.5 FM The voice of the common citizen. BREAKING NEWS for Tuesday; May the Eleventh, Twenty Ten
The Mexican Border Patrol seized a shipment of at least a hundred audio and video tapes containing subversive material from the former United States of America, this tapes are said to contain music with anti-people’s messages. The smugglers were also caught in the possession of blue jeans and black cotton shirts. The Minister of Security Marcelo Ebrard commended the efforts of the Border Patrol in stopping the enemies of freedom. A recent study from the University of Silesia has tested the effects of “Roll and Rock’s” (sic) music in human volunteers and it has shown a significant correlation with an increase on the levels of aggression. The study has yet to undergo peer reviews. The President of the Republic of Texas Jeb Bush has once again pleaded to the League of Nations to stop the Economic blockade on the Former United States of America. This and more at eleven, only at 96.5 FM, the voice of the common citizen. It’s time for: 365 days of Astronomy Daily Broadcast for Tuesday, May the Eleventh, Twenty Ten
Hello and Welcome to 365 days of Astronomy broadcast, we are live from Mexico City. My name is Augusto Nikolayevich Valdés, and today I want to speak about a historical event in history; it was a day like today, May Eleventh, but in 1974, that a man first set foot on the Moon, Alexey Arkhipovich Leonov, a condecorated hero of the Soviet Union, made the people proud when he uttered those now immortal words; “The Stars were waiting for us”. Leonov, who, on March 18, 1965, became the first human to conduct a space walk, took his colored pencils and papers to space. The amazing pictures he drew while in space are the most valuable pieces of art in history.
This triumph certainly contributed to the Russian mastery of space accomplishments, The first satellite, Sputnik 1 on October 4th 1957 and The first man in space, Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin, on April the 12th 1961. What were the series of events that made this amazing accomplishment possible? After a failed American invasion to Cuba in 1961 Soviet premier Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev took decisive action in stopping the bourgeois regime’s policy of deploying nuclear weapons, and after The United States President Richard Nixon decided to attack Cuba it was a matter of days that the People’s army was able to defeat the threat to world’s peace. The Americans formerly had a competition with the Soviet Union, a “Space Race” of sorts, but as their president put more priority in war than in space exploration they weren’t able to score a single accomplishment. One of their politicians even promised to put a man on the Moon as early as the end of the 60’s. The man responsible for the appalling success of the people’s Space exploration was Sergey Pavlovich Korolyov, he was the head Soviet rocket engineer and designe, at first he was more interested in launching a heavy orbital station and manned flights to Mars and Venus that would be assembled from modules launched one at a time. For this aim Korolyov began the development of the super-heavy N-1 rocket.
In its preliminary Moon plans, Korolyov’s design bureau initially promoted in 1962 the Soyuz A-B-C circumlunar complex concept under which in 1965 a two-man spacecraft would meet with other components in Earth orbit to assemble a lunar flyby excursion vehicle, the components being delivered by a middle rocket.
After developing the “Kommunism” beginning in 1963 Korolyov began to plan a Moon landing mission using two launches and docking. Later Korolyov managed to increase the payload of the “Kommunism” to 92-93 tons (by increasing the number of engines in its first stage from 24 to 30), providing enough power to accomplish the mission with a single launch.
Another main space design bureau headed by Vladimir Nikolayevich Chelomei proposed a competing orbiting mission situated between the earth and the Moon using a heavy Proton rocket and a two-man spacecraft. Later, Chelomei also proposed a Moon landing program with a super-heavy rocket and a spacecraft.
The people’s government assigned the flyby program to Korolyov, who redesigned the sub lunar mission to use his own spacecraft and Chelomei’s Proton rocket in September 1965.
In 1966 two cosmonaut training groups were formed.
One group was commanded by Vladimir Mikhailovich Komarov and The second group was led by Alexei Leonov and concentrated on the landing mission.
After Komarov’s death in Soyuz 1 in 1967, Gagarin was taken out of training and the groups were restructured. Despite the Soyuz 1 setback, the automated docking of two unmanned Soyuz craft in Earth orbit was successfully rehearsed in 1968 and with the manned Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 joint mission in early 1969 tested the other key mission elements.
A total of 18 missions were related to the project.
Launched by a 3-staged Proton rocket, the L1(Zond) was a spacecraft from the Soyuz family and consisted of two or three modified modules of the main craft Soyuz 7K-OK with a total weight of 5.5 tons. The L1 (Zond) performed a flight around the Moon and came back on a return trajectory. A first manned mission of the L1 (Zond) launched on 8 December 1968. It wasn’t until 1974 that all the preparations were ready for the final mission.
On April 22nd, 1974, an unmanned “L3 complex” and two Lunochod automated moon rovers were sent to the Moon. They worked as radio beacons, with the LK being used as a reserve “escape” craft to return from the Moon, and the Lunochods were additionally equipped with manual controls for the cosmonauts.
The “Kommunism” rocket carried the L3 Moon expedition complex that consisted of two spacecrafst (LOK and LK) and two boosters.
A variant of the Soyuz craft, the “Lunniy Orbitalny Korabl” (LOK) command ship, carried two men, and was consisted of three modules like the regular Soyuz 7K-OK, but was heavier by a few tons. The “Lunniy Korabl” (LK) carried one cosmonaut, so in the expedition one cosmonaut alone landed on Moon.
The cosmonaut transferred from the LOK to LK by a “spacewalk”, that’s why Leonov was selected to the mission. No other man had experience handling high risk space walks.
Once in orbit, the LK separated from the LOK and descended toward the surface of Moon using the Block D engine. After Block D exhausted its fuel, the LK was to separate and complete landing using its own engine.
On the Moon, Leonov undertook moonwalks on foot. His first action was to hoist the United Soviet Socialist Republics’ flag and utter the historical words; “The stars were awaiting us”. Were he unable to return to the LK for any reason, a special tether connected to the LK could haul him in.
After a few hours on the lunar surface, in which Leonov took rock samples, performed a few experiments and sketched some drawings inside his cosmonaut suit, the LK’s engine fired again using its landing structure as a launch pad. To save weight, the engine used for landing would also blast the LK back to lunar orbit for an automated docking with the LOK. Leonov then spacewalked back to the LOK carrying the Moon rock samples, with the LK being cast off. After this, the LOK fired its rocket for the return to Earth.
Upon his return, Leonov was awarded his third condecoration as hero of the Soviet Union. The initial ambition was to create a lunar base to be able to launch manned missions to Mars and Venus. Many critics have said that the lunar mission was crafted as propaganda, but 36 years later the People’s Republic of China has picked up where the brave men and women who made possible that remarkable accomplishment and today, May 11th 2010, we are awaiting the launch of the Chinese mission, aimed to build a lunar base from which to launch a man to Mars. Today I tell all of you, my comrades. I long for the day when I can tell my children that I saw with my own eyes when a man hoisted a red flag on the red planet and he said; “The stars are awaiting for us, and we shall not make them wait any more” (exit music) This show was written and narrated by C. Augusto Valdés, The news were narrated by Amy Mendez. Sound editing by Octavio Valdés. The Music was “Harvest Home Duet” by Shamine King.
For more of my work on speculative fiction visit me at themouthofdoom.blogspot.com
REFERENCES
* Abeelen, Luc van den “Soviet Lunar Programme.” Spaceflight vol.36:p.90 (1994)
* Clark, Phillip S. “The Soviet Manned Circumlunar Program.” Quest 1992:pp.17-20
* Clark, Phillip S. “Chelomei’s Alternative Lunar Program.” Quest 1992:pp.31-34
End of podcast:
365 Days of Astronomy
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